The Picnic - A Rush For Freedom And The Collapse Of Communism

In August 1989, a group of Hungarian activists organized a picnic on the border of Hungary and Austria. But this was not an ordinary picnic-it was located on the dangerous militarized frontier known as the Iron Curtain. Tacit permission from the highest state authorities could be revoked at any moment. On wisps of rumor, thousands of East German "vacationers" packed Hungarian campgrounds, awaiting an opportunity, fearing prison, surveilled by lurking Stasi agents. The Pan-European Picnic set the stage for the greatest border breach in Cold War history: hundreds crossed from the Communist East to the longed-for freedom of the West.Drawing on dozens of original interviews-including Hungarian activists and border guards, East German refugees, Stasi secret police, and the last Communist prime minister of Hungary-Matthew Longo tells a gripping and revelatory tale of the unraveling of the Iron Curtain and the birth of a new world order. Just a few months after the Picnic, the Berlin Wall fell, and the freedom for which the activists and refugees had abandoned their homes, risked imprisonment, sacrificed jobs, family, and friends, was suddenly available to everyone. But were they really free? And why, three decades since the Iron Curtain was torn down, have so many sought once again to build walls?Cinematically told, The Picnic recovers a time when it seemed possible for the world to change. With insight and panache, Longo explores the opportunities taken-and the opportunities we failed to take-in that pivotal moment.

Produktdetails

• Autoren: Matthew Longo
• Verlag: Norton and Co Ltd
• Sprache: Englisch
• Produktform: Taschenbuch
• Erschienen: 05.11.2024
• EAN: 9781324086321
• ISBN: 978-1-324-08632-1
• Seiten: 304
• Abmessung: 139 mm x 208 mm x 19 mm
• Themen: Sachbuch; POLITICAL SCIENCE / Political Freedom, Postwar 20th century history, from c 1945 to c 2000, Europe, European History, HISTORY / Europe / Austria & Hungary, Empires & historical states, Far-left political ideologies and movements, Socialism & left-of-centre democratic ideologies, Political control and freedoms, Political Control & Freedoms, The Cold War, Marxism & Communism, c 1945 to c 2000 (Post-war period), Austro-Hungarian Empire, c 1945 to c 1990 (the Cold War period), Cold wars and proxy conflicts, HISTORY / Modern / 20th Century / Cold War, Left-of-centre democratic ideologies and movements