The German Green Belt ( Grünes Band Deutschland in German ) is a project of Bund Naturschutz (BUND) , one of Germany 's largest environmental groups. The project began in 1989 facing the 870-mile (1,400 km) network of inner-German border fences and guard towers formerly separating East and West Germany. It is one of the world's most unusual nature reserves, lying along the old "Death Strip," turning a monument to repression into a symbol of renewal.
150-690: While Germany was separated, the border sector became an inaccessible region. Nature was able to develop in a nearly undisturbed environment over this period. This also applied to extensive tracts of adjacent land because they were so cut off. The overall "Green Belt" is characterized by an exceptional wealth of species and habitats, most of which are now endangered, representing a system of interlinked biotopes of national importance, which joins or passes through valuable swathes of land and intensively farmed agricultural landscapes. The federal government, states ( Länder ) and nature conservation organisations are joining forces to protect this "Green Belt" and develop it into
300-665: A bilateral agreement to return the refugees to Romania, Hungary signed the United Nations Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees (CRSR) in 1989. The financial situation was difficult in Hungary. Prime Minister Miklós Németh decided that his government could not afford to maintain automated border control along the border with Austria; spare parts would come from the West and were paid for in hard currency. Németh believed it
450-542: A bomb on their table": Esteemed Chancellor, an important decision has been made in Budapest. Returning the refugees to East Germany is out of the question. We shall open the border, and by mid-September, all East Germans should be able to leave our country... I will never forget his eyes. Kohl, the big boy, was moved to tears. Németh assured Kohl that the Hungarians would handle the border situation, and permission from Gorbachev
600-410: A dominant factor in the movement to unite Europe. Although some countries, such as East Germany, had a hard-line Communist power structure, others, such as Hungary, took a reform-oriented approach. Supported by Mikhail Gorbachev 's new policies, the reformist Communist countries' leadership accepted the necessity for change ( Perestroika ). Non-governmental organisations and new political parties played
750-716: A meeting between Otto von Habsburg and Ferenc Mészáros in June 1989. The local organisation in Sopron took over the Hungarian Democratic Forum, and the other contacts were made via Habsburg and the Hungarian Minister of State Imre Pozsgay . The Austrian Paneuropean Union and the MDF took care of advertising the event with leaflets that were distributed in Hungary. The patrons of the picnic, Habsburg and Pozsgay, who were not present at
900-501: A more independent status, especially in Bavaria. However, it has no legal significance. All sixteen states are represented at the federal level in the Bundesrat (Federal Council), where their voting power depends on the size of their population. Germany is a federal , parliamentary , representative democratic republic . The German political system operates under a framework laid out in
1050-597: A number of tasks; one of the largest is creating more formally designated protected areas and closing the 12% of gaps in the Green Belt. The Green Belt has become an important part of Germany's tourist industry. At points along the route, visitors can call a toll-free mobile phone number and listen to witnesses' accounts of the border. The state of Thuringia requires infrastructure projects like overground and underground cables, federal and state roads, and railways to obtain environmental and monument protection permission to cross
1200-571: A plan to divide the German Reich into 14 roughly equal-sized states. His proposal was turned down due to opposition of the states and concerns of the government. Article 18 of the constitution enabled a new delimitation of the German territory but set high hurdles: "Three fifth of the votes handed in, and at least the majority of the population are necessary to decide on the alteration of territory". In fact, until 1933 there were only four changes in
1350-616: A referendum in the Federal Republic as a whole (paragraph 4) was abolished, which meant territorial revision was no longer possible against the will of the population affected by it. East Germany had originally consisted of five states (i.e., Brandenburg, Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Saxony, Saxony-Anhalt, and Thuringia). In 1952, these states were abolished and the East was divided into 14 administrative districts called Bezirke . Soviet -controlled East Berlin – despite officially having
1500-550: A return to farming and forestry on the Belt could also be seen as a symbol for German reunification. In 2019, some members of the public in the state of Saxony-Anhalt similarly described the belt as a new form of dividing Germany's East and West. States of Germany The Federal Republic of Germany , as a federal state , consists of sixteen states . Berlin , Hamburg and Bremen (with its seaport exclave , Bremerhaven ) are called Stadtstaaten (" city-states "), while
1650-427: A revision, the federal government had to include the proposal into its legislation. Then a referendum was required in each territory or part of a territory whose affiliation was to be changed (paragraph 3). The proposal should not take effect if within any of the affected territories a majority rejected the change. In this case, the bill had to be introduced again and after passing had to be confirmed by referendum in
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#17328518942211800-629: A sizable role in the movement towards a democratic, multiparty system. That year, round-table discussions were held in several Central European countries to develop a consensus on changing the political system. In February formal discussions began in Warsaw , and on 4 April the Polish Round Table Agreement was signed, legalising Solidarity and scheduling parliamentary elections for 4 June. Solidarity's victory surpassed all expectations. In this context, there were individual organisations in
1950-479: A valuable habitat for humans and nature. The Inner German Border was formally established on 1 July 1945 as the boundary between the Western and Soviet occupation zones of Germany. On the eastern side, it was made one of the world's most heavily fortified frontiers, defined by a continuous line of high metal fences and walls, barbed wire, alarms, anti-vehicle ditches, watchtowers, automatic booby traps and minefields. It
2100-593: A very good thing. I think it would be good if some of the East Germans used this opportunity and fled." "Fled?" "Yes. And we would not interfere with it." "I see." Németh explained in the documentary: This was really a great opportunity to us to assess the Russians' reactions, to test the tolerance of the Soviet Union. So we sent out an order to the border troops: "Please instruct your guards, if you see any East Germans on
2250-537: A white marble monument in memory of those who risked their lives to cross the Iron Curtain, and Swedish Foreign Minister Carl Bildt said: "We must remain an open Europe of open societies and open minds, open to others beyond our present boundaries". In August 2019, Chancellor Merkel and Hungary's Prime Minister Viktor Orbán recalled the Pan-European Picnic that took place 30 years ago and its importance for
2400-430: Is a very risky business now, Miklos, do you know what this means? It means that from now on every single murder will be your fault. Do you understand?" I felt ashamed that it had happened. I made the conclusion in one sentence: "We are opening up". On 22 August Németh flew by helicopter to Bonn to meet with West German Chancellor Helmut Kohl and Kohl's foreign secretary, Hans-Dietrich Genscher . There, Németh "dropped
2550-629: Is assumed that in addition to the local organizers and the Pan-European Organization , the West German secret service BND and the Order of Malta , which is close to the Habsburgs, were also involved in the decisive distribution of the leaflets to the East Germans. The Pan-European Picnic is now referred to as a "great moment of mankind (German: Sternstunde der Menschheit)". It was only through
