The removal of

Hungary Hungary is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Spanning much of the Pannonian Basin, Carpathian Basin, it is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine to the northeast, Romania to the east and southeast, Serbia to the south, Croatia and ...

's border fence with

Austria Austria, formally the Republic of Austria, is a landlocked country in Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine Federal states of Austria, states, of which the capital Vienna is the List of largest cities in Aust ...

occurred in 1989 during the end of communism in Hungary, which was part of a broad wave of revolutions in various

communist countries A communist state, also known as a Marxist–Leninist state, is a one-party state in which the totality of the power belongs to a party adhering to some form of Marxism–Leninism, a branch of the communist ideology. Marxism–Leninism was ...

Central and Eastern Europe Central and Eastern Europe is a geopolitical term encompassing the countries in Baltic region, Northeast Europe (primarily the Baltic states, Baltics), Central Europe (primarily the Visegrád Group), Eastern Europe, and Southeast Europe (primaril ...

. The border was still closely guarded and the Hungarian security forces tried to hold back refugees. The dismantling of the

electric fence An electric fence is a barrier that uses electric shocks to deter humans and other animals from crossing a boundary. Most electric fences are used for agricultural purposes and other non-human animal control. They may also be used to protect hig ...

along

's long border with

was the first fissure in the "

Iron Curtain The Iron Curtain was the political and physical boundary dividing Europe into two separate areas from the end of World War II in 1945 until the end of the Cold War in 1991. On the east side of the Iron Curtain were countries connected to the So ...

" that had divided Europe for more than 40 years, since the end of

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

. Then the Pan-European Picnic caused a chain reaction in

East Germany East Germany, officially known as the German Democratic Republic (GDR), was a country in Central Europe from Foundation of East Germany, its formation on 7 October 1949 until German reunification, its reunification with West Germany (FRG) on ...

that ultimately resulted in the demise of the Berlin Wall.

History

In April 1989, the Hungarian government ordered the electricity in the barbed-wire border fence along the Hungary–Austria border to be turned off. On 2 May, Hungarian border guard began removing sections of the barrier – filmed by Western TV crews summoned for the occasion. On 27 June Hungary's

Minister of Foreign Affairs In many countries, the ministry of foreign affairs (abbreviated as MFA or MOFA) is the highest government department exclusively or primarily responsible for the state's foreign policy and foreign relations, relations, diplomacy, bilateralism, ...

, Gyula Horn, and his Austrian counterpart, Alois Mock, held a symbolic fence-cutting ceremony at the

Sopron Sopron (; , ) is a city in Hungary on the Austrian border, near Lake Neusiedl/Lake Fertő. History Ancient times-13th century In the Iron Age a hilltop settlement with a burial ground existed in the neighbourhood of Sopron-Várhely. When ...

(Hungary) border crossing. The open border meant that it was easier for Hungarians to cross into Austria for goods and services; many Hungarians availed themselves of this to purchase consumer goods which had been unavailable or scarce in their own country; a visible sign of this in the first few weeks was that many cars could be seen in Austrian towns such as

Graz Graz () is the capital of the Austrian Federal states of Austria, federal state of Styria and the List of cities and towns in Austria, second-largest city in Austria, after Vienna. On 1 January 2025, Graz had a population of 306,068 (343,461 inc ...

with washing machines strapped to them. The most famous crossing came on 19 August, when, during the Pan-European Picnic between Austrians and Hungarians, over 900 East Germans on holiday in Hungary rushed the border and escaped into Austria and then travelled safely to

West Germany West Germany was the common English name for the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG) from its formation on 23 May 1949 until German reunification, its reunification with East Germany on 3 October 1990. It is sometimes known as the Bonn Republi ...

.. The open border infuriated East German officials, who feared a return to the days before the Berlin Wall, when thousands of East Germans fled daily to

West Berlin West Berlin ( or , ) was a political enclave which comprised the western part of Berlin from 1948 until 1990, during the Cold War. Although West Berlin lacked any sovereignty and was under military occupation until German reunification in 1 ...

. Although worried, the

Soviet Union The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...

took no overt actions against Hungary, taking a hands-off approach.

References

External links

''2 May: Hungary dismantles border''

BBC The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) is a British public service broadcaster headquartered at Broadcasting House in London, England. Originally established in 1922 as the British Broadcasting Company, it evolved into its current sta ...

''10 Sept: East Germans go West''

* . Hungarian People's Republic Hungary–Soviet Union relations Cold War history by country Revolutions of 1989 1989 in Hungary Austria–Hungary border Austria–Hungary relations {{Hungary-hist-stub

History

See also

References

External links