Cold War Spy: 'It's Not Like James Bond' | Minutes With Podcast | @LADbible

In the Cold War, David Butler was one of a few people allowed to freely roam between East and West Germany. On paper, his role was to facilitate messages between the two. In reality, David was a spy. He tells us about years of missions, gathering intelligence on the Soviets for the British security services, whilst avoiding being caught by the Stasi.

We speak to remarkable people who each have a unique story to tell - spies, terrorists, hackers, gangsters, killers, people with particular conditions, and those who’ve lived unreal experiences. These are the stories that resonated the most with LADbible’s audience when they were originally told on Minutes With.

In this podcast, LADbible’s Ben Powell-Jones sits down with those individuals for a more in-depth conversation, revealing untold tales for the first time.

Host: Ben Powell-Jones, Twitter: @BenPowellJones

#LADbible #UNILAD

[ObamaoZedong]

Great interviewer! Didn't interrupt, didn't go on a tangent, just guided the conversation to things we'd find interesting and let things flow.

[lau]

I'm German and both of my grandmothers still talk about how the soldiers used to give them chocolates and sweets after the war, so I wouldn't underestimate the effects of buying children sweets 😅 especially after a war. It sure had a very long-lasting positive effect on how they viewed Brits and Americans

[Convoycrazy]

For our young listeners it’s important to note that Berlin was, itself, in East Germany so W. Berlin was an island inside the Iron Curtain. This situation set the stage for the W. Berlin blockade and the Berlin Airlift

[klackon]

Cracking interview and so typical of the British Army. I lived at Brigade HQ in Berlin (the old Olympic Stadium) for a while in 1978; though I worked at the US Army facility on the Teufelsberg. One day, back at Brigade, I remember seeing one of the BRIXMIS Opel Admiral cars with a smashed up front end. I asked what had happened and the BRIXMIS lads replied, rather cheerfully I thought, that a Sov had deliberately driven his tank into it. Unfortunately, I never once saw a SOXMIS car with similar damage.

[jimr]

Awesome interview. I absolutely love hearing actual veteran testimonials, like from WWII and such, but now that this post war time has become a certain distance in the past, we're beginning to hear from those vets since, unfortunately, people who fought in the war are becoming fewer and fewer. And so, I am very glad that we're beginning to hear this particular generation's stories. Keep up the great work LADbible!!

[JerrisEverydayPeople]

I love listening to this and realizing I was in high school while he was having this life. Same planet and such different lives.

[bernhardkoster]

I remember that we went twice over to visit my mother's sister and her family. They were living in an old Prussian camp where the horse's stables had been converted into homes. I clearly remember that the rent was just shy of 20 Marks and when I went with my cousin through town to see a movie (it was called "Apache", oh boy all those memories are coming back) and we passed a shop where they had lemons in the window offering them for 0.50 Mark but they were in such a poor state that in "the west" they would have been put into the bin. Lots of other memories like they were collecting empty cans which they picked up from the railway lines that were running from west Germany to west Berlin. The trains were not allowed to stop anywhere in between the borders and passengers were discarding empty (sometimes even full) cans of beer or other drinks that were served in cans and they would be picked up and collected like we in the west would collect stamps and I remember that we had beer cans with us from the Olympic Games in Munich at the time. They would fetch real good money. Crazy times

[jasonstanley]

You know this gentleman is the real deal when the interviewer clarifies the poop-paper documents.

He sits straight faced basically "that's right."

He's definitely carried out much more difficult orders than that in his career. How awesome

[wiryx]

To be fair - russians did not "punish east germans for the losses". It was like that in entire soviet block back then.

[r_unner_G]

Such an interesting and articulate raconteur. He's led quite the life.

[eddcosterton]

Such a good interview technique, not just boring set questions that are stuck to rigidly, but a genuine interest and understanding in what the interviewee has just said and then building on that dynamically

[nomdeplume]

Him talking about how the "staff" at the Mission House was working for the Stassi ... reminds me of a scene in Bridge of Spies with Tom Hanks. Which is the story of the Glienicke Bridge, a restricted East German Bridge that acted as a border crossing. Where the exchange of Rudolph Able a Russian spy, for Gary Powers a US U2 pilot took place. Tom Hanks plays the Attorney appointed to defend Able, as he was a prosecution attorney at the Nuremberg Trials, in '46

When he goes to meet with a Soviet Diplomat in East Germany. A whole charade is put on by people who are supposedly Able's family.
They're crying and 'How is our wonderful cousin Able doing?'
He knows this isn't Able's family.
When the Diplomat comes in, they stop right in the middle of what they were doing. Stopped crying, stood up and did a military march right out of the room, in lock step.
The Diplomat tries to reference them, but gets the names and relationships backwards.
So when TH corrects him, he know he didn't fall for it, and would be tougher than expected.

They were obviously Soviet KGB or Stassi, posing as family.
It's a good film

[the_local_bigamist]

"Who was indoctrinating who?" is the most important question I've heard in this so far (listening in bits). And the admission that the role played by soldiers in the occupation (on all sides) amounted to psychological warfare operations is necessary to understand too.

[stuplant]

Before podcasts, these stories where either only recorded on very specific interviews or TV shows or were lost to history. Great now we record these veterans stories which are so often more interesting and honest than official records

[danielmarshall]

" your average Soviet or now Russian Soldier is pretty used to hardship", I worked with some gentlemen from the former Soviet Union and they were GEEZAS no messing about ship-shape, solid blokes.

[nets]

Great interview, plus my compliments to the studio techs; sound, lighting and camera work is all first rate.

[jackharrison]

Thanks both of you, for this great session.
It's certainly debatable. but I suppose some of the USSR's thinking after WW2, was to create a secure buffer-zone, because of the two invasions by Germany during the two world wars; and especially for the loss and terrible treatment of their citizens during the 1940s. And also the fact that troops of several nations were on Soviet land around the time of their Revolution. But of course, the West were worried how far west they would come, .

I was sometimes surprised that the USSR agreed to abide to allow the Four Nation presence in Germany, and Berlin itself. And of course the Military Missions. I really enjoyed this video, and the other videos available, showing how you all operated, during those years. Extremely gutsy work by all of you.
I have stayed in and passed through Germany on my way to Vienna, using my Railway passes. I have made many friends there, and they were ALWAYS very friendly to me.

Here's to many more such productions.

[cortoolei-pearson]

Blown away by the guys bravery, resilience, intelligence and how he has come through from the other side.
Just blown away, he gives me so much hope.
All the best to him, his wife, his family, his projects to help other people and indirectly helping himself.
Thank god there are people like him who look after us and I'm so sorry that they pay so much doing that and get abandoned by the organisation that put them through that.
Something needs to change no ?

[olekaarvaag]

The regular videos are fantastic. But these are exceptional. Love listening to this. If anyone else are interested in what real life spies were and how it worked, I HIGHLY recommend the book "The Billion Dollar Spy".

As well as that you should look up Jonna Mendez, the former CIA chief of disguise. She has a couple of videos with Wired, but I suggest you look up her talks at conferences where she goes into a lot more detail. Her late husband Antonio Mendez sure lived an interesting life as well.

[danielmarshall]

These vids are spot on, many thanks for posting them.