2700-544: Is at the same time a living monument to German reunification. This unique combination of nature, culture and history is the basis of the "Experience Green Belt" project, a collaboration with individual states, the BUND and BfN. Kai Frobel of BUND described the Green Belt as a way for conservation and nature tourism to work together. Nature conservation is combined with sustainable tourism in the regions of Thuringian Forest & Slate Mountains / Franconian Forest, Elbe-Altmark-Wendland and
2850-527: Is at work", "The GDR is the tower in battle", "We must further counter the underhand attacks of the GDR's enemies", "We mustn't be hypnotized by the western media. The enemy has a big concept, he wants to smash everything of ours. We have to attack the enemy. This is imperialism in the FRG. Those are the real culprits." But no action was taken. In Budapest and around Lake Balaton , thousands of East Germans hesitated to cross
3000-429: Is referred to as "Land government" (Landesregierung) . Before 1 January 2000, Bavaria had a bicameral parliament, with a popularly elected Landtag , and a Senate made up of representatives of the state's major social and economic groups. The Senate was abolished following a referendum in 1998. The states of Berlin, Bremen, and Hamburg are governed slightly differently from the other states. In each of those cities,
3150-650: Is sometimes propagated by the richer states as a means to avoid or reduce fiscal transfers . In southwestern Germany, territorial revision seemed to be a top priority since the border between the French and American occupation zones was set along the Autobahn Karlsruhe-Stuttgart-Ulm (today the A8 ). Article 118 stated "The division of the territory comprising Baden , Württemberg-Baden and Württemberg-Hohenzollern into Länder may be revised, without regard to
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#17328518942213300-404: Is very common to use the term Bundesland (federated Land ). Officially this term Bundesland neither appears in the constitution of 1919 nor in the current one. Three Länder call themselves Freistaaten ("free states", an older German term for "republic"): Bavaria (since 1919), Saxony (originally from 1919 and again since 1990), and Thuringia (since 1994). Of the 17 states at the end of
3450-868: The Berlin Wall was built in 1961. The Hungarian borders were opened on 11 September, and the Berlin Wall fell on 9 November. The Warsaw Pact disintegrated in 1991. In 1989, the situation in Central Europe was tense. Ruled by dictatorial governments, the people in Eastern Bloc countries demanded democratic elections, freedom of speech, and the withdrawal of Soviet troops. The Iron Curtain and its physical manifestations in heavily guarded border fences and crossings, as seen in Czechoslovakia and in East Germany , were
3600-773: The Cold War . The idea of opening the border at a ceremony and testing the Soviet Union 's response came from Ferenc Mészáros of the Hungarian Democratic Forum (MDF) and Otto von Habsburg , then the President of the Paneuropean Union . The idea was brought up by them to Miklós Németh , then the Hungarian Prime Minister, who also promoted the idea. The Pan-European Picnic itself developed further from
3750-635: The Congress of Vienna (1815), 39 states formed the German Confederation . The Confederation was dissolved after the Austro-Prussian War in which Prussia defeated Austria and forced Austria to remove itself from the affairs of the German states. Territorial boundaries were essentially redrawn as a result of military conflicts and interventions from the outside: from the Napoleonic Wars to
3900-662: The Congress of Vienna , the number of territories decreased from about 300 to 39; in 1866 Prussia annexed the sovereign states of Hanover , Nassau , Hesse-Kassel , and the Free City of Frankfurt . Prussia and the other states in Northern and Central Germany united as a federal state , the North German Federation , on 1 July 1867. Four of the five southern German states (Bavaria, Württemberg, Baden and Hesse-Darmstadt) entered military alliances with Prussia but Austria did not. In
4050-735: The Deutsche Mark was introduced as legal tender in the Saarland. Paragraph 6 of Article 29 stated that, if a petition was successful, a referendum should be held within three years. Since the deadline passed on 5 May 1958 without anything happening, the Hesse state government filed a constitutional complaint with the Federal Constitutional Court in October 1958. The complaint was dismissed in July 1961 on
4200-580: The Franco-Prussian War of 1870–71, those four states joined the North German Federation which was consequently renamed to German Empire . The parliament and Federal Council decided to give the Prussian king the title of German Emperor (since 1 January 1871). The new German Empire included 25 states (three of them, Hanseatic cities) and the imperial territory of Alsace-Lorraine . Within
4350-564: The Hungarian Socialist Workers' Party (MSzMP) and Minister of State, as patrons of the event. Former Prime Minister Miklós Németh explained in 1989 , a 2014 documentary, that the picnic offered the Hungarian government a way out of a situation which had arisen with East German tourists holidaying in Hungary that summer: No one of us forecast it that during the summer [of 1989] we will have another hot potato in our hands, namely
4500-449: The Kremlin , leading to a coup d'état against Gorbachev. During the night of 21–22 August Kurt-Werner Schulz [ de ] , a 36-year-old East German from Weimar , was killed. Németh said later: We decided to get back to the rule books on the border control, but at the same time, we, or I, created a trap for myself [...] One of the advisers quite clearly told me, "Look, this
4650-606: The Oder-Neisse line fell under either Polish or Soviet administration but attempts were made at least symbolically not to abandon sovereignty well into the 1960s. The former provinces of Farther Pomerania , East Prussia , Silesia and Posen-West Prussia fell under Polish administration with the Soviet Union taking the area around Königsberg (now Kaliningrad), pending a final peace conference with Germany which eventually never took place. More than 8 million Germans had been expelled from these territories that had formed part of
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4800-518: The Pan-Europa-Union had the pan-European picnic on the border between Hungary and Austria on August 19, 1989 in Sopron. Hundreds of them came. It was stupid that people from the GDR should cross the border via Hungary and Austria, if there was a border crossing right by them." After the East German regime tried to block the Hungarian route, thousands fled to the West via Czechoslovakia and there
4950-657: The Regierender Bürgermeister (governing mayor) in Berlin. The parliament for Berlin is called the Abgeordnetenhaus (House of Representatives), while Bremen and Hamburg both have a Bürgerschaft . The parliaments in the remaining 13 states are referred to as Landtag (State Parliament). The city-states of Berlin and Hamburg are subdivided into Districts . The City of Bremen consists of two urban districts : Bremen and Bremerhaven , which are not contiguous. In
5100-578: The Saarland – which later received a special status – in the French zone; Mecklenburg(-Vorpommern) , Brandenburg , Saxony , Saxony-Anhalt , and Thuringia in the Soviet zone . No single state comprised more than 30% of either population or territory; this was intended to prevent any one state from being as dominant within Germany as Prussia had been in the past. Initially, only seven of
5250-553: The Weimar Republic , six still exist (though partly with different borders): The other 11 states of the Weimar Republic either merged into one another or were separated into smaller entities: Some territories bordering other states were annexed to the bordering state. Also, Prussia had exclaves that were surrounded by other states. These became part of their surrounding states. All states, except Bavaria , now have territory of
