The Annual Conference on Cultural Diplomacy 2014
A World without Walls; Opportunities for Peace Building in a Time of Global Insecurity
Berlin; November 7th - 10th, 2014
Held Parallel to the Berlin Celebration of the 25th Anniversary of the Fall of the Berlin Wall"
Held Parallel to the Berlin Celebration of the 25th Anniversary of the Fall of the Berlin Wall"
At least 7,000 East German refugees traveled to Budapest. Most were able to arrive in the city as "tourists", who once arriving, would immediately declare their intentions to either seek asylum in the West German Embassy or travel to the West.
The decision to officially allow refugees to leave the country represented the first crack in the relatively common policies of the Warsaw Bloc. Never before had a nation within the Bloc openly broke from the consensus that citizens under Communist rule should not be allowed to leave the East.
Eastern governments, especially East Germany, were furious by the decision. But their accusations and protests were largely ignored by the Hungarian Government. Hungary would respect the human rights of those people within its borders.