Book

The picnic : an escape to freedom and the collapse of the iron curtain

Longo, Matthew, author

Overview

In August 1989, a group of Hungarian activists did the unthinkable: they entered the forbidden militarised zone of the Iron Curtain - and held a picnic. Word had spread of what was going to happen. On wisps of rumour, thousands of East German 'holiday-makers' had made their way to the border between Hungary and Austria and packed the nearby camping sites, awaiting an opportunity, fearing prison, surveilled by lurking Stasi agents. The highest state authorities were choosing to turn a blind eye - but that could change at any moment. The stage was set for the greatest border breach in Cold War history: that day hundreds would cross from the Communist East to the longed-for freedom of the West. The fall of the Berlin Wall, the end of the Soviet Union - the so-called end of history - all would flow from those dramatic hours.

• Publisher: The Bodley Head Ltd
• Subject: Borderlands Soviet Union. / Democracy Soviet Union History. / Peace movements Soviet Union History. / Régions frontalières URSS. / Mouvements pacifistes URSS Histoire. / History.
• ISBN: 1847927793, 9781847927798, 1847927807, 9781847927804

Item info:

1 item available

1 item total in all locations

Holdings :

Call Number	Copies	Material	Location
D843 LON	1	BOOK	AUTOSTORE