Main content

Comrade Africa

How Communist East Germany tried to influence Africa via radio during the Cold War.

How Communist East Germany tried to influence Africa via radio, during the Cold War. The West often saw the GDR as a grim and grey place, so it鈥檚 something of a surprise to find a radio station based in East Berlin playing swinging African tunes. Yet Radio Berlin International (RBI), the 鈥榲oice of the German Democratic Republic鈥�, made it all happen over the many years it broadcast to Africa. It built on the little known strong bonds between East Germany and several large states in Africa such as Tanzania and Angola during the 1960s, 鈥�70s and 鈥�80s

Release date:

Available now

52 minutes

Podcast