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Grand Forks Public Library North Dakota - The Picnic A Dream of Freedom and the Collapse of the Iron Curtain by Matthew Longo 01 January 2024 ( news )
Grand Forks Public Library , state North Dakota ( By Press Release office)
Jan 01,2024
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The gripping story of a collective passion for freedom that shook the world .
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 Picnicrecovers 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 .
14 illustrations
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