Q&A with Steve Vogel

Steve Vogel is the author of the new book Betrayal in Berlin: The True Story of the Cold War's Most Audacious Espionage Operation. He also has written Through the Perilous Fight and The Pentagon: A History. He was a reporter for The Washington Post for many years, and he lives near Washington, D.C.

Q: You note that your father worked in Berlin for the CIA during the period you focus on in the book. Is that what first got you interested in the story of the Berlin Tunnel, which you recount in Betrayal in Berlin?

A: That was definitely a big part of it. He was assigned there as an undercover case officer in the late 1950s and early 1960s, and I was born there in 1960. That was too late for the Berlin Tunnel, but in time for the Berlin Wall. My father used to say they built the wall to keep me out.

I don’t think that was true, but in any event, I always felt a connection to the city. I went back over the years, including a bicycle trip with high school classmates where we went through Checkpoint Charlie into East Berlin.

Then I ended up back in Germany as a reporter in the fall of 1989, just in time to cover the fall of the Berlin Wall. I had planned on staying a few months and ended up reporting from Germany for five years.

So Cold War Berlin always intrigued me. Of course, I’d known nothing of what my Dad was doing there, and I never had a chance to talk to him about it as he died many years ago, even before the wall came down.

But in subsequent years I would hear bits and pieces from his closest friends, and as they got older, I realized the window was fast closing on the opportunity to learn about the intelligence battle in Berlin in the early years of the Cold War. The story that really grabbed me was the Berlin Tunnel, which really seemed to capture all the murkiness and ambiguity of espionage.

Q: How did you get to interview George Blake, the spy at the center of your book, and how would you describe his attitude now about his spying activities during the Cold War?

A: I called him out of the blue. As a reporter, I’ve learned it’s often better not to ask permission to call someone, but just to call. A friend had given me Blake’s number, and I reached him one winter evening at his dacha outside Moscow. He was polite, and he answered some questions about the tunnel, but he didn’t want to speak for too long. 

Later when I was conducting research in Europe, I flew to Moscow hoping to see him. Again, it was unannounced—I didn’t want to give Blake a chance to tell me not to come. I took the train to Kratovo, where Blake lives, accompanied by Lena Yegorova, a translator who has worked with The Washington Post in Moscow.

That was an adventure. All I had were vague directions to walk down a little road until it intersected with a gravel path, and follow that for a few hundred yards past various walled-off dachas across several little intersections and hope that we would come to it. We had no street names or addresses. Somehow we found it, this traditional-looking wooden dacha, painted green with a steep gabled roof with tall pines all around the house, all surrounded by a high wall.

Unfortunately, Blake was ill at the time and unable to meet me. But his wife was very helpful and agreed to set up a telephone interview once he felt better.

When I spoke to Blake several weeks later, he was able to answer a lot of my questions on the details of how he betrayed the tunnel, and why the KGB nonetheless decided not to do anything to stop the tunnel, to protect him. It was very helpful for understanding his mindset, what he was thinking and doing at the time of the tunnel.

Blake doesn’t regret his espionage, though of course he admits what he found in the Soviet Union after his 1966 escape was a huge disappointment, with the Soviet communist state a complete failure. His view is that he was neither a traitor nor a hero. Writing about his escape, which was like a Keystone Cops adventure, was a lot of fun – definitely one of the craziest stories of the Cold War.

Q: How did you research the book, and what did you learn that especially surprised or intrigued you?

A: The interviews I did with the people involved were the most critical. I made that my top priority when I started, for the simple reason that almost everyone involved who was still around was going to be in their late 80s, or 90s, in one case 100 years old. Many of them had never spoken before about what they did.

It helped enormously that the CIA has declassified many aspects of the operation in recent years. They felt released from their vows of secrecy. In some cases, it was cathartic for them to talk about this. I also think there was a sense among many of them that this would be the last chance to get the true story down. I was very lucky in that respect as unfortunately a number of the people I spoke to have since died.

On the other hand, it was easier finding veterans of the Berlin tunnel who were still alive than it was finding veterans for the last book I wrote, about the War of 1812.

There were a number of very helpful archival sources on both sides of the ocean. The Imperial War Museum in London holds the records for Blake’s trial, including a remarkable, hand-written 14-page life history and confession he wrote for his attorneys that gave great detail about his captivity in Korea, his decision to secretly change sides in the middle of the Cold War, and how he went about betraying the tunnel and many other secrets.

In Berlin, the files of the Stasi, the former East German security service, has documents revealing the names and fates of agents betrayed by Blake and transcripts of his talks to East German intelligence officers.

