Europe’s freedom commemorated in Sopron

The 25th anniversary of the dismantling of the Iron Curtain was celebrated near Sopron, where the barbed wire was cut in 1989. The commemoration was held at the place where Hungarian Foreign Minister Gyula Horn and his Austrian counterpart Alois Mock jointly cut through the barbed wire a quarter of a century ago to begin the demolition of the closed border. This symbolic gesture is remembered today by a memorial stone.

On Friday, the foreign representatives of Austria, Hungary and Slovakia held speeches at the stone and then, in sopron, they signed a joint declaration pledging support for a united Europe, European values and the rights of freedom.

The celebration continued at the memorial site of the Pan-European Picnic near Sopronkõhida to recall the opening of the border temporarily at the time of the Pan-European Picnic held near Lake Fertõ on August 19, 1989. Taking advantage of the opportunity, some nine hundred East German citizens fled to Austria then.