European Leaders Mark Iron Curtain Fall In Hungary

Symbolic fall of the Iron Curtain: Alois Mock and Gyula Horn

From Yahoo News/AP:

BUDAPEST, Hungary – European leaders marked the 20th anniversary of the symbolic fall of the Iron Curtain, often described as the first crack in the Berlin Wall and one of the key episodes leading to the end of communism in Eastern Europe, in Budapest on Saturday.

The presidents of Germany, Austria, Finland, Slovenia and Switzerland, as well as high-ranking officials from Poland, Britain and more than 20 other countries will participate in a commemorative session at the Hungarian parliament and a gala event at the Hungarian State Opera House.

On June 27, 1989, the then-foreign ministers of Hungary, Gyula Horn, and Austria, Alois Mock, cut through some barbed wire on the border between the two countries, putting a symbolic end to a physical and psychological boundary of which by then there was little left.

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My Comment: In my case, it was the bringing down of the Berlin wall that symbolizes the start of a new Europe. For my father, it was having the Soviet flag at the Kremlin brought down and replaced by the Russian flag that impacted him.