The CIA has declassified a lot of records, some of which I obtained through the Freedom of Information Act and others that have been compiled into a very useful document collection.

The University of California Santa Barbara holds the papers of Bayard Stockton, a former CIA officer who served in Berlin and compiled a lot of interesting information about the Berlin base for the biography he wrote about Bill Harvey.

There are a lot of intriguing parts to the story, but to me the most fascinating is the dilemma the KGB faced when they had to choose between protecting their great mole, George Blake, or the secrets the tunnel would expose.

Q: What is the legacy today of the events you describe in the book?

A: I think you see it all over the place, particularly at a time when U.S. and Russian relations are filled with tensions and questions about surveillance and meddling.

Much of what we’re seeing today is very much in line with what happened in the 1950s--Russian disinformation campaigns and interference in elections, undermining democracy, the rings of sleeper Russian spies in the U.S. and Britain and so on.

Also, it’s important to point out that in some ways, the Berlin tunnel--which was surveillance on a mass scale never previously attempted--was a precursor to the mass surveillance the NSA conducts now.

Maybe the most important legacy is what didn’t happen. At a time when the U.S. feared a surprise Soviet attack and had almost nothing else in the way of decent intelligence, the tunnel offered assurances that helped keep the peace.

Q: What are you working on now?

A: Being a single dad with three kids and trying to keep my head above water.

Q: Anything else we should know?

A: This is a very complex story, with very little black and white but lots of shades of gray. In this age of Twitter and Facebook, people are very quick to issue verdicts and make judgments based on very little information, or bad information. I’ve tried to present the story in a manner that’s fair to all parties involved—the Americans, the British, the Soviets, and the Germans – looking at it from different perspectives.

--Interview with Deborah Kalb. Here's a previous Q&A with Steve Vogel.

Q&A with Annika Dunklee

Annika Dunklee is the author of the new children's picture book Eee-Moo!. Her other books include My Name is Elizabeth! and Me, Too!. She lives in Toronto.

Q: How did you come up with the idea for Eee-Moo!?

A: I have always loved playing around with words in my head. 

One day I was walking through the High Park Zoo where there are emus. I took the word emu apart and came up with eee and moo (nothing fancy), and further thought a pig could squeal “Eee!” and a cow, of course, could say “Moo!”.

This led me to think: what if an egg showed up on a farm, and when it cracked open, whatever popped out would suffer from a case of mistaken identity, and ta da! – Eee-Moo! was born.

Eee-Moo travelling by all the modes of transportation was based on my own experiences as a child, travelling from Toronto to my grandparent’s cottage, on the island of Koster, in Sweden.

It took 24 hours, door to door, to get there, and I travelled by cab, plane, train, bus, ferry and moped to get there (no rickshaw, kangaroo, kookaburra or koala, however).

Q: Why did you choose a platypus as the main character?

A: I decided that a platypus should be the lead character in the story for a few reasons:  they are from Australia (I wanted the little guy coming from very far away), they are adorable, and who doesn’t love a platypus!

Q: What do you think Brian Won’s illustrations add to the book?

A: When I write stories, I always include suggestions throughout, of what I envision the illustrations to look like. Brian not only took those suggestions, he took them to a whole other level! I was speechless when I saw his finals – such artistry!

My simple text juxtaposed with Brian's elaborate artwork makes the story work all that much more – it makes it funnier! The book wouldn’t be as beautiful or wonderful, if not for Brian’s illustrations. 

Q: What do you hope kids take away from the story?

A: Most of my books are meant to make kids laugh and feel happy. Although the message of Eee-Moo! is about finding “home,” and that home is where your family and friends are, and inclusivity to some extent, I just really want kids to enjoy the whole experience of Eee-Moo’s journey, from start to finish.

Q: What are you working on now?

A: I am always working on many titles at a time, but some stories I shelve when I get frustrated with them, and think maybe some time away, will help me see them with fresh, more loving, eyes.

The one story I just finished writing is Martha: The Not Quite Perfect Unicorn (title not set in stone). The story is about a unicorn who was born with a horn which was not quite perfect, and is set in Scotland.

The manuscript is currently sitting with a couple of publishers.

Q: Anything else we should know?

A: My next book coming out is William’s Getaway, with Owlkids, in March 2020.

--Interview with Deborah Kalb

Q&A with Elana Rubinstein

Elana Rubinstein is the author of the new children's book Once Upon an Apple Cake: A Rosh Hashanah Story. She lives in Los Angeles.

