While in Sopron (Hungary) in July this year, I came across an open air exposition, a remembrance of old communist times, called #piknik30. It was the exhibition of the Pan-European Picnic to commemorate the historical events happened 30 years ago in Sopron. The goal of the exhibition is to give first-hand information on the former events to anyone interested.
Sopron is situated at 6km from the Austrian border. It's basically the last Hungarian city you pass before crossing the border to Austria. The Pan-European Picnic took place at the Austrian-Hungarian border near Sopron, Hungary on the 19th of August, 1989. It was a peace demonstration
organised by the Paneuropean Union and the opposition Hungarian Democratic Forum under the sponsorship of Archduke Otto von Habsburg and Imre Pozsgay. source
Please click the link and read the whole story on Wikipedia to understand what it is about.
What you see here is a mobile cooker or stove. This was used most likely during the war. It has several big pots that were heated with wood. This trailer was attached to a car and carried wherever it was needed.
Theses pots are basically pressure cookers. I've never seen one till then.
A sentry box and a part of a fence that was used during and after the war.
State border sign.
The story of the Iron Curtain which in fact is not a story, it's the painful reality.
A car used by the Hungarian military.
Road to the free world.
This is a famous Trabant made by former East German car manufacturer VEB Sachsenring Automobilwerke Zwickau.
These cars were very famous in Eastern Europe during communist times.
Wall art specifically made for this event, featuring the Trabant.
This wall art is very appropriate. The wire symbolizes the iron curtain, the dove symbolizes freedom.
Hands.
Photos taken at the Pan-European Picnic.
The socialist fraternal kiss that happened between Erich Honecker the General Secretary of the Socialist Unity Party of Germany (SED) and Leonid Brezhnev, the fifth leader of the Soviet Union. This kiss is pretty famous and widespread.
This expo came as a surprise, I knew nothing about it. I live in Romania, where those times were much more tougher, I'm trying to forget those times. It's not something you want to think about very often. I'm glad those times are over and wish to never live like that again.
Read my other post about Sopron: