Fence Walls: From the Iron Curtain to the US and Hungarian Border Barriers and the Emergence of Global Walls
Abstract
Éva Eszter Szabó
School of English and American Studies
Department of American Studies
Eötvös Loránd University, Budapest
Fence Walls: From the Iron Curtain
to the US and Hungarian Border Barriers
and the Emergence of Global Walls
Abstract: This paper considers the resurgence of the Iron Curtain metaphor and its appropriateness in relation to the current border barriers in the US and the EU. It addresses the impact of the Iron Curtain both on Eastern Europe and on Western Europe, and it explores the legacy of this nearly hermetically sealed off borderland in the different border security and migration control approaches within the EU in the current era of emerging global walls. In my view, while the Iron Curtain metaphor is mistakenly applied to the current border barriers in the US and the EU alike, its legacy does contribute to the marked difference between Eastern and Western European attitudes and policies to the massive influx of migrants. From the Iron Curtain to the Hungarian border fence, the fence walls of the spatially identical border sections reflect not only the changing concepts of walls, but also the distinct historical experiences with migration. The current border barriers in Hungary and the EU, however, draw on the US–Mexican border barrier that aims to stop unauthorized entry while keeping the gates open in both directions for legal cross-border movement in contrast with the prison walls of the Iron Curtain.
Keywords: US-Mexican border barrier, Hungarian border fence, unauthorized migration, Eastern Europe, Cold War, Iron Curtain, border walls
Keywords
US–Mexican border barrier; Hungarian border fence; unauthorized migration; Eastern Europe; Cold War; Iron Curtain; border walls
References
“A nyugati és a déli határövezet története 1948 és 1956 között.” Kommunizmus Bűnei Alapítvány, www.kommunizmusbunei.hu/publikaciok/nyugati-%C3%A9s-d%C3%A9li-hat%C3%A1r%C3%B6vezet-t%C3%B6rt%C3%A9nete-1945-%C3%A9s-1956-k%C3%B6z%C3%B6tt.
“A New Iron Curtain in Europe.” The Iron Curtain Project, www.ironcurtainproject.eu/en/stories/the-return-of-barbed-wire/.
Andreas, Peter. Border Games. Policing the U.S.–Mexico Divide. Cornell University Press,
Applebaum, Ann. Iron Curtain: The Crushing of Eastern Europe, 1945-1956. Kindle edition, Doubleday, 2012.
Ballesteros, Carlos. “Will Trump Finally Get His Border Wall in 2018?” Newsweek, 31 Dec. 2017, www.newsweek.com/trump-border-wall-2018-767073.
Bensch, Fabrizio. “Fight in Germany over the Number Who Died Trying to Cross the Berlin Wall,” Newsweek, 13 Aug. 2015, www.newsweek.com/berlin-wall-deaths-cold-war-germany-362666.
Berki, Imre. “A magyar határvédelem története.” Múlt-kor, 29 September 2010, multkor.hu/20100929_a_magyar_hatarvedelem_tortenete?pIdx=1.
Bershidsky, Leonid. “The Irony of Hungary’s Border Wall: This Cold War Survivor Should Know Better.” Bloomberg.com, 18 June 2015, www.bloomberg.com/view/articles/2015-06-18/the-irony-of-hungary-s-border-wall.
Beschloss, Michael R. The Crisis Years: Kennedy and Khrushchev, 1961-1963. E-book, Edward Burlingame Books, 1991.
Boffey, Daniel. “Europe’s ‘Food Apartheid’: Are Brands in the East Lower Quality than in the West?” 15 Sept. 2017, The Guardian, www.theguardian.com/inequality/ 2017/sep/15/europes-food-apartheid-are-brands-in-the-east-lower-quality-than-in-the-west.
“Border Fence with Serbia and Croatia.” GlobalSecurity.org, www.globalsecurity.org/ military/world/europe/hu-border-fence.htm.
“Botka ismét a déli határzárat támadta.” Híradó.hu, 28 May 2017,
www.hirado.hu/2017/05/28/botka-ismet-a-deli-hatarzarat-tamadta/.
