Editing Central Europe (section)

===Central Europe behind the Iron Curtain===
[[File:Neutral and Non-Aligned European States.png|thumb|[[Neutral and Non-Aligned European States]] during the Cold War: {{legend|#DFC56C| [[Neutral country|Neutral]]: [[Austria]], [[Finland]], Sweden and Switzerland}}
{{legend|#8BC870|[[Non-Aligned Movement|Non-Aligned]]: [[Cyprus]], [[Malta]] and [[Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia|Yugoslavia]]}}]]

Following [[World War II]], parts of Central Europe became part of the [[Eastern Bloc]]. The boundary between the two blocks was called the [[Iron Curtain]]. Austria, Switzerland and Yugoslavia remained neutral.

The post-World War II period brought blocking of research on Central Europe in the [[Eastern Bloc]] countries, as its every result proved the dissimilarity of Central Europe, which was inconsistent with the [[Stalinist]] doctrine. On the other hand, the topic became popular in Western Europe and the United States, much of the research being carried out by immigrants from Central Europe.<ref>One of the main representatives was Oscar Halecki and his book ''The limits and divisions of European history'', London and New York 1950</ref> Following the [[Fall of Communism]], publicists and historians in Central Europe, especially the anti-communist opposition, returned to their research.<ref>A. Podraza, Europa Środkowa jako region historyczny, 17th Congress of Polish Historians, Jagiellonian University 2004</ref>

According to Karl A. Sinnhuber (''Central Europe: Mitteleuropa: Europe Centrale: An Analysis of a Geographical Term'')<ref name=Sinnhuber1954>{{cite journal |last1=Sinnhuber |first1=Karl A. |title=Central Europe: Mitteleuropa: Europe Centrale: An Analysis of a Geographical Term |journal=Transactions and Papers |publisher=Institute of British Geographers |date=1954 |issue=20 |pages=15–39 |doi=10.2307/621131 |jstor=621131 |s2cid=133729155 }}</ref> most Central European states were unable to preserve their political independence and became [[Soviet satellites]]. Besides Austria, Switzerland and Yugoslavia, only the marginal European states of [[Cyprus]], [[Finland]], [[Malta]] and Sweden preserved their political sovereignty to a certain degree, being left out of any military alliances in Europe.

The opening of the [[Iron Curtain]] between Austria and Hungary at the [[Pan-European Picnic]] on 19 August 1989 then set in motion a peaceful chain reaction, at the end of which there was no longer an [[East Germany]] and the Eastern Bloc had disintegrated.<ref>Hilde Szabo: ''Die Berliner Mauer begann im Burgenland zu bröckeln'' (The Berlin Wall began to crumble in Burgenland – German), in Wiener Zeitung 16 August 1999; Otmar Lahodynsky: ''Paneuropäisches Picknick: Die Generalprobe für den Mauerfall'' (Pan-European picnic: the dress rehearsal for the fall of the Berlin Wall – German), in: ''Profil'' 9 August 2014.</ref><ref>Ludwig Greven "Und dann ging das Tor auf", in Die Zeit, 19 August 2014.</ref> It was the largest escape movement from East Germany since the Berlin Wall was built in 1961. After the picnic, which was based on an idea by [[Otto von Habsburg]] to test the reaction of the USSR and Mikhail Gorbachev to an opening of the border, tens of thousands of media-informed East Germans set off for Hungary.<ref>Miklós Németh in Interview, Austrian TV – ORF "Report", 25 June 2019.</ref> The leadership of the GDR in East Berlin did not dare to completely block the borders of their own country and the USSR did not respond at all. 
This broke the bracket of the Eastern Bloc and Central Europe subsequently became free from communism.<ref>Otmar Lahodynsky "Eiserner Vorhang: Picknick an der Grenze" (Iron curtain: picnic at the border – German), in Profil 13 June 2019.</ref><ref>Thomas Roser: DDR-Massenflucht: Ein Picknick hebt die Welt aus den Angeln (German – Mass exodus of the GDR: A picnic clears the world) in: Die Presse 16 August 2018.</ref><ref>Andreas Rödder, Deutschland einig Vaterland – Die Geschichte der Wiedervereinigung (2009).</ref>