Paneuropean Picnic

The Paneuropean Picnic (also spelled Pan-European Picnic) was an event that took place on the border between Austria and Hungary near Sopron, Hungary. The event took place on August 19, 1989.

The event

The event was planned to be a peaceful demonstration. Both countries agreed to open a gate in the border fence, between Sankt Margarethen im Burgenland (near Eisenstadt), and Sopronkőhida (Steinambrückl) on the Hungarian side of the border.

The leaders of the time were Otto von Habsburg and the Hungarian minister, Imre Pozsgay. The person who did the actual cutting of the border fence was the general secretary of the International Paneuropean Union, Walburga Habsburg Douglas. The gate was to be symbolically opened for three hours.

More than 600 citizens of the German Democratic Republic took the chance to cross into the west once the Iron Curtain was opened. They had been told about the event by its organizers. At that time, the Hungarian border police still had orders to shoot anyone trying to cross the border illegally. However, they acted carefully and did not shoot at the fleeing people, this time.

The number of people who actually crossed the border to enter the west was only a few hundred on that first day. On the following days, the border was watched more closely, due to orders by the Hungarian government. Therefore, a smaller number of people managed to flee then. Hungary opened its borders to citizens of East Germany on 11 September 1989.

Remembering the event

Today, the Paneuropean Picnic is seen as one of the important events that led to the end of the German Democratic Republic and the Cold War, the fall of the Iron Curtain, and the unification of the two German states. The event is celebrated every year on 19 August on the spot where the border was opened.

Today, artwork made by Hungarian artists is at the place where the fence was cut. It shows a partly opened door.

In 1996, a 10 meter statue was built in Fertőrákos near Sopron. It was made by Gabriela von Habsburg. It shows a piece of barbed wire. From far away, it looks like a cross.

Paneuropean Picnic Media

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  The border crossing where the Pan-European picnic took place.

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  Otto von Habsburg, who was a key figure in the event.

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  Erich Honecker, who lost control in summer 1989

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  Pan-European Picnic monument by Miklós Melocco

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  The plaque commemorating the Pan-European Picnic at the Reichstag building in Berlin

Other websites

• Central Europe Review Archived 2007-08-10 at the Wayback Machine - Hungary remembers the picnic that tore down the Iron Curtain.
• (in German) Paneuropean Picnic, the end of the division of Europe - Shows the event on the website of the Paneuropean Union. Also has images of the invitation fliers.
• (in German) An account of the situation, as seen from the border-town St. Margarethen