Some 600 East Germans escaped into Austria during the Pan-European Picnic on Aug. 19, 1989, following the symbolic opening of a border gate. Escape from Hungary to Austria was not always so easy. Many East Germans were picked up and turned back. "Two soldiers arrested us," an eyewitness said at the time. "We begged them. I remember thinking, we were so close, please let us through. But they didn't."