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.”
FRUSTRATIONS: One in seven youths in China and Indonesia are unemployed, and many in the region are stuck in low-productivity jobs, the World Bank said Young people across Asia are struggling to find good jobs, with many stuck in low-productivity work that the World Bank said could strain social stability as frustrations fuel a global wave of youth-led protests. The bank highlighted a persistent gap between younger and more experienced workers across several Asian economies in a regional economic update released yesterday, noting that one in seven young people in China and Indonesia are unemployed. The share of people now vulnerable to falling into poverty is now larger than the middle class in most countries, it said. “The employment rate is generally high, but the young struggle to
ENERGY SHIFT: A report by Ember suggests it is possible for the world to wean off polluting sources of power, such as coal and gas, even as demand for electricity surges Worldwide solar and wind power generation has outpaced electricity demand this year, and for the first time on record, renewable energies combined generated more power than coal, a new analysis said. Global solar generation grew by a record 31 percent in the first half of the year, while wind generation grew 7.7 percent, according to the report by the energy think tank Ember, which was released after midnight yesterday. Solar and wind generation combined grew by more than 400 terawatt hours, which was more than the increase in overall global demand during the same period, it said. The findings suggest it is
IN THE AIR: With no compromise on the budget in sight, more air traffic controllers are calling in sick, which has led to an estimated 13,000 flight delays, the FAA said Concerns over flight delays and missed paychecks due to the US government shutdown escalated on Wednesday, as senators rejected yet another bid to end the standoff. Democrats voted for a sixth time to block a Republican stopgap funding measure to reopen government departments, keeping much of the federal workforce home or working without pay. With the shutdown in its eighth day, lines at airports were expected to grow amid increased absenteeism among security and safety staff at some of the country’s busiest hubs. Air traffic controllers — seen as “essential” public servants — are kept at work during government shutdowns, but higher numbers
Elvis Nghobo tried to get into four different professional schools in Cameroon, but could not make it. Frustrated, the 34-year-old turned to selling food at a market in Yaounde, the country’s seat of power. Nghobo blames his woes on what he calls a corrupt education system that favors children of the elite. As the central African country prepares for Sunday’s presidential election, he said he would not be heading out to vote. He called the results a foregone conclusion for 92-year-old Paul Biya, the world’s oldest president, who has ruled for Nghobo’s entire life. “He is already too old to govern, and it’s boring
RSS