5400-582: The West German constitution thus applied to the entire German people . Article 23, which had allowed "any other parts of Germany" to join, was rephrased. It had been used in 1957 to reintegrate the Saar Protectorate as the Saarland into the Federal Republic, and this was used as a model for German reunification in 1990. The amended article now defines the participation of the Federal Council and
5550-519: The clubtail dragonfly , the marsh fritillary , the whinchat , the red-backed shrike , the black stork , the kingfisher and the otter . Eventhough most of the Green Belt is owned by governmental and non-governmental organisations, still a huge part belongs to private owners. Since November 2018 the complete Thuringian part of the Green Belt Germany is under protection as " Nationales Naturmonument " (National Nature Monument). In October 2019
5700-544: The university of Debrecen about Europe without borders and the European Parliament elections' effect on Central Europe. His speech was followed by a dinner, at which two representatives of the conservative Hungarian Democratic Forum (MDF) party ( Mária Filep and Ferenc Mészáros) suggested a picnic for local residents at the Austro-Hungarian border to celebrate the bonds between Austrians and Hungarians. Although
5850-465: The " Pan-European Picnic " took place on the Hungarian-Austrian border, close to the town of Sopron. This crucial moment marked the beginning of the end of the GDR and the dismantling of its extensive border. Due to the strong commitment of nature conservationists, the border between East and West Germany became Europe's biggest nature reserve: an 870-mile "ecological treasure trove." It is no longer
6000-453: The "peaceful picnic on the Austro-Hungarian border near Sopron", which "helped to change the course of European history". This event led to the "iron curtain briefly opening" and thus contributed to its "final fall and the reunification of Germany". This marks the beginning of the end of the division of Europe through the Cold War. The Pan-European Picnic is considered a significant milestone on
6150-544: The 16 German states in matters concerning the European Union . Article 29 was again modified and provided an option for the states to "revise the division of their existing territory or parts of their territory by agreement without regard to the provisions of paragraphs (2) through (7)". Article 118a was introduced into the Basic Law and provided the possibility for Berlin and Brandenburg to merge "without regard to
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6300-528: The 1949 constitutional document known as the Grundgesetz (Basic Law). By calling the document the Grundgesetz , rather than Verfassung (constitution), the authors expressed the intention that it would be replaced by a true constitution once Germany was reunited as one state. Amendments to the Grundgesetz generally require a two-thirds majority of both chambers of the parliament; the fundamental principles of
6450-544: The Allies rejected East Germany's legitimacy. The "West" saw the creation of the GDR as an extension of the Soviet Union and an illegitimate heir to German history and culture following World War II . The East German government sought to define the country as a legitimate state in its own right and portrayed West Germany as enemy territory (feindliches Ausland) – a capitalist, semi-fascist state that exploited its citizens, sought to regain
6600-560: The American states and regional governments in other federations without serious calls for territorial changes" in those other countries. Arthur B. Gunlicks summarizes the main arguments for boundary reform in Germany: "the German system of dual federalism requires strong Länder that have the administrative and fiscal capacity to implement legislation and pay for it from own source revenues. Too many Länder also make coordination among them and with
6750-527: The BUND and the Federal Agency for Nature Conservation (BfN) worked in collaboration and began a painstaking inventory of the ecosystems and species along the Green Belt. This included teams of ornithologists, botanists, and entomologists walking hundreds of kilometers recording what they saw and collecting data from locals in each area. The Federal Agency for Nature Conservation called for the creation of large formal reserves in as many areas as possible along
6900-406: The BUND early on have spurred collaborations with the federal government to ensure the future of conservation with a reunited Germany. The BUND wanted that the border area "should be protected as the ecological backbone of Central Europe" and to ensure this, help was needed since most Germans wanted to get rid of anything that stirred bad memories of the past. In order to prove the value of the land,
7050-480: The Basic Law as a binding order. An expert commission was established, named after its chairman, the former Secretary of State Professor Werner Ernst. After two years of work, the experts delivered their report in 1973. It provided an alternative proposal for the two regions: the north and center-southwest. In the north, either a single new state consisting of Schleswig-Holstein, Hamburg, Bremen and Lower Saxony should be created (solution A) or two new states, one in
7200-566: The Bavarian branch of the BUND have been charting the natural features of the border corridor from the Western side since 1975, verifying the great diversity of species and habitats of the former death zone. In December 1989, the BUND organised the first all-German meeting with 400 nature conservationists from East and West, at the Bavarian-Saxon border in Hof. Here the concept and name of the "Green Belt"
7350-400: The East German ambassador in Budapest on August 11, 1989, about the planned picnic and the opening of the border, but no countermeasures were taken. In a symbolic gesture agreed to by both Austria and Hungary, a border gate on the road from Sankt Margarethen im Burgenland , Austria to Sopronkőhida , Hungary was to be opened for three hours on 19 August. Otto von Habsburg was represented at
7500-583: The Federal Minister of the Interior by reference to the referendum of 1951. However, the Federal Constitutional Court of Germany ruled that the rejection was unlawful: the population of Baden had the right to a new referendum because the one of 1951 had taken place under different rules from the ones provided for by article 29. In particular, the outcome of the 1951 referendum did not reflect
7650-399: The Federal Republic as a whole (paragraph 4). The reorganization should be completed within three years after the Basic Law had come into force (paragraph 6). Article 29 states that "the division of the federal territory into Länder may be revised to ensure that each Land be of a size and capacity to perform its functions effectively". In their letter to Konrad Adenauer ,
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#17328518942217800-438: The Federal Republic of Germany in 1949. This was in contrast to the post-war development in Austria , where the national Bund ("federation") was constituted first, and then the individual states were carved out as units of that federal nation. The German use of the term Länder ("lands") dates back to the Weimar Constitution of 1919. Previously, the states of the German Empire had been called Staaten ("states"). Today, it
7950-424: The Federal Territory must be revised (paragraph 1). Moreover, in territories or parts of territories whose affiliation with a Land had changed after 8 May 1945 without a referendum, people were allowed to petition for a revision of the current status within a year after the promulgation of the Basic Law (paragraph 2). If at least one tenth of those entitled to vote in Bundestag elections were in favour of
8100-399: The French-occupied Saar Protectorate was returned and formed into the Saarland , the Federal Republic consisted of ten states, which are referred to as the " Old States " today. West Berlin was under the sovereignty of the Western Allies and neither a Western German state nor part of one. However, it was in many ways integrated with West Germany under a special status. A new delimitation of
8250-419: The German Democratic Republic (GDR, East Germany) starting on 13 August 1961, that completely cut off (by land) West Berlin from surrounding East Germany and from East Berlin until it was opened in November 1989. In practice, the Wall served to prevent the massive emigration and defection that marked East Germany and the communist Eastern Bloc during the post-World War II period. From the outset, West Germany and
