German Chancellor Angela Merkel will visit Hungary on August 19th for the 30th anniversary of when citizens from East Germany fled to Austria and later Hungary.
According to reports, the commemorative event will also be attended by Prime Minister Viktor Orbán and other dignitaries.
On that day thirty years ago, several hundred East Germans crossed the frontier between Hungary and Austria during the Pan-European Picnic, part of the events that began the process of the fall of the Berlin Wall.
After secret consultations with the Soviet Union, Hungary eventually opened its borders to citizens of East Germany and other Central European countries on September 11th, the first time a Central European border was opened to citizens of Eastern Bloc states. A few months after the opening, more than 70,000 East Germans fled to West Germany via Hungary.