Snipping away at the Iron Curtain: when Hungary opened its Austrian border - archive, 1989
On 27 June 1989, the then foreign ministers of Hungary, Gyula Horn, and Austria, Alois Mock, cut through a section of the barbed wire that had divided their countries for decades. This symbolic act marked the beginning of the end for communist governments in central and eastern Europe.
Hungary had started dismantling border fortifications with Austria in early May 1989, but when pictures of the cutting were published around the world thousands of East Germans were inspired to leave their country and head to Hungary in the hope of travelling to the west. After allowing some to leave for West Germany via Austria in August, Hungary finally decided to let all East Germans out from 11 September 1989. Within two months, the Berlin Wall had fallen (9 November) and Germany’s reunification was formalised in October 1990.
Eyewitness: Hungary turns the Iron Curtain into scrap
by Ian Traynor
3 May 1989
Hegyeshalom
Ankle-deep in mud, and exposed to the biting wind and rain, the seven Hungarian soldiers did not seem to mind. Grinning from ear to ear, they were relishing yesterday’s assignment, not even halting for a smoke.
Their boss, Colonel Balazs Novaki, had one explanation for the grins: ‘It makes Hungarians feel better that we have no old-fashioned borders with the West.’
The soldiers worked on, like suburban gardeners with their secateurs, tree-loppers and protective gloves. As they progressed along three miles of the Austro-Hungarian frontier, they left behind them the detritus of 40 years of Cold War.
The Iron Curtain lay in shreds in the mud on the flat, windswept plain just outside this small border town on the main
