Thirty years ago, Hungary lifted restrictions on travel to Austria, enabling tens of thousands of East Germans to flee to the West. The September 1989 events in Hungary are often described as the first cracks in the Berlin Wall.
September 11, 1989: When Hungary Tore A Hole In The Iron Curtain
- By Kateryna Oliynyk and
- Margot Buff
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An East German waves a West German flag while crossing from Hungary into Austria early on September 11, 1989, the first day of eased travel restrictions to the West.
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Several months earlier, Hungarian border guards began dismantling the barbed wire fence at the Austrian border near Hegyeshalom, some 50 kilometers east of Vienna. The removal of a section of border fence in May 1989 was a symbolic first step as Hungary prepared to ease travel restrictions to the West.
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Hungarian Foreign Minister Gyula Horn (right) and his Austrian counterpart, Alois Mock, cut through the barbed wire marking the border in Sopron, Hungary, on June 27. The symbolic gesture was made to highlight Hungary's decision to begin dismantling its border surveillance.
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A refugee from East Germany camps out in his car in front of the West German consulate in Budapest on August 13. Throughout the summer, large numbers of East Germans traveled to Hungary with regular tourist visas and subsequently applied at the consulate for permission to enter West Germany.
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East Germans wait for visas in front of the West German consulate in Budapest on August 14.
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East German refugees observe the Austrian border within sight of a Hungarian watchtower on August 17.
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A poster advertising the Pan-European Picnic, an event organized by Hungarian opposition parties on August 19. The "picnic" was planned as a symbolic meeting of Germans, Austrians, and Hungarians at the Austrian-Hungarian border, where a temporary gate had been opened in the barbed wire.
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After East German refugees learned about the Pan-European Picnic from posters and fliers, hundreds arrived at the location and stormed through the border fence into Austria.
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An East German woman hugs her crying child as they are reunited after being separated during the rush across the border into Austria on August 19.
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An East German couple walks near the Csilleberc refugee camp outside Budapest on September 4. More than 1,000 East German citizens were housed at the camp as they waited to make the trip to West Germany.
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East Germans leave the Zugliget camp in Budapest on September 10 after hearing that they would be allowed to leave Hungary that night. At midnight, the Hungarian government announced that it would open its borders to East German "tourists" without the approval of the East German or Soviet leadership.
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An East German shows off a newly acquired West German passport just before crossing into Austria overnight on September 10-11.
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East Germans cross the border from Hegyeshalom, Hungary, into Austria on September 11.
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A child rides in an East German car at the Hegyeshalom border crossing.
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A Hungarian customs officer checks passports belonging to East Germans on September 11.
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East Germans refugees smile next to their Trabants after crossing into Nickelsdorf, Austria.
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East Germans welcome each other at the customs booth in Nickelsdorf.
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Others celebrate with a bottle of sparkling wine at the customs gate.
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A family removes their DDR (Deutsche Demokratische Republik) badge after crossing into Klingenbach, Austria.
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An East German car follows a handwritten sign for West Germany, or Bundesrepublik Deutschland (BRD).
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East Germans arrive from Hungary, via Austria, at the Hengersberg refugee camp in Passau, Germany, on September 12. An estimated 70,000 East Germans fled to the West within days of the opening of the Hungarian border.
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A smiling couple holds a balloon reading "Warm Welcome" in Passau, Germany, after riding by train from Lake Balaton, Hungary.
