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Two magical moments in German history:
The fall of the Berlin
Wall on November 9th, 1989.
And Germany's reunification
on October 3rd, 1990.
Finally, Germany was no longer divided!
And the fall of the Iron Curtain was unstoppable.
The "Iron Curtain" was a political,
military and ideological barrier that
divided Europe from 1945 to 1991.
On one side were the Eastern Bloc nations
under Soviet communist influence,
on the other, the capitalist Western countries,
mostly allied with the US.
Dictatorship versus democracy –
both systems faced each other heavily armed.
Many people died seeking freedom.
But in 1989, the Iron Curtain began to fall.
All over Eastern Europe, people took
to the streets and demanded democracy
and independence from Moscow.
We take you on a journey
through time across Eastern Europe,
from the peaceful revolution in Hungary,
to the singing revolution in Latvia,
and to the bloody revolution in Romania.
Everywhere, museums and memorials
commemorate the momentous events
that brought down the seemingly
unshakable post-World War II order.
We begin our journey in Sopron,
one of Hungary's oldest cities
with a picturesque old town.
It's in western Hungary, near the Austrian border.
Here, in the summer of 1989,
the foreign ministers of Austria
and Hungary symbolically
cut through the border fence.
Hungary had begun
dismantling its border fortifications,
in part because the
maintenance costs were too high.
Hungarian opposition
members wanted to celebrate
this with a picnic in Sopron.
An unexpectedly large number of guests attended.
This statue of a woman
holding a piece of barbed wire
stands in Sopron's city center.
It commemorates an event
that suddenly made the small,
unknown Hungarian city world-famous:
the Pan-European Picnic of August 19th, 1989.
László Magás and László Nagy
were active in the opposition in 1989
and wanted to celebrate the dismantling
of the border fortifications.
Although there were still border
patrols to prevent attempts to flee
to the West, they knew it was a start.
They invited people to an
Austrian-Hungarian celebration.
Today, a memorial park on the
Hungarian-Austrian border near Sopron
commemorates the event.
The visitor center displays invitations to the picnic
that were distributed in the communities near the border
in Austria and Hungary at the time.
At 3 pm, a border gate was
to be opened for three hours.
It was only for picnic participants
from Austria and Hungary who wanted
to take a piece of
barbed wire home with them.
But completely unexpectedly, hundreds
of East German citizens turned up.
They wanted to flee from Hungary
to Austria to the West, to freedom.
At first, it wasn't clear to
the organizers how they'd found out
about the picnic.
When László Nagy and his
companions arrived at the scene,
they were surprised by
the rush of East Germans
breaking through the border gate.
These emotional moments
are captured in photos.
Another important person
can be seen in the photos, Árpád Bella,
the border commander on duty.
He found himself in a difficult situation.
He was ordered to shoot the fleeing
East Germans, but chose not to.
Powerful moments.
A crying father holds a
curly-haired girl in his arms.
That man is Walter Sobel,
who fled to the West with his wife
and two children.
The two have become friends over the years.
In 1989, Walter Sobel was on
summer vacation with his family in Hungary.
The Iron Curtain was symbolically opened
for the first time here in Sopron.
It was the start of a chain reaction
that ultimately led to the collapse
of communist rule
throughout Eastern Europe.
Now we travel to the Baltic
countries, more specifically, Riga,
the capital of Latvia.
On August 23rd, 1989, a gigantic
human chain formed across the Baltic region
throughout Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania.
It was a plea to end the Soviet occupation
through an unusual demonstration.
In Latvia, a song sparked a revolution.
Ronalds Liepiņš from Riga is
participating in a music festival
with his choir.
On August 23rd, 1989, he was one of
two million people who joined hands
from Tallinn to Vilnius to form a human chain
that was 600 kilometers long.
The Latvian people stood firm in their desire
for independence and freedom.
Monuments stand witness,
like the large Freedom Monument.
Ronalds Liepiņš takes us
to the Occupation Museum.
It documents the occupation of
Latvia, which dates back to a pact
between Hitler and Stalin.
The formerly independent states of
Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania were
occupied in June 1940.
First by the Soviets, then by the Nazis.
Forced labor, deportations, and
looting followed, and the Jewish
population was decimated.
In 1944, the Soviet army drove
Hitler's troops out, but that was the
start of a new occupation that
would last for nearly five decades.
Latvia, Lithuania, and Estonia are
incorporated as Soviet republics,
and much of their native
population is deported.
The Soviet regime sent intellectuals,
civil servants, farmers, and anyone
suspected to be disloyal
to the regime to Siberia.
More than 50,000
Latvians were deported.
But what does a song have to do with it?
Throughout the years of Soviet rule,
Latvians sang traditional folk songs
in their own language, not in
Russian, which was imposed on them.
Such songs were at the
heart of family celebrations,
a silent form of resistance.
Many songs had double meanings.
You just had to know how
to read between the lines.
In the 1980s, during the Soviet era of liberalization
known as "perestroika", song
festivals, which were political in nature,
took place across the Baltic region.
The movement grew.
The climax came in 1989 with
the largest human chain in history.
Two million people joined hands
across Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania
to spread one message – freedom.
At first, Soviet leaders ignored the protests
and things remained peaceful.
But when the parliaments in all three
capitals declared independence,
Moscow moved to assert control.
In January 1991, Soviet troops
attacked unarmed crowds
at the TV Tower in Vilnius,
killing 14 people.
Soviet forces also attempted
to regain control of Riga,
but the Latvians put up barricades.
This monument commemorates the event.
Six people were killed and dozens injured.
But in the end, the occupying Soviets surrendered.
And in August 1991,
Latvia became a sovereign state.
Latvia joined the European Union
and NATO almost 13 years later.
Independence and the end of this era
are milestones in Latvian history.
Today Latvia celebrates its musical heritage
with a massive choral festival held every four years –
a reminder of how song once helped shape history.
The last stop on our journey is Romania,
where Nicolae Ceaușescu ruled with an iron fist.
The citizens lived in poverty and fear.
But the winds of change
found their way here, too.
The unrest began in December 1989
in the city of Timișoara in the west.
State authorities struck back with brutal force.
But it didn't stop protesters.
No one could have predicted that the
end of Ceaușescu's dictatorship would
take place here, in Timișoara.
Vlad Stefan is a city guide.
He shows us the most
important places of the revolution.
Authorities tried to forcibly transfer Pastor Tőkés,
prompting people to gather in protest
outside his church, on December 15th, 1989.
The crowd quickly grew and took to the streets.
"Freedom" is also the title of the exhibition
by photojournalist Constantin Duma.
He was there in December 1989 when
Ceaușescu gave the army orders to shoot.
Duma captured these
moments despite the danger.
Days of uncertainty followed.
The director of the Revolution Memorial
in Timișoara, Gino Rado, was there too.
The memorial bears
witness to those bloody days.
Walking through the rooms
is like taking a trip into the past.
Timișoara was not the only
place where victims were mourned.
The bloody revolution spread
throughout the entire country.
Around 1,100 people died in the fighting.
Freedom Square in Timișoara
was also an important setting.
Freedom, what many had
thought impossible, became reality.
The days were filled with joy and hope.
Ceaușescu attempted to flee,
was captured and executed
after a brief show trial.
It was the end of his regime in Romania.
36 years have passed.
Today, Timișoara stands in the heart of Europe
and was named European Capital of Culture in 2023.
Yet, remembering history and honoring its victims
remains a major challenge in Romania.
That was our journey tracing
the path of the former Iron Curtain.
Where in modern history should we travel next?
Let us know in the comments.
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