Relevant Reading:

God’s Spies: The Stasi’s Cold War Espionage Campaign Inside the Church
Elisabeth Braw

This week, as Germany marks 30 years since the fall of the Berlin Wall, the legacy of the Cold War remains the subject of vital public debate. In her new book God’s Spies, Elisabeth Braw shines a light on one of the lesser-known chapters of Cold War history: namely, the Stasi’s expansive espionage campaign inside the Lutheran Church.

Drawing on family history, archival research, and candid interviews with former Stasi officers, Braw reconstructs how the “Church Bureau” of East Germany’s Ministry for State Security infiltrated the Church at virtually every level—and yet failed to see the end of the regime coming. It’s a compelling tale of agents and handlers, pastors and spies, mercenaries and true believers—and it features surprising cameos from some of Germany’s post-Cold War leaders.

Tune in this week as Elisabeth Braw, director of the Modern Deterrence Project at the Royal United Services Institute, joins Richard Aldous to discuss the book. Don’t forget to subscribe to the podcast on Apple Podcasts, where you can leave a review, and follow @aminterest and @elisabethbraw on Twitter.