8400-492: The German refugee problem. I got the first news that, interestingly, after the 2–3 weeks long holiday, some of the GDR citizens decided to stay, and it was clear to me, that this is now very, very serious. In Budapest , around the Lake Balaton, all the camping sites were fully, fully packed, even along the road, without any facilities around them, of course. End of September, and the cold weather arrives, we did not have facilities to provide, these people will die here, frozen, during
8550-470: The German-speaking lands for centuries and which mostly did not have sizable Polish minorities before 1945. However, no attempts were made to establish new states in these territories, as they lay outside the jurisdiction of West Germany at that time. In 1948, the military governors of the three Western Allies handed over the so-called Frankfurt Documents to the minister-presidents in the Western occupation zones. Among other things, they recommended revising
8700-402: The Green Belt beyond the German borders to reflect the larger "Iron Curtain" of the former Soviet states. The European Green Belt has evolved along the former Iron Curtain and runs the length of Europe, from the Barents Sea in the north to the Adriatic and the Black Sea in the south. In all, it extends for over 12,500 km along the borders of 24 states. The Green Belt was also called so for
8850-414: The Green Belt, which would form the spine of a new German-wide system of ecological corridors. The formation of these reserves were crucial to preserving the biodiversity created at the border . With the border being almost untouched by humans, it rapidly turned into a natural wilderness with threatened species of all types living there. In 2002, Mikhail Gorbachev endorsed the initiative. Gorbachev became
9000-435: The Green Belt. This has hampered the development of SuedLink [ de ] , a high-voltage cable intended to transport renewable electricity across German states from the north to the south. The environmental speaker of the German Farmers' Association argued in 2013 that the Green Belt risked becoming a 'Green Border' if additional nature reserves along it impeded farming. He said that other than nature conservation,
9150-512: The Harz mountains. Each of these regions would help towards realizing the Green Belt's tourist potential in terms of nature, culture and history and hence also to enhancing its popular appreciation in the region. These "regions" include: Work completed in the three model regions between 2007 and 2010 established a range of landscape management measures, uniform signage along the entire stretch, specially marked cycle and walking paths, exhibitions and displays, information points depicting events along
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#17328518942219300-443: The Hungarian Democratic Forum (MDF). "To arrange a so-called" bacon roast "at the Austro-Hungarian border in August or September 1989 and then repeat it every month." "The MDF accepted Otto von Habsburg 's suggestion and the Presidium commissioned a member to organize the event." The Hungarian Defense Against Internal Reaction, informed on July 31, 1989, informed their superiors about the pan-European picnic in Sopron. The MDF took on
9450-552: The Hungarian Democratic Forum, the Alliance of Free Democrats , Fidesz, and the Independent Smallholders, Agrarian Workers and Civic Party . Its patrons were Christian Social Union in Bavaria , Otto von Habsburg , and Hungarian Minister of State and reformer Imre Pozsgay . The Hungarian government restored normal border controls after the picnic. In August 6,923 people were arrested at the border; of those, 5,527 or eighty percent were East Germans. The Hungarian government feared that laxness would lead to hard-liners assuming control in
9600-429: The Iron Curtain but the Green Belt, and home to more than 1200 rare and endangered species of birds, mammals, plants and insects. The history of the Green Belt does not just begin with the fall of the Berlin Wall but earlier with the beginning interest of young bird specialists of the BUND in the border region between Bavaria and Thuringia. The creation of the Bund für Umwelt und Naturschutz Deutschland (BUND), part of
9750-496: The Iron Curtain had partially broken open, that the Soviet Union was not intervening, and that the governments in the East were increasingly losing power due to indecisive action. East Germany's Erich Honecker told the Daily Mirror about the picnic, "Habsburg distributed pamphlets right up to the Polish border, inviting East German holiday-makers to a picnic. When they came to the picnic, they were given presents, food, and Deutsche Marks , before being persuaded to go over to
9900-443: The Nazi regime via the Gleichschaltung process, as the states administratively were largely superseded by the Nazi Gau system . Three changes are of particular note: on 1 January 1934, Mecklenburg-Schwerin was united with neighbouring Mecklenburg-Strelitz ; and, by the Greater Hamburg Act ( Groß-Hamburg-Gesetz ) of 1937, the territory of the city-state was extended, while Lübeck lost its independence and became part of
10050-480: The Prussian province of Schleswig-Holstein . During the Allied occupation of Germany after World War II , internal borders were redrawn by the Allied military governments. New states were established in all four zones of occupation: Bremen , Hesse , Württemberg-Baden , and Bavaria in the American zone ; Hamburg , Schleswig-Holstein , Lower Saxony , and North Rhine-Westphalia in the British zone ; Rhineland-Palatinate , Baden , Württemberg-Hohenzollern and
10200-401: The Saarland (solution C), the district of Germersheim would then become part of Baden-Württemberg. The other alternative was that the Palatinate (including the region of Worms ) could be merged with the Saarland and Baden-Württemberg, and the rest of Rhineland-Palatinate would then merge with Hesse (solution D). Both alternatives could be combined (AC, BC, AD, BD). At the same time,
10350-433: The West." Through this statement, the astonished public became even more aware of the powerlessness of the hitherto brutal rulers in their own area. In the GDR Politburo (Honecker was absent due to his illness – Günter Mittag was the chairman), Habsburg's and Pozsgay's Paneuropean Picnic was one of the rare topics of discussion. Slogans were made such as: "The enemy's counterrevolution and its front-line reporting
10500-414: The Western Allies, viewed itself as part of the Federal Republic and was largely integrated and considered a de facto state. In 1952, following a referendum , Baden, Württemberg-Baden, and Württemberg-Hohenzollern merged into Baden-Württemberg . In 1957, the Saar Protectorate joined the Federal Republic as the state of Saarland . The next change occurred with German reunification in 1990, in which
10650-402: The affected states, the proposals were shelved. Public interest was limited or nonexistent. The referendum in Baden was held on 7 June 1970. 81.9% of voters decided for Baden to remain part of Baden-Württemberg, only 18.1% opted for the reconstitution of the old state of Baden . The referendums in Lower Saxony and Rhineland-Palatinate were held on 19 January 1975 (the percentages given are
10800-495: The border gate, which was still guarded by armed forces. The gate was torn open and the mostly young GDR citizens ran to the Austrian side, where some journalists and a camera team from an Austrian broadcaster were waiting. During the picnic and the "symbolic" opening of the border, the refugees crossed the Iron Curtain in three waves. It was the largest refugee movement from East Germany since the Berlin Wall had been built. The news of
10950-516: The border that day. Prime Minister Németh said in 1989 , "I was in my office all day, I was nervous, very nervous. Luckily, there was no knocking on my door by the Soviet ambassador, no telephone calls from Moscow." More than six hundred East Germans fled to the West, many leaving their cars at the border. The very extensive media coverage made it clear to the Eastern European population that
