The
Pan-European Picnic was a peace demonstration held on the
AustriaAustria , officially the Republic of Austria , is a landlocked country of roughly 8.3 million people in Central Europe. It borders both Germany and the Czech Republic to the north, Slovakia and Hungary to the east, Slovenia and Italy to the south, and Switzerland and Liechtenstein to the west...
n-
HungarianHungary , in English officially the Republic of Hungary , is a landlocked country in the Carpathian Basin of Central Europe, bordered by Austria, Slovakia, Ukraine, Romania, Serbia, Croatia, and Slovenia. Its capital is Budapest. Hungary is a member of OECD, NATO, EU, V4 and is a Schengen state...
border near the town of
SopronSopron ; , , Latin: Scarbantia) is a city in Hungary on the Austrian border, near the Neusiedler/Lake Fertő.- Ancient times-13th century :...
on 19 August 1989, an important event in political developments which led to the fall of the
Iron CurtainThe concept of the Iron Curtain symbolized the ideological 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...
, the
reunification of GermanyGerman reunification is the process in which the German Democratic Republic joined the Federal Republic of Germany , and Berlin was united into a single city-state. The start of this process is commonly referred to by former citizens of the GDR as die Wende...
and in the end the eastern enlargement of the European Union.
In a symbolic gesture agreed to by both countries, a border gate on the road from
Sankt Margarethen im BurgenlandSt Margarethen is a town in Burgenland near the state capital Eisenstadt. It is home to a large first century Roman quarry. A passion play has been presented in St Margarethen each summer for over seventy years. The town is close to the border with Hungary and the Pan-European Picnic, a peace...
(Austria) to
SopronkőhidaSopronkőhida is a village in North Western Hungary, 4 km north of the city Sopron and 5 km south of the border with Austria.-Significance:...
(Hungary) was to be opened for three hours.
The
Pan-European Picnic was a peace demonstration held on the
AustriaAustria , officially the Republic of Austria , is a landlocked country of roughly 8.3 million people in Central Europe. It borders both Germany and the Czech Republic to the north, Slovakia and Hungary to the east, Slovenia and Italy to the south, and Switzerland and Liechtenstein to the west...
n-
HungarianHungary , in English officially the Republic of Hungary , is a landlocked country in the Carpathian Basin of Central Europe, bordered by Austria, Slovakia, Ukraine, Romania, Serbia, Croatia, and Slovenia. Its capital is Budapest. Hungary is a member of OECD, NATO, EU, V4 and is a Schengen state...
border near the town of
SopronSopron ; , , Latin: Scarbantia) is a city in Hungary on the Austrian border, near the Neusiedler/Lake Fertő.- Ancient times-13th century :...
on 19 August 1989, an important event in political developments which led to the fall of the
Iron CurtainThe concept of the Iron Curtain symbolized the ideological 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...
, the
reunification of GermanyGerman reunification is the process in which the German Democratic Republic joined the Federal Republic of Germany , and Berlin was united into a single city-state. The start of this process is commonly referred to by former citizens of the GDR as die Wende...
and in the end the eastern enlargement of the European Union.
In a symbolic gesture agreed to by both countries, a border gate on the road from
Sankt Margarethen im BurgenlandSt Margarethen is a town in Burgenland near the state capital Eisenstadt. It is home to a large first century Roman quarry. A passion play has been presented in St Margarethen each summer for over seventy years. The town is close to the border with Hungary and the Pan-European Picnic, a peace...
(Austria) to
SopronkőhidaSopronkőhida is a village in North Western Hungary, 4 km north of the city Sopron and 5 km south of the border with Austria.-Significance:...
(Hungary) was to be opened for three hours. About away from this spot on 27 June 1989, Austria's then foreign minister
Alois MockAlois Mock is a politician and member of the Austrian People's Party . He was Vice Chancellor of Austria from 1987 to 1989. As foreign minister he helped take Austria into the European Union....
and his Hungarian counterpart
Gyula HornGyula Horn is a Hungarian politician and former Prime Minister of Hungary , leading a socialist-liberal coalition....
had together cut through the border fence, in a move highlighting Hungary's decision to dismantle its surveillance installations along the border, a process started on 2 May 1989.
More than 600 East Germans seized the opportunity presented by this brief lifting of the Iron Curtain and fled into the west. In the run-up to 19 August, the organisers of the Pan-European Picnic had distributed pamphlets advertising the event. The Hungarian border guards, however, reacted judiciously to the growing number of people fleeing, and, despite their orders to shoot anyone who attempted to cross the border, did not intervene.
In
BudapestBudapest is the capital of Hungary. As the largest city of Hungary, it serves as the country's principal political, cultural, commercial, industrial, and transportation center and is considered an important hub in Central Europe. In 2009, Budapest had 1,712,210 inhabitants, down from a mid-1980s...
and around the
Lake BalatonLake Balaton, in the Transdanubian region of Hungary, is the largest lake in Central Europe, and one of its foremost tourist destinations. As Hungary is landlocked, it is often affectionately called the "Hungarian Sea"...
, thousands more East Germans were waiting for their chance to cross the border, not believing that the border would be opened, and not trusting the procedures in place. The number of people who crossed the border into the west on the day of this event was therefore limited to no more than a few hundred. Over the next few days, the Hungarian government increased the number of guards patrolling its western border, so that only a relatively small number actually reached the west successfully. On 11 September 1989, Hungary finally opened its borders for citizens of the German Democratic Republic for good.
