East Berlin, February 20, 1967
James Cagney in the Billy Wilder Cold War spoof: "One,Two,Three."
Posted on 08/19/2009 4:10:09 PM PDT by Wardenclyffe
Participants in a very eventful picnic gather for its 20th anniversary at the Austro-Hungarian border.
Twenty years ago Wednesday, Hungarian Border Guard Arpad Bella was standing in front of that gate in his summer uniform, pistol at his side, awaiting the arrival of a special delegation of Austrian visitors. Bella’s men had been told to be on the lookout.
Meanwhile, reformers within Hungary’s Communist Party had given local democracy activists permission to organize a symbolic event on the border — a “pan-European picnic” in which they would share food, wine and declarations of cooperation with their Austrian neighbors. With foreign press in attendance, a joint delegation would cross the border. The gate was to be locked again at 6 p.m.
It didn’t turn out that way.
A little before three, Bella saw a large mass of people approaching his side of the gate, which he initially took to be the Hungarian delegation. But people in the crowd were approaching in silence, carrying children, pets and rucksacks of belongings. They were East German tourists desperate to escape to the West. They quickened their pace as they drew closer to Bella.
“I didn’t have much time to decide what to do,” Bella recalled 20 years later. “If I tried to stop the East Germans there would be blood. If I decided not to, I would be violating my orders.”
In those moments, Bella came to a history-changing decision. “At that moment of decision I put aside the Border Guard and let my own personality come out,” he said. “These people weren’t the enemy, they were civilians without weapons, and if I tried to stop them, people — including my men — would be hurt or killed and we still wouldn’t succeed.”
His order: “Please, go through.”
(Excerpt) Read more at globalpost.com ...
East Berlin, February 20, 1967
James Cagney in the Billy Wilder Cold War spoof: "One,Two,Three."
A very erudite post!
Very inspiring.
Americans should know this history better and should understand the dangers of leftist politics.
It is hard to believe that it is was only twenty years ago that Americans were celebrating with them the fall of the Soviet Iron Curtain and leftwing oppression but now we are facing a leftist assault in our own country today.
Hopefully the tea parties can be a catalyst to freedom against the leftists here the way that this picnic was for Europe.
People need to stand up. Freedom isn’t free.
Thanks kenavi. I posted this to show, as another poster said; “freedom is not free.” It’s fragile, and we must all be aware of the incremental efforts underway to curtail it.
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