ABS picnic

The World Conference of the Association for Borderlands Studies (ABS) was held this year for the second time, this time hosted jointly by Vienna and Budapest. During the trip from Vienna to Budapest, CESCI organised a study tour on 11 July 2018 for over 150 interested participants to the 1989 Pan-European Picnic Memorial Park at Sankt Margarethen and the border crossing point in Sopronkőhida. 

The site was chosen where the iron curtain was opened first, because it is a particularly impressive and thought-provoking place for border scientists from all over the world. Three presentations were held on the site for the participants: Béla Bartók presented the specialities of the communist border regime (his presentation can be downloaded in Hungarian from here), László Nagy – one of the organisers and participants of the 1989 picnic – talked about the events and circumstances of the border opening, while the presentation of our association’s Secretary General, Gyula Ocskay created a bridge between the historic past and the present, as he was speaking about the developments of the last 30 years along the Hungarian borders and about the current state of cross-border cooperation (his presentation can be downloaded in Hungarian from here).

The event was closed by a barbecue lunch, which gave the participants an excellent opportunity to share their experiences and insights before continuing their trip to Budapest.