It was a picnic that changed the course of history.
Twenty years ago, members of Hungary’s budding opposition organized a picnic at the border with Austria to press for greater political freedom and promote friendship with their Western neighbors.
Some 600 East Germans got word of the event and turned up among the estimated 10,000 participants. They had a plan: to take advantage of an excursion across the border to escape to Austria.
PHOTO: AFP
Hungarian President Laszelo Solyom and German Chancellor Angela Merkel took part in festivities on Wednesday marking the 20th anniversary of the “Pan-European Picnic,” which helped precipitate the fall nearly three months later of the Berlin Wall.
“Hungarians gave wings to the East Germans’ desire for freedom,” Merkel told an audience that included politicians, diplomats, former East German refugees and several of the picnic’s organizers.
One of the key factors allowing the Germans to escape: the decision by a Hungarian border guard commander not to stop them as they pushed through to freedom.
“It was an incredible experience for them,” said the guard, Lieutenant Colonel Arpad Bella, remembering the scene as the East Germans marched up the road to the border gates at Sopronpuszta and crossed into Austria.
“They embraced, they kissed, they cried and laughed in their joy. Some sat down right across the border, others had to be stopped by the Austrian guards because they kept running and didn’t believe they were in Austria,” said Bella, 63, during an interview where the gates once stood.
Bella said he and five of his men had been expecting a Hungarian delegation to cross by bus, visit a nearby Austrian town as a symbol of the new era of glasnost — or openness — under reformist Soviet leader Mikail Gorbachev, and return to Hungary.
Instead, at the planned time of 3pm, 150 East Germans approached the border gate, which had been closed since 1948.
“I had about 20 seconds to think about it until they got here,” Bella said. “Had the five of us confronted the Germans, they would have [overwhelmed us].”
Once the initial group got through hundreds more East Germans joined them. Among the 600 were many young people and families with small children, Bella said.
Laszlo Nagy, one of the organizers of the picnic, said he was startled by the East Germans’ actions, who left behind hundreds of cars and other possessions near the border for the chance to make the short walk to a new life in the West.
“Some of them were waiting for this moment for 20 or 30 years,” Nagy said. “They left behind everything ... because freedom has the greatest value.”
Dirk Mennenga was one of the “Ossies,” a nickname for East Germans, who made it to Austria on that day. He had come to Hungary from Dresden.
“We had planned beforehand that we would try to cross the border through Hungary,” Mennenga said. “We didn’t know how easy or difficult it would be.”
After seeing flyers promoting the picnic, Mennenga thought the event could provide an opportunity to escape West.
“It was a very emotional situation,” Mennenga said. “There was a sole border guard. A young Hungarian man kept pointing the way and before we knew it we were in Austria.”
While Bella was unaware of the East Germans’ intentions, behind the scenes the Hungarian government had already decided that it would somehow let them go West.
Miklos Nemeth, Hungary’s last prime minister of the communist era, said the picnic and the East Germans’ breakthrough on that day was one in a series of steps that brought democracy to most of the Soviet bloc within a year.
“It was a planned process on behalf of the government, but it was a transition where everyone was also seeking to secure their own future,” Nemeth said.
With 80,000 Soviet troops stationed in Hungary, Nemeth said it was difficult to know how Moscow would react to the unprecedented events.
“In my mind this was an important event, a test,” Nemeth said. “And fortunately, Arpad Bella ... although he did not get any information, he decided in the right way.”
OPTIMISTIC: A Philippine Air Force spokeswoman said the military believed the crew were safe and were hopeful that they and the jet would be recovered A Philippine Air Force FA-50 jet and its two-person crew are missing after flying in support of ground forces fighting communist rebels in the southern Mindanao region, a military official said yesterday. Philippine Air Force spokeswoman Colonel Consuelo Castillo said the jet was flying “over land” on the way to its target area when it went missing during a “tactical night operation in support of our ground troops.” While she declined to provide mission specifics, Philippine Army spokesman Colonel Louie Dema-ala confirmed that the missing FA-50 was part of a squadron sent “to provide air support” to troops fighting communist rebels in
PROBE: Last week, Romanian prosecutors launched a criminal investigation against presidential candidate Calin Georgescu accusing him of supporting fascist groups Tens of thousands of protesters gathered in Romania’s capital on Saturday in the latest anti-government demonstration by far-right groups after a top court canceled a presidential election in the EU country last year. Protesters converged in front of the government building in Bucharest, waving Romania’s tricolor flags and chanting slogans such as “down with the government” and “thieves.” Many expressed support for Calin Georgescu, who emerged as the frontrunner in December’s canceled election, and demanded they be resumed from the second round. George Simion, the leader of the far-right Alliance for the Unity of Romanians (AUR), which organized the protest,
ECONOMIC DISTORTION? The US commerce secretary’s remarks echoed Elon Musk’s arguments that spending by the government does not create value for the economy US Secretary of Commerce Howard Lutnick on Sunday said that government spending could be separated from GDP reports, in response to questions about whether the spending cuts pushed by Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency could possibly cause an economic downturn. “You know that governments historically have messed with GDP,” Lutnick said on Fox News Channel’s Sunday Morning Futures. “They count government spending as part of GDP. So I’m going to separate those two and make it transparent.” Doing so could potentially complicate or distort a fundamental measure of the US economy’s health. Government spending is traditionally included in the GDP because
Hundreds of people in rainbow colors gathered on Saturday in South Africa’s tourist magnet Cape Town to honor the world’s first openly gay imam, who was killed last month. Muhsin Hendricks, who ran a mosque for marginalized Muslims, was shot dead last month near the southern city of Gqeberha. “I was heartbroken. I think it’s sad especially how far we’ve come, considering how progressive South Africa has been,” attendee Keisha Jensen said. Led by motorcycle riders, the mostly young crowd walked through the streets of the coastal city, some waving placards emblazoned with Hendricks’s image and reading: “#JUSTICEFORMUHSIN.” No arrest
RSS