Thirty years ago, Hungary lifted restrictions on travel to Austria, enabling tens of thousands of East Germans to flee to the West. The September 1989 events in Hungary are often described as the first cracks in the Berlin Wall.
September 11, 1989: When Hungary Tore A Hole In The Iron Curtain
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An East German waves a West German flag while crossing from Hungary into Austria early on September 11, 1989, the first day of eased travel restrictions to the West.
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Several months earlier, Hungarian border guards began dismantling the barbed wire fence at the Austrian border near Hegyeshalom, some 50 kilometers east of Vienna. The removal of a section of border fence in May 1989 was a symbolic first step as Hungary prepared to ease travel restrictions to the West.
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Hungarian Foreign Minister Gyula Horn (right) and his Austrian counterpart, Alois Mock, cut through the barbed wire marking the border in Sopron, Hungary, on June 27. The symbolic gesture was made to highlight Hungary's decision to begin dismantling its border surveillance.
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A refugee from East Germany camps out in his car in front of the West German consulate in Budapest on August 13. Throughout the summer, large numbers of East Germans traveled to Hungary with regular tourist visas and subsequently applied at the consulate for permission to enter West Germany.