11100-416: The border to which access was heavily restricted with permits and checkpoints. On the far side of this zone was the signal fence (Signalzaun), a continuous expanded metal fence 1,185 kilometers (736 miles) long and 2 meters (6.6 feet) high. It was lined with low-voltage electrified strands of barbed wire and when the wire was touched or cut, an alarm was activated to alert nearby guards. Behind this fencing came
11250-473: The border, let them pass. Do not intervene." The first information about the pan-European picnic appears on July 10, 1989, in the files of the Hungarian State Security Service . The Hajdú-Bihar District State Security Service informed headquarters that the thought was raised during a visit by Otto von Habsburg to Debrecen on June 20, 1989 – in the middle of a discussion with local leaders of
11400-443: The border. Over the next few days, the Hungarian government increased the number of guards patrolling its western border and a relatively small number of refugees reached the West. Another picnic spontaneously planned by an employee of the West German television station ZDF for August 23, 1989 was forcibly prevented by Hungarian security forces at the border. The Pan-European Picnic was organised by four Hungarian opposition parties:
11550-576: The boundaries of the West German states in a way that none of them should be too large or too small in comparison with the others. As the premiers did not come to an agreement on this question, the Parliamentary Council was supposed to address this issue. Its provisions are reflected in Article ;29 of the Basic Law . There was a binding provision for a new delimitation of the federal territory:
11700-563: The city of Debrecen, a pagoda from the Association of Japanese–Hungarian Friendship , and a wooden monument unveiled by the organisers in 1991. In 1996 a 10-metre-high (33 ft) stainless steel sculpture by the sculptor Gabriela von Habsburg was erected in Fertőrákos near Sopron. It symbolizes a set up piece of barbed wire, which from a distance has the shape of a cross. In 2009, EU Commission President José Manuel Barroso paid tribute to
11850-454: The commission developed criteria for classifying the terms of Article 29 Paragraph 1. The capacity to perform functions effectively was considered most important, whereas regional, historical, and cultural ties were considered as hardly verifiable. To fulfill administrative duties adequately, a population of at least five million per state was considered as necessary. After a relatively brief discussion and mostly negative responses from
12000-539: The complete stretch of the Saxony-Anhalt border has been designated as well. The other bordering federal states also declared the aim to designate the Green Belt as National Nature Monument in the upcoming years. The efforts of the BUND, the BfN, and the local states have led to using the Green Belt for both conservation and nature tourism. The Green Belt is a landscape of memories. Not only does it have unique natural aspects, it
12150-616: The configuration of the German states: the 7 Thuringian states were merged in 1920, whereby Coburg opted for Bavaria , Pyrmont joined Prussia in 1922, and Waldeck did so in 1929. Any later plans to break up the dominating Prussia into smaller states failed because political circumstances were not favourable to state reforms. After the Nazi Party seized power in January 1933, the Länder were gradually abolished and reduced to provinces under
12300-471: The consent of the federal government (Article 32 of the Basic Law). Typical treaties relate to cultural relationships and economic affairs. Some states call themselves a " free state " ( Freistaat ). It is merely a historic synonym for "republic" and was a description used by most German states after the abolishment of monarchy after World War I . Today, Freistaat is associated emotionally with
12450-401: The constituent states have certain limited powers in this area: in matters that affect them directly, the states defend their interests at the federal level through the Bundesrat ("Federal Council"), and in areas where they have the legislative authority they have limited powers to conclude international treaties "with the consent of the federal government". It was the states that formed
12600-416: The constitution, as expressed in the articles guaranteeing human dignity, the separation of powers, the federal structure, and the rule of law are valid in perpetuity. Despite the original intention, the Grundgesetz remained in effect after the German reunification in 1990, with only minor amendments. The federal constitution stipulates that the structure of each Federated State's government must "conform to
12750-432: The constitution. An appeal against the decision was rejected as inadmissible by the Federal Constitutional Court. On 24 August 1976, the binding provision for a new delimitation of the federal territory was altered into a mere discretionary one. Paragraph 1 of Article 29 was rephrased, with the provision that any state had to be "of a size and capacity to perform its functions effectively" put first. The option for
12900-493: The culture of remembrance that the pan-European picnic became a symbol for the entire flight movement of the summer of 1989. The important role played by the Hungarian opposition movement was increasingly concealed, while the role of the Habsburgs was emphasized. The memorial site was constructed by politicians and the media for their own purposes, and the importance of the collapse of the Eastern Bloc and Austria's active role in it
13050-525: The empire, 65% of the territory and 62% of the population belonged to the state of Prussia. After the territorial losses of the Treaty of Versailles , the remaining states continued as republics of a new German federation. The debate on a new delimitation of the German territory started in 1919 as part of discussions about the new constitution. Hugo Preuss , the father of the Weimar Constitution , drafted
13200-545: The entire "Iron Curtain" extending from the Arctic to the Black Sea. The border fortifications were indeed formidable with visible electrified fences with barbed wire, guard towers, heavily armed guards, and mine fields. The first area which one would have encountered along the border, traveling from east to west, would have been the "restrictive zone" (Sperrzone). This section was a 5 kilometers (3.1 miles) wide area running parallel to
13350-411: The event, saw the planned event as an opportunity to test Mikhail Gorbachev 's reaction to an opening of the border on the Iron Curtain. The official emblem of the picnic was a pigeon breaking through the barbed wire. At the picnic several hundred East German citizens overran the old wooden gate, reaching Austria unhindered by the border guards around Árpád Bella. It was the largest mass exodus since
13500-622: The executive branch consists of a Senate of approximately eight, selected by the state's parliament; the senators carry out duties equivalent to those of the ministers in the larger states. The equivalent of the minister-president is the Senatspräsident (president of the senate), also commonly referred to as Bürgermeister (Mayor) in Bremen, the Erster Bürgermeister (first mayor) in Hamburg, and
13650-451: The federal system: the legislatures are popularly elected for four or five years (depending on the state), and the minister-president is then chosen by a majority vote among the Landtag ' s members. The minister-president is typically the head of the biggest party of a coalition. The minister-president appoints a cabinet to run the state's agencies and to carry out the executive duties of
13800-487: The federal territory has been discussed since the Federal Republic was founded in 1949 and even before. Committees and expert commissions advocated a reduction of the number of states; academics ( Werner Rutz , Meinhard Miegel , Adrian Ottnad , etc.) and politicians ( Walter Döring , Hans Apel , and others) made proposals – some of them far-reaching – for redrawing boundaries but hardly anything came of these public discussions. Territorial reform
13950-412: The federation more complicated." But several proposals have failed so far; territorial reform remains a controversial topic in German politics and public perception. Federalism has a long tradition in German history. The Holy Roman Empire comprised many petty states , numbering more than 300 in around 1796. The number of territories was greatly reduced during the Napoleonic Wars (1796–1814). After
