SCOTLAND’S role in the Cold War will be examined in a new exhibition at the National Museum of Scotland which includes a map highlighting potential nuclear targets.
Cold War Scotland, which opens on July 13 until January 26, examines the front line of a 40-year nuclear stand-off between the West and the Soviet Union following the end of the Second World War.
Objects on display for the first time include secret intelligence training documents and a 1980s hand-painted Ordinance Survey map of central Scotland marked to highlight targets under threat of nuclear attack, including major cities, military bases and dockyards.
A toy nuclear power station, operated by steam, and hot to the touch when played with (pictured below), is also on display, along with a Geiger counter used by farmers in East Ayrshire to test for radiation in sheep following the Chernobyl Disaster.
A rattle made from an old laundry detergent bottle emblazoned with the CND logo from the Peace Marches of the early 1980s is also on display, showing the history of counter-protest, which also included a pram decorated with anti-war badges.
The physical remains of the Cold War, including former bases, forgotten bunkers and decommissioned nuclear power stations, still exist in Scotland.
In 1980, the US-controlled listening and monitoring station at RAF Edzell in Angus, was even commemorated with its own tartan.
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Organisers of the exhibition said: “The impact of the war still lingers in Scottish politics, culture and memory.
“Scots played an active role in the global conflict as soldiers, for example, within intelligence services and as part of voluntary civil defences.”
Dr Meredith Greiling (above), principal curator of technology at National Museums Scotland, said: “From nuclear submarines to lively peace protests and observation stations perpetually monitoring for devastating attack, the Cold War permeated every aspect of life in Scotland for decades.
“This conflict is so often remembered on a global scale, but this thought-provoking exhibition will offer a Scottish perspective of the period, allowing Scots from all walks of life to tell their remarkable stories for the first time.”
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