Past Gas #141: Suzuki Turned A Motorcycle Racer Into A Spy

Today on Past Gas, the story of the motorcycle racer turned spy Ernst Degner-- as well as that of a Nazi engineer named Walter Kaaden. Why was Degner leaving East Germany at the height of his fame? How was the Japanese company Suzuki embroiled in his defection? And what secrets did Degner have stuffed in a briefcase that he was carrying with him on that Autumn day in communist Germany? Degner and Walter’s destinies were shaped by larger-than-life forces-- but through a series of choices of their own making, they shaped their futures, and in the process, altered the history of motorcycle racing forever.

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