14100-412: The federation. The states retain residual or exclusive legislative authority for all other areas, including culture, which in Germany includes not only topics such as the financial promotion of arts and sciences, but also most forms of education and job training (see Education in Germany ). Though international relations including international treaties are primarily the responsibility of the federal level,
14250-459: The first person to buy a "Green Belt share" which had opened the doors for people to give money to BUND ( Friends of the Earth ) to purchase land. Those involved in these efforts were relieved when in 2005 German Chancellor Angela Merkel designated the Green Belt as part of Germany's National Natural Heritage and was highlighted in the German government's National Strategy on Biological Diversity. In 2010
14400-446: The five " New States " on 3 October 1990. The former district of East Berlin joined West Berlin to form the new state of Berlin. Henceforth, the 10 "old states" plus 5 "new states" plus the new state Berlin add up to current 16 states of Germany. After reunification, the constitution was amended to state that the citizens of the 16 states had successfully achieved the unity of Germany in free self-determination and that
14550-409: The former Free State of Prussia. Other former Prussian territories lying east of the rivers Neisse and Oder were lost in 1945 and are now part of Poland or Russia . They are Silesia (Upper and Lower), Pomerania, West Prussia-Posen, and East Prussia respectively. Possible boundary changes between states continue to be debated in Germany, in contrast to how there are "significant differences among
14700-409: The former border, and specially developed nature-experience and tourism offerings. The aim was not only to overcome administrative barriers such as between district administrations and Länder governments, but also to erase the lines of division between those who work in nature conservation, agriculture, tourism and the upkeep of historical monuments. As an ambitious conservation project, there are still
14850-476: The former border. Therefore, the Green Belt passes through six federal states (Mecklenburg-West Pomerania, Brandenburg, Lower Saxony, Saxony-Anhalt, Thuringia, Saxony) and touches the border section of three more federal states (Schleswig-Holstein, Hessen, Bavaria). It surpasses most of the major land regions in Germany, which makes it the backbone of the green infrastructure and biodiversity network in Germany. Further on, environmentalists have been working to extend
15000-576: The grounds that Article 29 had made the new delimitation of the federal territory an exclusively federal matter. At the same time, the Court reaffirmed the requirement for a territorial revision as a binding order to the relevant constitutional bodies. The grand coalition decided to settle the 1956 petitions by setting binding deadlines for the required referendums. The referendums in Lower Saxony and Rhineland-Palatinate were to be held by 31 March 1975, and
15150-474: The heavily guarded "protective strip" (Schutzstreifen). This area, that ran adjacent to the actual GDR border, was monitored by guards in large watchtowers constructed at regular intervals along the entire length of the border with almost 700 towers built by 1989. These towers made it possible for East German guards to fire upon anyone attempting an escape. With all of these deadly defensive measures in place, it came as no surprise that this "death strip" of land
15300-412: The larger organization Friends of the Earth was created on July 20, 1975, BUND by Horst Stern, Prof. Bernhard Grzimek, Dr. Herbert Gruhl, Enoch zu Guttenberg, Hubert Weinzierl, Hubert Weiger and 16 other environmentalist. From the Western side of the border, the BUND was able to see different bird species, among other animals, thriving in such a hostile environment. In this way nature conservationists from
15450-527: The local organization (local permits, benches and stage, food) and designed leaflets. For those interested, it also provided a sketch of how to get to the border and the place of the picnic. The MDF then distributed Hungarian-language leaflets in Hungary and German-language leaflets in Austria. For the later success, however, the spread of the German-language text in Hungary among the East Germans vacationing there
15600-631: The lost territories of the Third Reich, and stood opposed to the peaceful socialism of the GDR . The GDR side of the Inner German Border had by far a more complex system of fortifications and border controls than the Federal Republic of Germany ( FRG ). 1.393 kilometers (0.866 miles) long and between 50 and 200 kilometers deep, the German portion ran from the Baltic Sea to Czechoslovakia with
15750-430: The mass exodus spread very quickly. The Hungarian border guards reacted calmly to the emerging mass exodus and did not intervene. The leading border officer at the time, Árpád Bella contributed significantly to this. In addition, thousands of GDR citizens waited a little further away for a chance to cross the border, because they were not confident that the border really had been opened. As a result, only 661 people crossed
15900-478: The national leadership of the MDF had reservations, Filep (supported by local Fidesz and MDF groups) recruited participants and searched for a suitable location. She wanted to include guests at the "common destiny camp", a gathering of intellectuals and opposition activists from Central and Eastern European countries in Martonvásár (not far from Lake Balaton) scheduled to end date on 20 August. The site chosen for
16050-501: The necessary majority vote in Brandenburg, while a majority of Berliners voted in favour. Federalism is one of the entrenched constitutional principles of Germany . According to the German constitution , some topics, such as foreign affairs and defence, are the exclusive responsibility of the federation (i.e., the federal level), while others fall under the shared authority of the states and
16200-535: The northeast consisting of Schleswig-Holstein, Hamburg and the northern part of Lower Saxony (from Cuxhaven to Lüchow-Dannenberg ) and one in the northwest consisting of Bremen and the rest of Lower Saxony (solution B). In the center and southwest, one alternative was that Rhineland-Palatinate (with the exception of the Germersheim district but including the Rhine-Neckar region) should be merged with Hesse and
16350-694: The other states there are the subdivisions below. The most populous state of North Rhine-Westphalia is uniquely divided into two area associations ( Landschaftsverbände ), one for the Rhineland , and one for Westphalia - Lippe . This arrangement was meant to ease the friction caused by uniting the two culturally different regions into a single state after World War II . The Landschaftsverbände now have very little power. Pan-European Picnic The Pan-European Picnic ( German : Paneuropäisches Picknick ; Hungarian : Páneurópai piknik ; Slovak : Paneurópsky piknik ; Czech : Panevropský piknik )
16500-426: The other thirteen states are called Flächenländer ("area states") and include Bavaria , Saxony , and Thuringia , which describe themselves as Freistaaten ("free states"). The Federal Republic of Germany ("West Germany") was created in 1949 through the unification of the three western zones previously under American, British, and French administration in the aftermath of World War II . Initially,
16650-463: The outstanding ecological value of the 1,393 km-long and 177 km large network of habitats. In 2012 the inventory has been updated. Together with actual data on conservation areas, status and management the following characteristics picture the Green Belt: The diversity of the landscape is an important refuge and home to many plant and animal species: rare orchids like the lady's slipper ,
16800-421: The percentages of those eligible who voted in favour): The votes in Lower Saxony were successful as both proposals were supported by more than 25% of eligible voters. The Bundestag, however, decided that both Oldenburg and Schaumburg-Lippe should remain part of Lower Saxony. The justification was that a reconstitution of the two former states would contradict the objectives of paragraph 1 of article 29 of
16950-448: The picnic by his daughter Walburga von Habsburg , who gave his greetings. The Hungarian writer and dissident György Konrád also spoke, who until 1988 was only allowed to publish his critical texts abroad. Music was played and speeches made on a wooden stage; there was wine, beer, grilled food, and goulash. Many of the participants also cut about a kilometer (1100 yards) from the fence of the old border system. This symbolic demolition party
17100-456: The picnic was on Bratislava Road in Sopron , a border crossing since 1922. The gathering was intended as an informal meeting of Austrians and Hungarians at the border meadow. Permission to open the border station for three hours was granted, so pedestrians from both countries could experience Europe without borders. Its organisers recruited Otto von Habsburg and Imre Pozsgay , a reformist member of
17250-407: The pre-War states remained: Baden (in part), Bavaria (reduced in size), Bremen, Hamburg, Hesse (enlarged), Saxony, and Thuringia. The states with hyphenated names, such as Rhineland-Palatinate, North Rhine-Westphalia, and Saxony-Anhalt, owed their existence to the occupation powers and were created out of mergers of former Prussian provinces and smaller states. Former German territory that lay east of
17400-473: The principles of republican, democratic, and social government, based on the rule of law" (Article 28). Most of the states are governed by a cabinet led by a Ministerpräsident (minister-president), together with a unicameral legislative body known as the Landtag (State Diet ). The states are parliamentary republics and the relationship between their legislative and executive branches mirrors that of
17550-477: The process of transferring federal land comprising part of the National Natural Heritage in the Green Belt free of charge to the various states (Länder) and their nature conservation foundations was completed. The German Green Belt straddles the 1,393-kilometer (866-mile) former east–west border and is integral part of the larger former "Iron Curtain" border. It runs predominantly on the eastern side of
17700-420: The provisions of Article 29, by agreement between the Länder concerned. If no agreement is reached, the revision shall be effected by a federal law, which shall provide for an advisory referendum." Since no agreement was reached, a referendum was held on 9 December 1951 in four different voting districts, three of which approved the merger ( South Baden refused but was overruled, as the result of total votes
17850-467: The provisions of Article 29, by agreement between the two Länder with the participation of their inhabitants who are entitled to vote". A state treaty between Berlin and Brandenburg was approved in both parliaments with the necessary two-thirds majority, but in a popular referendum of 5 May 1996, about 63% voted against the merger. The German states can conclude treaties with foreign countries in matters within their own sphere of competence and with
18000-623: The public support of Federal German Chancellor Konrad Adenauer for the plan. The rejection of the plan by the Saarlanders was interpreted as support for the Saar to join the Federal Republic of Germany. On 27 October 1956, the Saar Treaty established that Saarland should be allowed to join Germany, as provided by the German constitution. Saarland became part of Germany effective 1 January 1957. The Franco-Saarlander currency union ended on 6 July 1959, when
18150-579: The referendum in Baden was to be held by 30 June 1970. The threshold for a successful vote was set at one-quarter of those entitled to vote in Bundestag elections. Paragraph 4 stated that the vote should be disregarded if it contradicted the objectives of paragraph 1. In his investiture address, given on 28 October 1969 in Bonn, Chancellor Willy Brandt proposed that the government would consider Article 29 of
18300-462: The return transport of the abandoned vehicles. Beginning in 1989, the Hungarian government claimed that it opened refugee camps for Romanian citizens that supposedly crossed the Hungarian-Romanian border near Debrecen . The government further claimed that in the early summer of 1989, thirty to forty thousand people sought asylum in Hungary. Although the Hungarian government had been bound by
18450-526: The road to German reunification , and commemorative ceremonies are held annually on 19 August at the border. In 2009, Angela Merkel (who grew up in East Germany ) attended festivities commemorating the picnic's 20th anniversary, thanking the Hungarians for their courage and foresight: "Two enslaved nations together broke down the walls of enslavement... and Hungarians gave wings to East Germans' desire for freedom." Hungarian President László Sólyom unveiled
18600-429: The same status as West Berlin – was declared East Germany's capital and its 15th district. The debate on territorial revision restarted shortly before German reunification . While academics (Rutz and others) and politicians (Gobrecht) suggested introducing only two, three, or four states in East Germany, legislation reconstituted the East German states in an arrangement similar to that which they had had before 1952, as
18750-478: The simple fact that the color green is in abundance along the route. Part of the effort to understand the biodiversity surveying and development project "Green Belt Inventory" was carried out by the BUND with its Project Office Green Belt and supported by the BfN (the Federal Agency for Nature Conservation) in 2002. The results of the "longest" inventory ever undertaken by the German nature conservationists underline
18900-458: The state's government. Like in other parliamentary systems, the legislature can dismiss or replace the minister-president after a successful no-confidence vote . The governments in Berlin , Bremen and Hamburg are referred to as " senates ". In the free states of Bavaria and Saxony , the government is referred to as "state government" (Staatsregierung) ; and in the other states, the government
19050-481: The states of the Federal Republic were Baden (until 1952), Bavaria (in German: Bayern ), Bremen , Hamburg , Hesse ( Hessen ), Lower Saxony ( Niedersachsen ), North Rhine-Westphalia ( Nordrhein-Westfalen ), Rhineland-Palatinate ( Rheinland-Pfalz ), Schleswig-Holstein , Württemberg-Baden (until 1952), and Württemberg-Hohenzollern (until 1952). West Berlin , while still under occupation by
19200-462: The subsequent fall of the Berlin Wall. On the northeast corner of the Reichstag building in Berlin, a memorial plaque commemorates the pan-European picnic. There are still some ambiguities about the exact sequence of the picnic, in particular the agreements between Otto von Habsburg, Miklos Nemeth , Imre Pozsgay and Helmut Kohl . Kohl is said to have remarked "It was all agreed beforehand." It
19350-693: The summer of 1989. In the spring of 1989, the GDR Interior Minister Friedrich Dickel asked for travel opportunities to Hungary to be restricted because of the inadequate border security in Hungary, but the Stasi head Erich Mielke had refused to do so in view of the situation in the GDR. On 20 June Otto von Habsburg , heir apparent of the House of Habsburg and member of the European Parliament from 1979 to 1999, addressed an audience at
19500-481: The territory of the former German Democratic Republic ( East Germany ) became part of the Federal Republic, by accession of the re-established eastern states of Brandenburg , Mecklenburg-West Pomerania ( Mecklenburg-Vorpommern ), Saxony ( Sachsen ), Saxony-Anhalt ( Sachsen-Anhalt ), and Thuringia ( Thüringen ), and the reunification of West and East Berlin into a city state. A referendum in 1996 to merge Berlin with surrounding Brandenburg failed to reach
19650-484: The three western military governors approved the Basic Law but suspended Article 29 until such time as a peace treaty should be concluded. Only the special arrangement for the southwest under Article 118 could enter into force. Upon its founding in 1949, West Germany thus had eleven states. These were reduced to nine in 1952 when three south-western states ( South Baden , Württemberg-Hohenzollern , and Württemberg-Baden ) merged to form Baden-Württemberg . From 1957, when
