Sándor Goják

Very few people know why The Soviet Union –under the leadership of Brezsnyev- decided to raise the landmines in 1966. The final decision was greatly influenced by the Pinka River which got the thing moving in 1965. How did it happen? In 1957 -when the Iron Curtain descended for the second time- the bed of Pinka River was mined 50-70 m long from the frontier towards the inside of the country in order to hinder escape. Hungary was submerged by the greatest frozen flood of all time at the end of March 1965. Every river including Pinka overflowed and the landmines were washed out. Pinka River leaves Hungary at Pornóapáti and after an 8 km long reach in Austria, comes back at Szentpéterfa. After it returned to its bed, hundreds of landmines were inactivated by the explosives experts in Austria in the Summer of 1965. Unfortunately they couldn’t find all of them, and these mines killed two little girls. The Austrian Government requested the assistance of the United Nations to try to persuade the Soviet Union to raise the mines. The Soviet Union chose to do so in 1965, but the landmines had to be replaced, as the Austrian-Hungarian border couldn’t have functioned without the Iron Curtain. Then came the third period-the electrical signaling system-SZ100.

There is a long straight section on the main road between Sopronlövő and Sopronkövesd. This escape was made at dawn on a foggy day in March or April in 1967. A professional sports aircraft was flying in Austria parallel to the frontier. It was coming so low that the radar coverage couldn’t detect it. The aircraft unexpectedly turned to the main road in the neighbourhood of Sopronkövesd. This part of the road was straight one km long. The road was unhindered on both sides-there were no trees or kilometre stones there. Only the milk cart or the bread supply might have appeared suddenly at this hour around 4 a.m. The plane could touch down after a hundred meters’ landing. Huba Szeremley and his family were waiting there. They got out of the car and quickly embarked in. The aircraft turned back and took off at once. It stayed in Hungary for no more than 6-8 minutes and went back to Austria immediately.

Bakelite mines were made in the Soviet Union. They were ready for use by the summer in 1957 only. One and a half million were laid as shown on the demonstration board close to each other like chess pieces. These mines were designed specifically against people. The quantity of explosive material was calculated in that way to rip off minimum a person’s foot when somebody hit a mine. If somebody’s foot is ripped off, that person can’t walk on and bleeds to death. The mines were intended to wound adults who weigh more than 40 kilograms, not boars, hares or deer. They were armed, dug into the ground and covered with 1-2 cm soil.