In attendance of today's ceremony in the Hungarian parliament were the presidents of Germany, Austria, Finland, Slovenia and Switzerland and high-ranking officials of United States, Poland, Great Britain, Croatia, the Vatican and some other 20 countries, the head of the office of the Croatian Parliament (Sabor) Speaker, Miso Munivrana told Hina.
Addressing the event the German President Horst Koehler thanked the Hungarians for their solidarity with East Germans and for their contribution to the German unity.
He was referring to Hungary's dismantling of its border defences in May 1989. By 27 June 1989, there was actually very little barbed wire left to cut and the minister Horn joined his Austrian counterpart, Alois Mock, in front of the world's media to cut the barbed wire fence near the Hungarian border town of Sopron on 27 June that year. This encouraged East Germans who watched the event on Western television, to rush to Hungary, their favourite officially approved holiday destination, in the hope of escape.
"I thank the Hungarian people for their courage, and their support to East Germans," the German head of state said today.
During August and September 1989, the Hungarian authorities allowed East German refugees to depart via Austria to West Germany.
These events heralded another historic events such as the fall of the Berlin Wall on 9 November 1989 and the reunification of West and East Germany.