What is Paneuropean Picnic?
The '''Paneuropean Picnic''' (also spelled '''Pan-European Picnic''') was an event that took place on the border between [[Austria]] and [[Hungary]] near [[Sopron|Sopron, Hungary]]. The event took place on August 19, 1989. == The event == The event was planned to be a peaceful [[demonstration]]. Both countries agreed to open a gate in the border fence, between [[Sankt Margarethen im Burgenland]] (near [[Eisenstadt]]), and [[Sopronkőhida]] (Steinambrückl) on the Hungarian side of the border. The leaders of the time were [[Otto von Habsburg]] and the Hungarian minister, [[Imre Pozsgay]]. The person who did the actual cutting of the border fence was the general secretary of the [[International Paneuropean Union]], [[Walburga Habsburg Douglas]]. The gate was to be symbolically opened for three hours. More than 600 [[citizen]]s of the [[German Democratic Republic]] took the chance to cross into the west once the [[Iron Curtain]] was opened. They had been told about the event by its organizers. At that time, the Hungarian border police still had orders to shoot anyone trying to cross the border illegally. However, they acted carefully and did not shoot at the fleeing people, this time. The number of people who actually crossed the border to enter the west was only a few hundred on that first day. On the following days, the border was watched more closely, due to orders by the Hungarian government. Therefore, a smaller number of people managed to flee then. Hungary opened its borders to citizens of East Germany on 11 September 1989. == Remembering the event == Today, the Paneuropean Picnic is seen as one of the important events that led to the end of the German Democratic Republic and the [[Cold War]], the fall of the Iron Curtain, and the [[German reunification|unification of the two German states]]. The event is celebrated every year on 19 August on the spot where the border was opened. Today, artwork made by Hungarian artists is at the place where the fence was cut. It shows a partly opened door. In 1996, a 1