Q: How did you come up with the idea for Once Upon an Apple Cake?

A: I started Once Upon an Apple Cake in college. In between classes, I was writing a story about a little girl who lived in a magical restaurant. It was pure wish fulfillment. The restaurant could do all sorts of things—like cook meals by itself and set the table (think Beauty and the Beast Be My Guest.)

Unfortunately, the story wasn’t really working. The plot and characters felt very bland to me. Something was definitely missing. 

At a certain point, I realized that I should change the focus of the story from a magical restaurant to the little girl who was actually living there. That’s how Saralee Siegel’s super-nose was born! After changing that crucial detail, the rest of the story fell into place. Saralee’s voice and unusual perspective made the entire book feel alive.

Q: What do you think the story says about the connections between holidays and food?

A: Saralee Siegel and her family are in the restaurant business. Their entire lives revolve around cooking delicious food for the Jewish holiday cycle. For the Siegels, food is a way to connect with the community around them. It’s almost like they are opening the door and allowing their whole town to join in on their family traditions.

Q: What do you think Jennifer Naalchigar's illustrations add to the book?

A: As soon as I saw Jennifer’s artist portfolio, I knew she was the perfect illustrator for Once Upon an Apple Cake. She added so many quirky details to the book. During the editing process, I didn’t want to add too many “art notes” because I knew that Jennifer would come up with something so much better!

I especially love how she illustrated each character, paying close attention to their fashion choices, hair styles, and accessories!

Q: What do you hope kids take away from the book?

A: I hope that readers see how much the Siegels love each other, despite each person’s MANY eccentricities. The Siegels have true acceptance for one another. They may bicker, break things, forget important details, and drive each other nuts—but their love for each other surpasses it all.

Q: What are you working on now?

A: I am currently writing the second book in the Saralee Siegel Series! I can’t give a lot of details right now, but I know readers will love this second installment.

Q: Anything else we should know?

A: If you have any family recipes you’d like to share with the Siegel Family, you can email siegelhouserestaurant@gmail.com. Who knows, perhaps your recipe will make it into the official Siegel House menu. 

--Interview with Deborah Kalb

Sept. 27

ON THIS DAY IN HISTORY
Sept. 27, 1921: Bernard Waber born.

Q&A with Daniel B. Schwartz

Daniel B. Schwartz is the author of the new book Ghetto: The History of a Word. He also has written The First Modern Jew: Spinoza and the History of an Image. He is associate professor of history and Judaic studies at George Washington University.

Q: What first intrigued you about the idea of the ghetto, and why did you decide to write a book about it?

A: First, I have a longstanding interest in tracing words, concepts, and images that cross borders, be they borders of time, space, or identity. This was also the focus of my previous book, on the history of interpretations of the 17th-century philosopher and heretic Baruch Spinoza, who is often considered the first modern Jew.

As for the word ghetto specifically, what struck me was that this term, so central to Jewish history, had come to be associated predominantly with African Americans, not simply in the U.S. but globally, even in Europe where both the ghetto idea and the word itself originated.

Most people, when they hear the word ghetto today, think of black segregation, or simply of blackness more generally (and controversially). Yet for nearly 90 percent of its 500-year history, the word ghetto was primarily associated with Jews, albeit in diverse ways that evolved over time.

My main goal in writing this book was to illuminate this “shared” history of the term ghetto, to chronicle the different meanings and connotations the word has borne in the Jewish experience as well as the “transfer” of the word from Jews to blacks in the post-World War II period.

Q: You write, "Only by understanding the winding journey of the word ghetto within the Jewish experience can we begin to understand the complications that have attended its journey beyond it." What do you see as the relationship between the Jewish experience and a more universal experience with the word ghetto?

A: I think the main thread that connects the Jewish experience and a more universal experience of the ghetto is an essential tension between its perception as both a kind of hell and a haven.

On one hand, the ghetto is a place to which you are restricted by the majority society, impoverished, dilapidated, desperately overcrowded, crime-ridden, dangerous, full of social pathologies. On the other hand, the ghetto is seen as a sort of fortress, an asylum from an antagonistic world, a site of community and solidarity, a place associated particularly for those who have escaped with authenticity and even home.

I don’t want to imply that these two poles have always been kept in balance. One of the key arguments of my book is that the spaces that have been called “ghettos” have varied considerably in their degree of coercion, segregation, poverty, and pathology.

The ghettos of the Holocaust may initially have been seen by some as a refuge where Jews at the very least would enjoy the protection of living amongst their own, but this proved in the end to be an entirely vain hope, and for anyone sane the Nazi ghetto could not be an object of nostalgia.

