FUN WITH MAPS ISSUE 2024-081

By Steve Kovacs (Introduction by Chuck Gibson)

LOVELAND, OH (April 29, 2024) – In this edition of Fun with Maps we celebrate the opening of a wall to close the “Cold War”.

The Fall of the Wall

When did the Berlin Wall, the symbol of the Cold War, fall?  History books and Wiki would say on November 9, 1989.  The full dismemberment by wrecking crews started on April 29, 1990.

Well, technically that is right… But the first gaping hole in the Wall, figuratively, occurred in August 1989, 100s of miles away in Western Hungary.   The story goes that a border security colonel, possibly on his own, decided to open the border to Austria to East Germans without questions.

Plenty of East Germans vacationed in those days at Lake Balaton, a very popular destination to this day in Hungary.  That was also a place to meet West German relatives. 

The word got out and caravans of Trabants formed and drove westward.

Soon the Czechs followed letting East Germans to the west without exit visas.  The Soviets froze, and after some harsh words did nothing. 

The writing was on the wall…The rest is history.

This large wall map shows Hungary’s topography and water systems from the 1960s.

Steve Kovacs and his wife Theresa reside in Loveland, Ohio where they raised their two children. He is a passionate collector of antique maps.

Visit his antique map boutique world-on-paper online. Watch for his daily feature Steve Kovacs: Fun with Maps here on Loveland Beacon.