German Spy Radio (1960) | Sternchen

In this video, we explore the history behind one of the radios used by international spies, as a receiver for instruction from behind the Berlin Wall. The best way to communicate with them from behind enemy lines, was by radio. During the cold war, information was very valuable and international agencies had their strength concentrated in the capital of the back then divided Germany.
Sternchen was one of the devices used by Western agents that were infiltrated in the East German Partition. It's extremely difficult to find information about these topics because they never reached the general public. But here's my take after an extended research in the matter.
The music in this video:
mitchmurder.bandcamp.com/trac...
www.epidemicsound.com/track/G...
voyage95.bandcamp.com/track/p...
xtractmusic.bandcamp.com/trac...
Thanks for watching!
0:00 Intro
0:18 Cold War in a Nutshell
0:58 Espionage during the Cold War
1:27 Germany's Division and Berlin's Isolation
2:30 Western Spies in East Berlin
3:18 Numbers Stations and OTP
4:09 Sternchen as a Spying Tool
5:05 Sternchen Specifications
6:16 Sternchen Today
6:54 Outro

[@k.l.sp.1816]

The Stasi had so many weird spying devices. There is a joke about the Stasi engineers bringing stuff from their homes and reworking them to spying devices over the week.

[@soundelegy5987]

They just couldn't help themselves. They just really loved to evesdrope.

[@MauricioJara]

You’re so underrated! You deserve more!

[@soundelegy5987]

Gracias Mauricio!

[@christophercullin9309]

Very good topics very interesting take care my friend

[@usernameinvalidfuck]

as amazing as a good 71

[@christophercullin9309]

Good afternoon could you please tell me the music used for this video sounds like tangerine dream many thanks

[@soundelegy5987]

Hey Christopher! Thank you for the kind words. I've just realised I forgot to credit the musicians. Links are now available in the video description, thank you!

[@fernandoscrenci3895]

Outstanding!! Love it!!

[@soundelegy5987]

Thank you!

[@shikasangwan4193]

I love your content

[@soundelegy5987]

Thank you :)

[@503WE]

Gracias por los subtítulos

[@lpark8]

Very interesting - thank you!

[@soundelegy5987]

Glad you liked it :)

[@kristinamuller5277]

👌

[@yardleybottles6025]

COOL RADIO!!!

[@ralfbuschner6925]

This was never a spy radio. It was a cheap pocket AM broadcast receiver, similar to Mikki and other types of AM receivers. They have been sold to the public. If you want to see a spy radio fromt these times, look here: kzbin.info/www/bejne/aGPadmyVetF1otU

[@soundelegy5987]

Hey Ralf! You're absolutely wrong. Sternchen was not only used by consumers, but also by foreign intelligence services, operating under cover in the DDR. In many cases, regular DDR citizens were recruited as an agent for a Western intelligence service, such as the West-German BND, the British MI6 or the American CIA. www.cryptomuseum.com/spy/sternchen/index.htm#ref_2

[@hfvhf987]

@@soundelegy5987 Lots of companies make products for the open market and for government use but this is 100% a consumer unit, you even said yourself, the box shows the intended audience. sorry but this is just a run of the mill AM radio and not a spy radio

[@soundelegy5987]

We're again in the same spot. The video states very well that it was a commercial radio that was also used by spies. I don't understand what the problem is. You don't want me to call Spy Radio a Commercial Radio that was also used by Spies?

[@ralfbuschner6925]

@@soundelegy5987 The point is basically, that the fact, that a spy used such a consumer grade radio doesn't make it a spy radio. The GDR army "NVA" also used the car "Trabant" for some purposes - but that doesn't make the "Trabant" a military grade car. MIsses milspecs by far. Maybe any Stasi spy used a such Sternchen BC receiver to receive informations from his headquarter, but he could also have used any other AM receiver - the Sternchen really has nothing special that would make it excel over other BC receivers, making it more suitable for a spy's tasks that any other. Also the simple fact that (german) Spies use to eat bread doesn't make bread a special "spy food".

[@soundelegy5987]

Aha! That's where you are mistaken. Cause eating bread (very smart analogy from your part) or driving a car, are every day common actions. But the essence of being a Spy is to eavesdrop and pass information and those radios were the instrument that made it possible. Maybe you are too focus on the title of the video rather than the content itself. Cause I've explained very well that Sternchen was a commercial Radio, that was not actually special, but interestingly, it was used by many Spies located in East Germany during the Cold War. The BND actually instructed those agents to buy that radio and use a converter to recieve a specific signal. It's well documented. If an agent was cought using a Spy Set like the one you linked, they would have been killed automatically. So in modern history, many spies used commercial radios for the purpose of spying and I think calling them Spy Radios is not factually wrong.