The Peaceful Revolution – also, in German called Die Wende – was one of the peaceful revolutions of 1989 at the peak of the collapse of the Eastern Bloc in the late 1980s. A process of sociopolitical change that led to, among other openings, the opening of their borders to the Western world.
The German Green Belt is a project of Bund Naturschutz (BUND), one of Germany's largest environmental groups. The project began in 1989 facing the 870-mile (1,400 km) network of inner-German border fences and guard towers formerly separating East and West Germany. It is one of the world's most unusual nature reserves, lying along the old "Death Strip," turning a monument to repression into a symbol of renewal.
Princess Dorothea of Denmark was the Duchess of Brunswick-Lüneburg from 1561 until 1592 as the consort of Duke William the Younger. She was regent for her son George from 1592 to 1596.
The European Green Belt initiative is a grassroots movement for nature conservation and sustainable development along the corridor of the former Iron Curtain. The term refers to an environmental initiative as well as the area it concerns. The initiative is carried out under the patronage of the International Union for Conservation of Nature and formerly Mikhail Gorbachev. It is the aim of the initiative to create the backbone of an ecological network that runs from the Barents to the Black and Adriatic Seas.
The Pan-European Picnic was a peace demonstration held on the Austrian-Hungarian border near Sopron, Hungary on 19 August 1989. The opening of the border gate between Austria and Hungary at the Pan-European Picnic was an event in the chain reaction, at the end of which Germany reunified, the Iron Curtain fell apart, and the Eastern Bloc disintegrated. The communist governments and the Warsaw Pact subsequently dissolved, ending the Cold War.
Westhausen is a municipality in the region Heldburger Land in the district of Hildburghausen, in Thuringia, Germany.
Gompertshausen is a village and a former municipality in the region Heldburger Land in the district of Hildburghausen, in Thuringia, Germany. Since 1 January 2019, it has been part of the town of Heldburg.
Hellingen is a village and a former municipality in the region Heldburger Land in the district of Hildburghausen, in Thuringia, Germany. Since 1 January 2019, it is part of the town Heldburg. It was the southernmost municipality in Thuringia, and the second-southernmost in what was formerly East Germany.
Schweickershausen is a municipality in the region Heldburger Land in the district of Hildburghausen, in Thuringia, Germany.
The Kurd Laßwitz Award is a science fiction award from Germany. The award is named after the science fiction author Kurd Laßwitz. Only works originally published in German are eligible for nomination in all categories except for the Foreign Work category.
Fritz-Rudolf Schultz was a German politician and member of the FDP. During World War II, Schultz served in the Wehrmacht as an officer and regimental commander. He was awarded the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross with Oak Leaves.
During the Cold War, the Iron Curtain was a political metaphor used to describe the political and later physical boundary dividing Europe into two separate areas from the end of World War II in 1945 until the end of the Cold War in 1991. The term symbolizes the efforts by the Soviet Union (USSR) to block itself and its satellite states from open contact with the West, its allies and neutral states. On the east side of the Iron Curtain were the countries that were connected to or influenced by the Soviet Union, while on the west side were the countries that were NATO members, or connected to or influenced by the United States; or nominally neutral. Separate international economic and military alliances were developed on each side of the Iron Curtain. It later became a term for the physical barriers of fences, walls, minefields, and watchtowers that were built up along some of its sections, with the Berlin Wall being the most significant of these.
Anton Grasser was a German general during World War II who commanded several corps. He was a recipient of the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross with Oak Leaves. Grasser joined the Bundesgrenzschutz in 1951, retiring in 1953.
Willy Langkeit was a German general during World War II. He was a recipient of the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross with Oak Leaves of Nazi Germany. After the war, Langkeit joined the Bundesgrenzschutz in 1951, retiring in 1967.
Johannes Bruhn was a German general in the Wehrmacht during World War II. He was a recipient of the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross. In 1951 he joined the Bundesgrenzschutz, retiring in 1954.
Billmuthausen was a village in Germany, founded in 1340. It was destroyed by East German authorities in 1978 as it stood too close to the Inner German border, the border between the post-war states of East and West Germany. It lay in the extreme south of Thuringia in the Heldburger Land in the district of Hildburghausen, only five hundred metres away from the Thuringian-Bavarian border. In January 1965, the authorities destroyed the small village church. In September 1978, the last family left the village, after which all the buildings in the village were demolished and the land leveled.
Leitenhausen was a village in Germany, founded in 1317 A D. It was part of the former municipality Gompertshausen. It was destroyed by the East German authorities in 1972 as it stood too close to the Inner German border, the border between the post-war states of East and West Germany. It lay in the extreme south of Thuringia in Heldburger Land in the district of Hildburghausen, only a few hundred metres away from the Thuringian-Bavarian border.
Heldburg Fortress is a high medieval hilltop castle. In the 16th century it was rebuilt into a renaissance castle. It rises on a 405-metre-high former volcanic cone, a part of the 'Heldburger Gangschar' volcanic region, 113 metres above the town of Heldburg in the Heldburger Land, the southern tip of the district Hildburghausen in Thuringia. The Veste Heldburg, once a secondary residence and hunting lodge of the Dukes of Coburg, dominates the little town of Heldburg on the Thuringian border with Bavaria. From it can be seen across the Thuringian border the sister-castle Veste Coburg,, once the residence of the Dukes of Coburg, now located in Bavaria.
Nikolaus Gromann was an architect of the German Renaissance who served at the court of John Frederick I, Elector of Saxony. He also worked for John Frederick's descendants residing in the cities of Weimar, Gotha and Altenburg, thus spending more than 30 years in the service of the House of Wettin.
The Heldburger Gangschar is a Cenozoic volcanic system in the Franconian parts of southern Thuringia and northern Bavaria. The term Gangschar refers to the fact that few of the volcanoes have retained their characteristic topographical shape, rather their former activity can be detected by filled fissures known as Gänge. These veins are mostly oriented in south-southwest direction, their cross-section is often less than one metre wide. The Heldburger Gangschar' is named after the small settlement of Heldburg, part of the borough of Bad Colberg-Heldburg. The surrounding area, the Heldburger Land, belongs entirely to the northern part of the volcanic zone. The most impressive of the surviving volcanic cones by far are the twin peaks of the Gleichberge, 641 metres and 679 metres high, in nearby Heldburger Land.
