László Nagy

The international press conference that took place before the picnic was prolonged due to the huge public interest, therefore, László Nagy got to the border only by quarter to four instead of three o'clock. "I learnt about the breakthrough on arriving to the border by car. There were no mobile phones around back then, you know. It struck me as unusual that the closest I could get to the border gate was 100 metres. I just couldn't figure out what the reason was. There was such a big crowd! It was crazy! I got out of the car to see what was going on. And I still dont't get it to this very day, I only sort of have been starting to understand it recently. For the sole function of that gate was to let the Austrians from Margitbánya, Rust and Meggyes enter and head for the picnic through the field. Therefore, there weren't supposed to be any people there […] And then a dear acquintance of mine from Kismarton came towards me saying "some fantastic things are happenning here! Crowds of East Germans cross the border by the hundreds!" And then I said, East Germans! Oh, no!'. And then it sank in that they can prosecute us for whatever they please. I was also aware that for assisting illegal border crossing you can get sentenced to 2-5 years of imprisonment. […] We couldn't cross over. […] The mayor of Margitbánya received a phonecall that there was some disruption on the border. And he drove there in no time.and he arranged for the East Germans to be put up for the night. They should be allowed to take a shower, to make phonecalls back home and be given food and drink. He will foot the bill. They were paid reimbursement for seven hundred-and-sixty people. My guess is that they must have been over one thousand, as quite a few of the refugees didn't even go to Margitbánya. Moreover, being afraid of the soldiers, many of them didn't cross through the border gates but a kilometre further to the left or the right, through the Iron Curtain, that is. In my view, there may have been about one or one and a half thousand refugees.

Only five more metres and it was already Austrian terrain. Some of the East Germans were getting hysterical. And at that very moment Árpi asked in German, 'where would you like to go?'. They said, 'to Austria'. They were glaring at each other.The soldier lads asked 'commander, what shall we do now?' As, Árpád Bella apparently told them beforehand that they weren't supposed to shoot unless they are commanded to. They were to give only a warning shot as they were commanded to prevent illegal border crossing. But Árpi was aware of the five thousand Austrians at the back and the hundred and fifty East Germans with that glare in their eyes. Even a casual pat on a rifle bag would have scared the East Germans. Panic would have overcome them and they would've lynched the soldiers. Or, if, God forbid, the shot ends up in Austria! That would've resulted in a massive international scandal! […] And the Germans kept on coming. They were already in the maise field. Facing Hungary, there is a maise field on the left. They were coming out of that realising that there was a way to. And then the soldiers asked, 'What shall we do now, commander?' Then he said,'Count them and give me a rough number!' Finally, he figured out that the soldiers should stand facing Austria. You are only liable for what you see. This is the nice, old byzantine way. And the Austrians were coming anyway, and passports had to get stamped and forms had to be filled in. And all that engaged their attention. And the Germans left behind their backs.

We weren't aware that twenty-five thousand people would come out. We expected one and a half thousand to come. - And how many were there after all? According to police estimates there were twenty-five thousand of them. Half of Sopron city was there. And lots of Austrians as well. At least a minimum of five thousand people came from Austria. It didn't even cross our minds that this would turn out such a great success. Its mysticism had an appeal to anyone, this one being a kaffkaesque world where you couln't ever touch the Iron Curtain, only see it from the train at the very best. People simply wanted to take a look. It was a Saturday. A nice day. "Let's go out!" [...] There was no way to keep people from going. Some of them rolled up the Iron Curtain as the soldiers did. Half of the Sopron gardens are enclosed with the Iron Curtain. They put the rolls on top of cars. They dismantled quite a few kilometres. Some of them only cut a piece off. I should also have brought a roll! Folks did take them.