The original ghettos of early modern Europe do not appear to have been sites of violent crime.

And perhaps the main point I was trying to convey in the quotation you cited above was that the very diversity of forms the Jewish ghetto assumed (the legal ghettos of early modern Italy, Jewish immigrant ghettos like the Lower East Side, the Holocaust ghettos) makes the issue of comparing ghettos of the present to the “Jewish ghetto” especially fraught—for which past incarnation of the ghetto is being invoked in the comparison?

These caveats aside, I think it is fair to say that there has typically been a fundamental ambivalence characteristic of the ghetto idea, and that this links the Jewish ghetto to its successors. 

Q: What would you say are some of the most common misperceptions about the concept of a ghetto?

A: One of the main problems is when people see earlier instances of the ghetto through the lens of one of its later manifestations. It’s difficult for Jews in particular to hear the word “ghetto” today without thinking of the Warsaw Ghetto or Lodz Ghetto of the Holocaust.

But the original ghettos of early modern Europe—though also sites of legally compulsory segregation—bore little else in common with Holocaust ghettos beside the name. 

Though there were curfews that required Jews to be back in the ghettos of early modern Italy by a certain hour, when the gates would be shut and locked, Jews (so long as they were wearing some distinguishing garment, typically in the case of the Italian ghettos a colored hat) were free to leave the ghetto by day to conduct business or visit gentile acquaintances.

The boundaries of the ghetto were porous; there were always, at least during the permitted hours, Christians entering and Jews leaving. They were not only physically, but culturally permeable: behind the walls of the ghetto, Jews absorbed everything from the language to the folkways of the surrounding society, even if they tended also to “Judaize” them.

So we make a profound mistake when we impose the prison-like reality of the Nazi ghettos on the ghettos that coined the term. This is why the project of disentangling the various applications of the word “ghetto” is so important.

Q: How did you research the book, and what did you learn that especially surprised you?

A: I researched this book relying on a broad range of materials and media that could attest to the changing meaning and usage of “ghetto.” Digital history sources, historical dictionaries, rabbinic responsa, newspaper and magazine articles, the genre of ghetto literature, historical and sociological studies—all these and more formed the evidence base for this book.

One of the most surprising discoveries I made in my research was the degree to which early modern Jewish communities often found a silver lining in their ghettoization.

The Jewish community of Verona, which was restricted to a ghetto in 1600, held an annual celebration on the anniversary of their ghettoization at which they recited festive hymns and prayers and paraded the Torah scrolls around the synagogue—perhaps in part because they had been ghettoized in the center of the city rather than in an outlying slum, or because ghettoization meant they were spared the far worse fate of expulsion.

One rabbinic opinion in the 18th century portrayed ghettoization as an act of divine providence and even mercy for facilitating the observance of certain Jewish laws. These may have been exceptional cases, but as I explained above, the tendency to find some positive significance in clustering and concentration is a recurrent theme in the history of the ghetto.

Q: What are you working on now?

A: I’ve just begun work on a multiethnic, multicultural history of arguably the most famous of all immigrant quarters—the Lower East Side—that will trace it from its German-American heyday in the mid-19th century to its gentrification today. But this project is at a very incipient stage so I don’t have much at this point to say about it.

Q: Anything else we should know?

A: Among other things, Ghetto is about the power of words and language. We tend to think we have minimized the scope of disagreement when we boil a debate down to semantics. ("It's just semantics.") But the reality is that so many of our cultural arguments manifest as arguments over words (terrorism, antisemitism, concentration camps), over what they mean, how they are used, and who gets to define them.

This is one of the central points my book drives home. Any attempt to write a history of the ghetto will repeatedly bump up against the problem, What is a ghetto? How should the term be used and defined? The meaning of ghetto has been stretched and contracted, appropriated for new groups and contexts, reclaimed by its original "owners," and accepted and rejected.

I was reminded of this core idea in my book during the controversy this past summer over the application of the label “concentration camps” to the immigration detention centers on the southern border. Some of the same arguments that were made to rebut this analogy (namely, its trespassing on the memory of the Holocaust) were trotted out in the past to resist the naming of segregated African American neighborhoods as ghettos. So my book speaks to very contemporary issues and concerns.  

--Interview with Deborah Kalb

Q&A with Barry Joseph

Barry Joseph is the author of the book Seltzertopia: The Extraordinary Story of an Ordinary Drink. He is vice president of digital experience at Girl Scouts of the USA. 

