Free to follow every thread. No paywall, no dead ends.
Iron Curtain: the story on HearLore | HearLore
— Ch. 1 · Origins And Etymology —
Iron Curtain.
~8 min read · Ch. 1 of 7
Theater stages in the early twentieth century installed iron safety curtains to slow the spread of fire. This literal barrier became a metaphor for political division when Queen Elisabeth of Belgium used the phrase in 1914. She described an Iron Curtain descending between her people and Germany during World War I. The term appeared again in Vasily Rozanov's 1918 polemic The Apocalypse of Our Time regarding Soviet Russia. Ethel Snowden published Through Bolshevik Russia in 1920, using the term to reference the Soviet border. A May 1943 article in Signal, a German propaganda periodical, discussed the curtain separating the world from the Soviet Union. Joseph Goebbels commented on Das Reich on the 25th of February 1945 that an iron curtain would fall over territory controlled by the Soviet Union if Germany lost the war. English-language Nazi propagandist William Joyce declared the Iron Curtain of Bolshevism had come down across Europe in his last broadcast on the 30th of April 1945. Winston Churchill sent a telegram to U.S. President Harry S. Truman on the 12th of May 1945 stating an iron curtain was drawn down upon their front. He repeated the phrase in another telegram to Truman on June 4, mentioning the descent of an iron curtain between them and everything to the eastward. Churchill delivered his Sinews of Peace address at Westminster College in Fulton, Missouri, on the 5th of March 1946. He stated publicly that an iron curtain has descended across the Continent behind which lie all the capitals of Central and Eastern Europe.
Geopolitical Division
The political boundary divided Europe from the end of World War II in 1945 until the Cold War ended in 1990 or 1991. East of this line lay many small states controlled by the Soviet Union. In 1955 these nations formally allied themselves through the Warsaw Pact. Albania withheld its support of the pact in 1961 due to the Soviet, Albanian split and withdrew in 1968. Yugoslavia remained independent after the Tito, Stalin split in 1948 despite being considered part of the bloc for two years. The Red Army invaded the Baltic states in 1940 on Stalin's orders and annexed Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania as Soviet Socialist Republics. Countries of the USSR included the Russian SFSR, Byelorussian SSR, Latvian SSR, Ukrainian SSR, Estonian SSR, Moldavian SSR, Armenian SSR, Azerbaijan SSR, Georgian SSR, Uzbek SSR, Kirghiz SSR, Tajik SSR, Lithuanian SSR, Turkmen SSR, and Kazakh SSR. Between 1945 and 1949 the Soviets converted areas into satellite states including the German Democratic Republic, Bulgaria, Poland, Hungary, Czechoslovakia, Romania, and Albania. Most European states west of the Iron Curtain operated market economies with democratic governments. They allied themselves within NATO except for neutral Switzerland, Liechtenstein, Austria, Sweden, Finland, Malta, and Ireland. Spain stayed neutral until 1982 when it joined NATO following the return of democracy. In January 1947 Harry Truman appointed General George Marshall as Secretary of State to create a stable Germany. Stalin opposed the Marshall Plan announced by Marshall on the 5th of June 1947. He forbade Eastern bloc countries from accepting aid through the newly formed Cominform.
Physical Fortifications
The Iron Curtain took physical shape in border defenses between western and eastern Europe. The inner German border was one of the most heavily militarized areas in the world. During the Cold War the border zone in Hungary started from the actual border line. Citizens could only enter if they lived there or had a passport valid for travel out. Those living within the zone needed special permission to approach the area. A double barbed-wire fence was installed from the border during the 1950s and 1960s. The space between fences was laden with land mines. An electric signal fence replaced the minefield later. Guard towers and sand strips tracked border violations. Guards and dog patrol units watched the border twenty-four hours a day. They were authorized to use weapons to stop escapees. Several villages like Erlebach were destroyed because they lay too close to the border. Shooting incidents killed several hundred civilians and 28 East German border guards between 1948 and 1981. The Berlin Wall was constructed in 1961 to stop workers from entering West Berlin. It led to the deaths of 140 people attempting to cross into the west. The barrier was always a short distance inside East German territory. The Helmstedt, Marienborn border crossing existed from 1945 to 1990 near the village of Marienborn. It allowed the shortest land route between West Germany and West Berlin. The Soviets built a fence along the entire border towards Norway and Finland located one or two kilometers away. Automatic alarms detected if someone climbed over it.
Human Migration Barriers
Migration from east to west effectively halted after 1950 under strict emigration restrictions. Before that year over 15 million people mainly ethnic Germans emigrated from Soviet-occupied eastern European countries. Only 13.3 million migrations occurred westward between 1950 and 1990. More than 75% of those leaving Eastern Bloc countries did so under bilateral agreements for ethnic migration. About 10% were refugees permitted to leave under the Geneva Convention of 1951. Most Soviets allowed to leave during this period were ethnic Jews who could emigrate to Israel. A series of embarrassing defections in 1970 caused the Soviets to open very limited ethnic emigrations. The People's Republic of Poland had many ports heavily guarded by mines and the Border Guard. Port cities remained open as Poland was a major trading hub with other nations. In parts of Czechoslovakia the border strip became hundreds of meters wide. Only people with government permissions could get close to the border. The Hungarian outer fence became the first part of the Iron Curtain to be dismantled. After fortifications were removed a section was rebuilt for a formal ceremony on the 27th of June 1989. Foreign ministers Alois Mock and Gyula Horn ceremonially cut through the border defenses separating Austria and Hungary.