The Pan-European Picnic is considered a highly significant milestone in the efforts that led to the end of the GDR and to the
German reunificationGerman reunification is the process in which the German Democratic Republic joined the Federal Republic of Germany , and Berlin was united into a single city-state. The start of this process is commonly referred to by former citizens of the GDR as die Wende...
. Commemorative ceremonies are held each year on 19 August at the place where the border was opened.
The picnic was organised by members of four Hungarian opposition parties, the
Hungarian Democratic ForumThe Hungarian Democratic Forum , or MDF, is a Centre-right, Liberal Conservative, and Christian Democratic, political party in Hungary, led by Ibolya Dávid.Its emblematic figure was József Antall, Prime Minister between 1990 and 1993....
the
Alliance of Free DemocratsThe Alliance of Free Democrats – Hungarian Liberal Party is a liberal party in Hungary, led since July 2009 by Attila Retkes . The SZDSZ is a member of the ELDR and of Liberal International...
, the
FideszThe Fidesz – Hungarian Civic Union is a large conservative and centre-right political party in Hungary. As of 2009, Fidesz is the largest opposition party in Hungary...
and FKGP. The event's patrons were
CSUThe Christian Social Union in Bavaria is a Christian democratic and conservative political party in Germany. It was founded as a continuation of the Weimar-era Catholic Bavarian People's Party. It operates only in the state of Bavaria, while its sister party, the Christian Democratic Union ,...
MEPA Member of the European Parliament is the English name for a person who has been elected to the European Parliament, one of the European Union's two legislative bodies. MEPs are the European Union's equivalents of a country's national legislators in either the lower house or unicameral...
Otto von HabsburgOtto von Habsburg was the head of the House of Habsburg from 1922 to 2007...
(then head of the house of Habsburg and
pretenderA pretender is a claimant to an abolished throne or to a throne already occupied by somebody else. The English word pretend comes from the French word prétendre, meaning "to put forward, to profess or claim"...
to the Austro-Hungarian throne) and the Hungarian Minister of State and reformer
Imre PozsgayImre Pozsgay is a Hungarian politician who played a key role in Hungary's transition to democracy after 1988.Pozsgay joined the Hungarian Socialist Workers Party after he graduated with an English degree from the Lenin Institute in Budapest...
.
East Germany's
Erich HoneckerErich Honecker was a German Communist politician who led the German Democratic Republic from 1971 until 1989....
gave the following statement to the
Daily Mirror on the Pan-European Picnic:
- Habsburg distributed pamphlets right up to the Polish
Poland , officially the Republic of Poland , is a country in Central Europe . Poland is bordered by Germany to the west; the Czech Republic and Slovakia to the south; Ukraine, Belarus and Lithuania to the east; and the Baltic Sea and Kaliningrad Oblast, a Russian exclave, to the north...
border, inviting East German holiday-makers to a picnic. When they came to the picnic, they were given presents, food and Deutschmarks, before being persuaded to go over to the west.
The following weeks saw a definite change in the perception of the previously impenetrable Iron Curtain.
Today the place of the picnic is marked by a monument of Miklos Melocco, by a bell presented from the city of
DebrecenDebrecen , , is the second largest city in Hungary after Budapest. Debrecen is the regional centre of the Northern Great Plain region and the capital of Hajdú-Bihar county.-Name:...
(from where the idea of the Picnic emerged), a
pagodaA pagoda is the general term in the English language for a tiered tower with multiple eaves common in Nepal, India, China, Japan, Korea, Vietnam, and other parts of Asia. Some pagodas are used as Taoist houses of worship. Most pagodas were built to have a religious function, most commonly...
presented by the Association of the Japanese–Hungarian Friendship and by a wooden monument unveiled by the organisors in 1991. A large artwork symbolizing a Cross and a barbed wire can be found at the Cave Theatre of
FertőrákosFertőrákos is a village in the county of Győr-Moson-Sopron in Hungary. In 2001 it had a population of 2,182.It is located at , about from Sopron, near Lake Fertő and the Austrian border. In summer, a border checkpoint for pedestrians and cyclists connects it to the Austrian municipality of...
, a few kilometres from the site. The artwork was made by
Gabriela von HabsburgGabriela von Habsburg, is a German sculptor and the granddaughter of Charles I, last Emperor of Austria. Her main works are abstract stainless steel sculptures, but also include stone-printed lithographies...
, a daughter of Otto von Habsburg.
See also
- Austria–Hungary relations
Austrian-Hungarian relations are the neighborly relations between Austria and Hungary, two member states of the European Union. Both countries have a long common history since the ruling dynasty of Austria, the Habsburgs, inherited the Hungarian throne in the 16th century. Both have been part of...
- Removal of Hungary's border fence
The removal of Hungary's border fence with Austria in May 1989 was a historic event during the Cold War, directly prior to the revolutionary wave known as the "Autumn of Nations".-History:...
- Revolutions of 1989
The Revolutions of 1989, sometimes called the Autumn of Nations, were a revolutionary wave that swept across Central and Eastern Europe in late 1989, ending in the overthrow of Soviet-style communist states within the space of a few months....
External links