During the Cold War (1946 - 1989) Europe was swarming with spies. Distrust on both sides (US/NATO on one side and Russia and occupied countries on the other) led to a lot of military activity. Weapon build-up and practice here, practice there. Naturally, the other party wanted to know what was going on. But there were also political spies and men who kept their ears open 'for the other side' at universities and technology companies. I was one of the people recruited to spy, by the GDR and against my country, the Netherlands. So I "walked over" to the good side. It's interesting how something like this works and how you get an "education" in practice. It struck me that my companions in East Berlin had no idea of life in the West, of a democracy. As a result, I received "safety advice", which I ignored as soon as possible. I learned a lot from that time and had plenty of fellowship. Of course I made my mistakes during training. As a result, I was arrested twice by the Volkspolizei. At the station I would play chess with an officer of the police force. The Secret Service couldn't leave me there, so they came to "rescue" me. Read in this book how people's minds are screwed up when they live under a totalitarian regime. That is why hardly any inventions are made there. I hope you enjoy reading this book as much as I enjoyed writing it and recalling all the history.

Peter van Wermeskerken is born 12-31-1939 at Zeist, Netherlands. His father was a journalist and he followed in his footsteps. He was reporter and chef economic desk at AD daily at Rotterdam. For many years he was nr. 1 in oil reporting in the world. He studied agriculture and economics at the level of teacher Highschool. After retirement he was one period town councilor. With his first wife (deceased) he has two children. He remarried 2018. Hobbies chess and writing.