The Pan-European Picnic
A wave of revolutions occurred throughout the Eastern Bloc in 1989 following economic stagnation. Mikhail Gorbachev decreased adherence to the Brezhnev Doctrine in favor of the Sinatra Doctrine. He initiated policies of glasnost and perestroika. In February 1989 the Hungarian politburo recommended dismantling the iron curtain to Prime Minister Miklós Németh. Németh received informal clearance from Gorbachev on the 3rd of March 1989 stating there would not be a new 1956. On the 2nd of May the Hungarian government announced destruction of the Iron Curtain in Rajka. For public relations Hungary reconstructed 200m of the curtain so it could be cut during an official ceremony. More than 600 East Germans attending the Pan-European Picnic on the 19th of August 1989 broke through the Iron Curtain. They fled into Austria under the direction of Walburga Habsburg. Hungarian border guards threatened to shoot anyone crossing but did not intervene when the time came. It was the largest escape movement from East Germany since the Berlin Wall was built in 1961. The idea for the picnic came from Otto von Habsburg who promoted it to Miklós Németh. Extensive advertising used posters and flyers among German holidaymakers in Hungary. The Paneuropean Union distributed thousands of brochures inviting them to a picnic near Sopron.
Fall Of The Wall
The opening of a border gate between Austria and Hungary at the Pan-European Picnic set in motion a chain reaction. Tens of thousands of media-informed East Germans made their way to Hungary which was no longer ready to keep borders closed. The leadership of the GDR in East Berlin did not dare to completely lock their own country's borders. In November 1989 tens of thousands of East Berliners flooded checkpoints along the Berlin Wall. They crossed into West Berlin after mass protests in Czechoslovakia relaxed travel restrictions. In Bulgaria leader Todor Zhivkov was ousted the day after mass crossings across the Berlin Wall. Half-million Czechoslovaks protested leading the government to permit travel west and abolish Communist party guarantees. On the 22nd of December 1989 the Romanian military sided with protesters against ruler Nicolae Ceaușescu. He was executed three days later after a brief trial. Hundreds of Albanian citizens gathered around foreign embassies seeking asylum on the 3rd of July 1990. The Berlin Wall officially remained guarded after the 9th of November 1989 though inter-German border controls became meaningless. Official dismantling by the East German military began in June 1990. On the 1st of July 1990 all border-controls ceased when East Germany adopted the West German currency. West German Chancellor Helmut Kohl convinced Gorbachev to drop Soviet objections to a reunited Germany within NATO.
Ecological Legacy And Memorials
Decreased human activity around the physical border during the Cold War formed natural biotopes. These areas now constitute the European Green Belt nature reserves. A long-distance cycling route called the Iron Curtain Trail spans from Finland to Greece. It is a project of the European Union and other associated nations. An Iron Curtain monument stands in the southern part of the Czech Republic at approximately one kilometer from the border. A few hundred meters of original fence and one guard tower remain installed there. Interpretive signs explain history and significance in Czech and English. Another monument exists in Fertőrákos, Hungary, at the site of the Pan-European Picnic. A metal sculpture by Gabriela von Habsburg stands on the eastern hill of the stone quarry. It features a column made of metal and barbed wire with the date of the picnic. The ribbon under the board bears Latin text about unity and freedom. Several open-air museums preserve parts of the former inner German border including Berlin and Mödlareuth. The memory of division remains alive in many places along the Grenze. The Turkish, Armian border has remained closed since the 1920s as the last vestige of the Iron Curtain.
When did Winston Churchill use the phrase Iron Curtain in his Sinews of Peace address?
Winston Churchill delivered his Sinews of Peace address at Westminster College in Fulton, Missouri on the 5th of March 1946. He stated publicly that an iron curtain has descended across the Continent behind which lie all the capitals of Central and Eastern Europe.
What was the political boundary dividing Europe during the Cold War called?
The political boundary dividing Europe from the end of World War II in 1945 until the Cold War ended in 1990 or 1991 is known as the Iron Curtain. East of this line lay many small states controlled by the Soviet Union including Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania annexed in 1940.
Who announced the destruction of the Iron Curtain in Rajka on the 2nd of May 1989?
The Hungarian government announced destruction of the Iron Curtain in Rajka on the 2nd of May 1989. Foreign ministers Alois Mock and Gyula Horn ceremonially cut through the border defenses separating Austria and Hungary after reconstructing 200m of the curtain for public relations.
How did the Berlin Wall affect migration between East Germany and West Berlin?
The Berlin Wall was constructed in 1961 to stop workers from entering West Berlin and led to the deaths of 140 people attempting to cross into the west. The barrier remained a short distance inside East German territory while official dismantling began in June 1990 when all border-controls ceased.
What natural biotopes formed around the physical border during the Cold War?
Decreased human activity around the physical border during the Cold War formed natural biotopes that now constitute the European Green Belt nature reserves. A long-distance cycling route called the Iron Curtain Trail spans from Finland to Greece as a project of the European Union and other associated nations.