Hungary's decision on Sept. 11,
1989, to let East German refugees flee to the West is now generally
regarded as one of the first acts of rebellion that led to the
eventual dismantling of the Iron Curtain and the equally symbolic fall
of the Berlin Wall.
It has been 15 years now since the
border crossing between Hungary and Austria at Hegyeshalom was thrown
open by a decision of the Hungarian government. East Germans in
cars and on foot crossed the barbed-wire fence that had separated the
two camps and made travel to the West only a dream for citizens of
Eastern Europe's communist regimes.
Hungary's Lake
Balaton had long been a meeting place for East Germans and their
relatives from the West. But in 1989, East Germans had set up tents
not only in the camping grounds but also on the beaches and even on
the road running past the lake, clearly intending to stay.
By early August
1989, Budapest turned into a huge refugee camp. East Germans filled
the West German Embassy grounds, and hundreds more pitched tents
outside as they tried to get passports. Thousands more, subsisting on
Red Cross handouts, were put up in student dormitories and church
grounds, pressing for the right to go West.
On September 11,
1989, Hungary decided to respect human rights instead of the
repressive treaties with its communist allies. Its decision to open
the Iron Curtain started an exodus that led to about 145,000 people
using Hungary as the springboard to freedom.
In the first 24
hours, more than 6,000 East Germans crossed, most at Hegyeshalom. A
year later, the Berlin Wall fell.
Hungary joined the
EU on May 1, 2004, turning Hegyeshalom into an internal border. In
three years, the border will be completely open.
(From wire
reports.)
