Twenty years ago the Iron Curtain was lifted. The 1989 political upheavals in Germany's eastern neighbouring states marked the beginning of the end of Europe's division. The peaceful struggle for freedom and democracy in Poland, Hungary, the former Czechoslovakia and the GDR set events in motion that led to the collapse of the Berlin Wall and the end of a divided Germany and Europe.

A multimedia tour entitled 20 Years of Freedom: Germany Says “Danke”, which will commence tomorrow (29 May) on Wenceslas Square in Prague and move on to Warsaw, Gdańsk, Bratislava and Budapest, commemorates the people's courage and persistent desire for freedom and recalls the intelligent and peaceful policy pursued by the civil rights movements which resulted in the fall of the Iron Curtain.

The project was devised by the Federal Foreign Office along with numerous partners from Poland, Hungary, the Czech Republic and Slovakia. The event will centre on a multimedia exhibition pavilion in the form of several walk-through cubes, as well as a separate stage.

The exhibition will be flanked by a multi-faceted cultural programme in historic squares and busy locations throughout the city centre: open-air film screenings, theatre, live music and round-table discussions will look back on the momentous events of 20 years ago. On display in the cubes are photographs commemorating major milestones of the peaceful revolution – the Round Table in Poland, the opening of the Hungarian border in June 1989, the Velvet Revolution in Czechoslovakia and the departure of GDR refugees from the embassy of the Federal Republic of Germany in Prague.

For more information on Germany Says “Danke” and the tour dates, go to