New Year's Eve 2019. As a result of my cold war experiences I was still in the middle of fighting German authorities. Big private year-end party organized by friends. Many baking sheets of hundreds of Berliners had been delivered. It's a new year's eve tradition in Germany, to eat a Berliner after the midnight glass of bubbly. I explained to one of my kids that there is also an old baker's tradition. On some baking sheets of dozens of Berliners or as in that evening's case, there was only one Berliner filled with mustard. Instead of the usual jam, nougat, champagne cream or egg liqueur. Everybody started to grab their Berliner. Well, who got among the 150+ Berliner's the only one filled with mustard? Yes, of course it was me. So, my child laughingly suggested I should at one point headline my cold war stories somewhat along the lines: "Only I got the mustard in the doughnut!".
Thanks to Ian Sanders (FRHistS) of the award-winning Cold War Podcast for encouraging me to publish that story.
Thanks to Steve Minegar of the Radio GDR Podcast for your kind words: "The fact we get to communicate and talk today means you got the best Berliner of all - it tastes like FREEDOM."
I want to close with the exciting wishes from our friend, the British filmmaker Sarah Younas: "Wishing you all the best for 2024 and a great year for our upcoming film!"
Happy New Year!
