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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East Germans wait for visas in front of the West German consulate in Budapest on August 14.
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East German refugees observe the Austrian border within sight of a Hungarian watchtower on August 17.
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A poster advertising the Pan-European Picnic, an event organized by Hungarian opposition parties on August 19. The "picnic" was planned as a symbolic meeting of Germans, Austrians, and Hungarians at the Austrian-Hungarian border, where a temporary gate had been opened in the barbed wire.
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After East German refugees learned about the Pan-European Picnic from posters and fliers, hundreds arrived at the location and stormed through the border fence into Austria.