“Summer that Changed the World”: the 30th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall

"The Summer that Changed the World" – a discussion under this title took place in Uzhgorod within the framework of the already traditional "Week of Germany in Ukraine".

According to the Uzhgorod City Council, this year, the "Week of Germany in Ukraine" is dedicated to the 30th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall. The meeting in Uzhgorod was moderated by an integrated expert on twinning of our city and German Darmstadt Martin Reuter.

It was noted that in Hungary, thanks to enthusiasts, the Berlin Wall got the first cracks – the so-called Pan-European picnic took place on the Hungarian-Austrian border near the city of Sopron on August 19, 1989. Then, with the agreement of the two countries, the border gates on the old Bratislava Road were symbolically opened for 3 hours and hundreds of citizens of the then GDR fled west to Austria. The Pan-European Picnic is considered to be a powerful impetus for further democratic movements in Eastern Europe.

The first deputy consul general of Hungary in Uzhgorod, Laszlo Kuti, made a welcoming speech at the evening in Uzhgorod.

Uzhgorod Deputy Mayor Oleksandr Bilak thanked the organizers, in particular Martin Reuter, who contributed a lot to the development of relationship between Uzhgorod and Darmstadt.

Witnesses to those events from Germany, Austria, Hungary and Ukraine, including well-known journalist and musician Karl Kanic and the head of the border guard shift on that day Bella Arpad, took part in the multimedia discussion event. Also, the installation of the exhibition by photographer Tamasz Lobenwein was presented for the first time in Ukraine. 

The organizers of the event are the Embassy of Germany in Ukraine, the Consulate General of Germany in Donetsk, which is now located in the city of Dnipro, NGO Darmstadt House with the support of the Consulate General of Hungary in Uzhgorod, Uzhgorod City Council and others.