11. THE PICNIC: A DREAM OF FREEDOM AND THE COLLAPSE OF THE IRON CURTAIN

On small actions does the tide of history change. In August 1989, hundreds of East German 'holiday-makers' made their way to the border of the forbidden militarised zone between Hungary and Austria, and held a picnic. On wisps of rumour, word had spread of an audacious plan. Fearing prison and surveilled by lurking Stasi agents, the stage was set for the greatest border breach in Cold War history. That day hundreds crossed from the Communist East to the longed-for freedom of the West, initiating a sequence of events which would see the fall of the Berlin Wall, and the end of the Soviet Union - the so-called end of history. Matthew Longo, Professor of Political Science at Leiden University, draws on original interviews with those involved to recreate the fascinating and dramatic story of this world-shaping event.