Q: You note that you were approached to write a book about seltzer after having written an article for The Forward about it. What initially inspired you to write the article, and had seltzer always been a big part of your life?

A: I wrote the product review for this new kitchen appliance, at the time called Soda Club (not Sodastream), out of purely selfish motivation: I figured it was my best way to get one for free. I had no idea it was the doorman to a rabbit hole (to mix metaphors) whose bottom I still have yet to find after all these years. Before the article I just enjoyed seltzer as a casual drink - 15 years later I [see] it as a fundamental element that binds the universe together. 

Q: You worked on the book for more than a decade. How did you research it, and what did you learn that particularly fascinated you?

A: I went through different phases. My first phase was to interview people. I carried a recorder with me everywhere - during my work commute, walking down the street, at restaurants - and I interviewed everyone I could. I had over 100 interviews. I simply wanted to understand what seltzer meant to people, so I could understand how it fit into people’s lives.

Once I understand the primary associations people had with seltzer (health, a tasty beverage, a comedic prop, and a lifestyle choice) I then began to research the history of those associations. This was before Google Books and that was slow going. I created a rich social media presence so people with knowledge would find me - a blog, a podcast, a twitter account, Facebook, etc. - and it worked.

People found me. A German lumberjack. A Polish marine archeologist. A Pennsylvanian seltzer work owner. And then all sent me material to help me understand the rich world of seltzer.

Then Google Books came out, and the world opened up to me. I could now read from the comfort of my home manuals from the 1890s for how to run a seltzer work, or run your own soda shop and the recipes you needed to have. I found 200-year-old travel logs visiting the historic town in German that gave seltzer its name. 

And with Youtube I was able to explore seltzer TV jingles from England, and the infamous Original New York Seltzer made-for-MTV L.A. hotel seltzer jump. 

Q: What would you say are some of the most common perceptions and misperceptions about seltzer?

A: Part of the fun of research seltzer was learning all the different things people associate with seltzer.

As I mentioned above, the first association came from how and why people first encountered and came to desire naturally carbonated water: at water resorts and healing spas. That association with health - for your body, for the planet - has never left.

And that lead to the desire to drink seltzer without having to travel to a spa. Apothecaries learned how to manufacture carbonated water, then add minerals associated with famous spas from around the world. 

As customers expressed interest in better tasting drinks, seltzer shifted from a medicine for the elite to a beverage for the masses, whether on its own, with a sweet syrup added, or as the basis of a new line of beverages, now called sodas or pop, and later flavored seltzer (think LaCroix) or hard seltzer (think White Claw).

The third association grew out of seltzers use as a comedic prop, first on the vaudeville stage in NYC, then in Hollywood films (think Three Stooges) and television (think Howdy Doody); if you see someone holding a seltzer siphon in a comedy you know sooner or later someone is going to get spritzed in the face.

Finally, there are people who identify with seltzer as a lifestyle choice. And there are many: millennials, Jewish people, Argentinians, Hungarians; there’s all sorts of people who just wouldn’t feel whole without seltzer.

So those the big ones. The small ones? Siphons can be used to put out household fires. Seltzer can be used to get out a stain. It’s a good baking ingredient and if poured on your face keeps your skin young. It can be used as a weapon of war. On and on it goes. It’s remarkable how many ways we find meaning - rightly or wrongly - in seltzer’s sharp bite. 

Q: Have your views about seltzer changed over the course of writing the book?

A: It had to. I knew nothing when I began. And I stopped the book because I had to publish it at some point, not because I had learned the whole story. Fifteen years later, I still learn something new about seltzer every month. 

Q: What are you working on now?

A: I’m traveling the country telling the story of Seltzertopia. I call it SeltertopiaLive! I bring together all the amazing media I’ve uncovered - music, movies, television and more - to tell the story of seltzer. It’s super fun for me. Since I began the tour at the end of last year, I’ve presented it over two dozen times, with crowds as small as two to as large as 500, and everyone leaves just bubbling over.

Q: Anything else we should know?

A: While Seltzertopia tells the story of seltzer, going back centuries, its heart and soul lies in the portraits of contemporary people who have been touched by seltzer: seltzer delivery men, seltzer company CEOs, siphon collectors, seltzer work owners, and more. Their stories are quite moving, rather engaging, and are a collective case study of people whose lives are transformed by unexpected passions. 

I keep an active presence on my Twitter account, Instagram, Facebook, and my blog. 

--Interview with Deborah Kalb

Sept. 26

ON THIS DAY IN HISTORY
Sept. 26, 1949: Jane Smiley born.