In December 1989, German Chancellor Helmut Kohl declared, “Hungary knocked out the first brick of the Berlin Wall.” His remarks reveal the increasingly forgotten role Hungarian decision-makers and society played in the summer of 1989. It was Hungary that finally fulfilled what Ronald Reagan called for two years before when he proclaimed, “Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall”. Yet, as the memory of that momentous year fades, its message remains relevant. The Berlin Wall may have fallen, but the divisions it once symbolised still run deep across Europe.
