S8 Ep1146: Matthew Longo, The Picnic: A Dream of Freedom and the Collapse of the Iron Curtain. As the picnic date of August 19, 1989, approaches, the atmosphere is "fraught" with tension. Thousands of East Germans (GDR) have flooded into Hungary, pretending to be on
Podcast: The John Batchelor ShowPublished On: Mon Jul 20 2026
Description: Matthew Longo, The Picnic: A Dream of Freedom and the Collapse of the Iron Curtain. As the picnic date of August 19, 1989, approaches, the atmosphere is "fraught" with tension. Thousands of East Germans (GDR) have flooded into Hungary, pretending to be on summer vacation but actually acting as refugees hoping for a chance to cross into the West. They camp at places like Ferto Rakos, where they are stalked by Stasi informers who take down names and instill terror. Meanwhile, in Budapest, Miklos Nemeth and other reformers view the picnic as "Operation Human Shield"—a test to see if the nearby Soviet army will intervene. On the day of the picnic, two unlikely heroes emerge: Norbert, a hard-drinking West German adventurer with a scars-and-mercenary past, and Agnes, an elderly local woman. Because Norbert has a West German passport and Agnes is too old to fear the state, they act as "guardian angels," helping terrified East Germans navigate the borderlands. The event itself is chaotic and plagued by rain, resembling a "Woodstock" in the woods. When a mass of nearly a thousand East Germans suddenly rushes the border gate, a moment of extreme panic occurs as champagne bottles pop; many refugees, conditioned by fear, mistake the sound for gunshots. However, the Hungarian border guards make a "tremendous moral choice" not to shoot, allowing the mass of people to flee into Austriawithout a single drop of bloodshed. (3)1956
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