19800-473: The urgent need to find a suitable way out. The East German rulers, planning to celebrate the 40th birthday of East Germany on 7 October 1989, were keen to hide the problems and were silent about the mass exodus of their own people. In a re-enacted scene in Anders Østergaard [ da ] 's documentary 1989 [ da ] , Prime Minister Németh tells an aide, "Gyuri, I think this could actually be
19950-559: The west that were constantly trying to get in touch with the people in the east or to find ways to weaken the communist system, like the Austrian branch of the Paneuropean Union , whose president Karl von Habsburg had been since 1986. Under his responsibility, attempts were made to sustainably support the opposition and freedom movements in Central and Eastern Europe, and the Paneuropa Union participated intensively in political events in what
20100-428: The winter. So, why didn't I just send them home? For years we were obliged to pick up East Germans and send them [home] on special airplanes, organised by the infamous Stasi , to take them home, in many cases to prison or serious harassment. We couldn't keep doing that, certainly not with 100,000 people. We had to find a clear solution. We could not keep them here, and we could not send them back. The only remaining option
20250-423: The wishes of the majority of Baden's population. The two Palatine petitions (for a reintegration into Bavaria and integration into Baden-Württemberg) failed with 7.6% and 9.3%. Further requests for petitions (Lübeck, Geesthacht, Lindau, Achberg, and 62 Hessian communities) had already been rejected as inadmissible by the Federal Minister of the Interior or were withdrawn as in the case of Lindau. The rejection
20400-401: Was a massive popular uprising. On 17 October Honecker was relieved of his position as head of state, and on 9 November the gates to West Berlin were opened. After his fall, Honecker said of Otto von Habsburg in relation to the summer of 1989, "this Habsburg drove the nail into my coffin." The picnic site is commemorated with a monument by Miklós Melocco [ hu ] , a bell from
20550-579: Was a peace demonstration held on the Austrian - Hungarian border near Sopron, Hungary on 19 August 1989. The opening of the border gate between Austria and Hungary at the Pan-European Picnic was an event in the chain reaction, at the end of which Germany reunified , the Iron Curtain fell apart, and the Eastern Bloc disintegrated. The communist governments and the Warsaw Pact subsequently dissolved, ending
20700-517: Was allowed to cut off a piece of the barbed wire and take it with them. According to a Stasi spy, leaflets were also attached to parked cars at the Formula 1 Grand Prix near Budapest in early August. It is unclear who distributed all the leaflets up to Lake Balaton, and in some cases it is assumed that the West German BND was involved. The East German secret service Stasi was warned by a report by
20850-613: Was born, and the first resolution was unanimously made to protect it. 13 years later, during the inauguration by Mikhail Gorbachev of the LandArt project "West-Eastern Gate" in the Eichsfeld, the vision of the European Green Belt was established. Less than a month after the GDR opened its border with the FRG on 9 December 1989 organizers began working to create the Green Belt. The efforts of
21000-585: Was confirmed by the Federal Constitutional Court in the case of Lübeck. In the Paris Agreements of 23 October 1954, France offered to establish an independent "Saarland", under the auspices of the Western European Union (WEU), but on 23 October 1955 in the Saar Statute referendum the Saar electorate rejected this plan by 67.7% to 32.3% (out of a 96.5% turnout: 423,434 against, 201,975 for) despite
21150-411: Was decisive). On 25 April 1952, the three former states merged to form Baden-Württemberg. With the Paris Agreements in 1954, West Germany regained (limited) sovereignty. This triggered the start of the one-year period as set in paragraph 2 of Article 29. As a consequence, eight petitions for referendums were launched, six of which were successful: The last petition was originally rejected by
21300-425: Was decisive. The Austria Paneuropa Union, which was under the leadership of Karl von Habsburg , distributed thousands of German language leaflets in Hungary inviting people to a picnic near the border near Sopron. Radio Freies Europa also drew attention to the event. Many of the GDR citizens understood the message and came there. The advertised motto of the event was also "Dismantle and take with you", so every visitor
21450-581: Was no longer necessary to secure the borders; Hungarians were allowed to travel freely, and the government did not intend to continue fortifying the country's western borders. On 27 June Austrian Foreign Minister Alois Mock and his Hungarian counterpart, Gyula Horn , cut the border fence in a symbolic ceremony highlighting Hungary's decision to dismantle its border surveillance, which had begun on 2 May. East Germans, who often spent their summer holidays on Lake Balaton (where they could meet relatives and friends from West Germany ), remained in Hungary during
21600-419: Was officially approved. The fence area in question at Sopronpuszta was just not dismantled because it was supposed to be used for a planned game reserve. Aside from Walburga von Habsburg and the officials of the MDF, very few Hungarians and Austrians were present at the picnic, but television teams and journalists were there. Shortly before 3 p.m., the first twenty or thirty East German citizens arrived at
21750-510: Was patrolled by 50,000 armed GDR guards who faced tens of thousands of West German, British and US guards and soldiers. Despite the extensiveness of the Inner Border, it was the Berlin Wall (German: Berliner Mauer) that would serve as the famous and infamous representation of the " Iron Curtain " and the Cold War . The Berlin Wall was a barrier that divided Berlin from 1961 to 1989, constructed by
21900-565: Was planned at the border on the basis of a suggestion from Otto Habsburg. He informed the Hungarian domestic secret service on 31 July 1989, about preparations for this event. The operational group of the Ministry for State Security of the GDR (the presence of the Stasi in Hungary) had information about the Pan-European Picnic, but their officers did not react either and the Stasi had no choice but to organise
22050-578: Was referred to as " no-man's land ." It would be fitting that the former "no-mans land" would become the future "Green Belt." From a nature conservation standpoint, the Iron Curtain was a blessing, a vast strip of land in which wildlife thrived. Freed for 40 years from disturbance, as e.g. hunting and farming, wild animals and plants prospered. For four decades the "Iron Curtain" formed an almost insurmountable physical and ideological border in Europe. Soon political change would be instigated in 1989, when on 19 August
22200-529: Was the unthinkable: to somehow send them to the west, but this was bound to provoke not only Honecker and his regime in East Germany , but also the hard-liners in Moscow , so what to do, what to do? Under East German law , citizens were required to request permission to travel to the West; they saw the picnic as an opportunity to act. The destiny of these approximately 100,000 people was the top news story in prime-time news broadcasts for several months, showing Europe
22350-599: Was then Czechoslovakia, Hungary, then Yugoslavia, and the Baltic States. But in public opinion in the West, as well as in the East, nobody thought of the possibility of a quick dissolution of the communist structures in the East. The Iron Curtain was strictly guarded and fully intact until August 1989, even if individual technical systems were dismantled. According to its files, the Hungarian State Security Service had known since 10 July 1989 that an event
22500-448: Was unnecessary. Kohl telephoned Gorbachev, informing him of Németh's decision, and Gorbachev assured Kohl that the Hungarian premier "was a good man". On 11 September the border was opened, and 30,000 East Germans fled to the West. Walter Momper , mayor of West Berlin in 1989, expected the Berlin Wall to open and said: "We expected that one day the storm would come across the border from behind, actually, since Otto von Habsburg and
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