July 11, 2011

The Budapest Times - Hungary‘s leading English Language source for daily news

The Budapest Times - Hungary‘s leading English Language source for daily news
Von Habsburg was the prime mover behind the Pan-European Picnic held on 19 August 1989 near Sopron on the border of Austria and Hungary. Thousands gathered on either side of the fence that divided the communist East from the capitalist West. Among them were many East Germans, some 600 of whom managed to cross to the West when the border was opened for a short time. Less than a month later, the border was opened and thousands fled west, an event which contributed directly to the breaching of the Berlin Wall in November that year and the eventual collapse of the Soviet communist system and the unification of Europe.

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