“Bush Signs New Border Fence into Law.” Global Research, 5 Nov. 2006, www.globalresearch.ca/bush-signs-new-border-fence-into-law/3702.
“Die Berliner Mauer (Stand 31. Juli 1989). Polizeipräsident von Berlin.” Chronik der Mauer, www.chronik-der-mauer.de/index.php/de/Start/Detail/id/593791/page/0.
Dunai, Marton. “Hungary Builds New High-Tech Border Fence—With Few Migrants in Sight.”Reuters, 2 March 2017, www.reuters.com/article/us-europe-migrants-hungary-fence/hungary-builds-new-high-tech-border-fence-with-few-migrants-in-sight-idUSKBN1692MH.
Charlton, Joseph. “Fear of Vladimir Putin, Islamists and Immigration See New Iron Curtains Constructed Once Again Across Europe.” Independent, 26 Apr. 2015, www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/new-iron-curtains-motivated-by-fear-of-putin-islamists-and-immigration-walls-are-being-built-across-10205252.html.
Connolly, Kate. “More than 1,000 Died Trying to Flee East Germany.” The Daily Telegraph, 13 Aug. 2003, www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/germany/1438720/More-than-1000-died-trying-to-flee-East-Germany.html.
Conze, Leasa. “Increasing and More Aggressive Attacks on Border Patrol Agents.” Tucson News Now, Raycom Media, 2008, www.tucsonnewsnow.com/story/7943111/ increasing-and-more-aggressive-attacks-on-border-patrol-agents.
“Elfogott migránsok száma—dátum szerinti lekérdezés.” Rendőrség, Dec. 2017, www.police.hu/hirek-es-informaciok/hatarinfo/elfogott-migransok-szama-lekerdezes.
“Excerpts from Trump’s Interview with The Times.” The New York Times, 28 Dec. 2017, www.nytimes.com/2017/12/28/us/politics/trump-interview-excerpts.html?_r=0
Faiola, Anthony. “How Do You Stop Migrants? In Hungary, with ‘Border Hunters.’” The Washington Post, 1 Oct. 2016, www.washingtonpost.com/world/europe/how-do-you-stop-migrants-in-hungary-with-border-hunters/2016/09/30/cd9736aa-818c-11e6-9578-558cc125c7ba_story.html?utm_term=.6443c74e4162.
Faiola, Anthony. “Hungary’s Prime Minister Becomes Europe’s Donald Trump.” The Washington Post, 4 Sept 2015, www.washingtonpost.com/world/europe/hungarys-maverick-prime-minister-becomes-europes-donald-trump/2015/09/04/5cc9c63c-5306-11e5-b225-90edbd49f362_story.html?utm_term=.87d27734b092.
Fassmann, Hans. “The Regulation of East–West Migration: Political Measurement in Austria and Germany.” Regulation of Migration: International Experiences, edited by Anita Böcker et al., Het Spinhuis Publishers, 1998, pp. 205–220.
Felbab-Brown, Vanda. “Something there is that doesn’t love a wall: Mexico and the U.S. Presidential Campaign.” The Brookings Institution, 15 Sept. 2015, www.brookings.edu/blog/order-from-chaos/2015/09/15/something-there-is-that-doesnt-love-a-wall-mexico-and-the-u-s-presidential-campaign/.
“Fox dice ques es una vergüenza.” El Universal, 28 Oct. 2006, archivo.eluniversal.com.mx/internacional/52038.html.
“France: Hungary Refugee Fence Not Even Fit for Animals.” Al Jazeera, 31 Aug. 2015,
www.aljazeera.com/news/2015/08/france-hungary-refugee-fence-fit-animals-150831062042118.html.
Gordon, Amie. “Seven of the Nine Jihadist Involved in the Paris Terror Attacks Entered Europe through Hungary by Pretending to Be Refugees.” The Daily Mail, Mail Online, Associated Newspapers, 10 Oct. 2016, www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3829986/Seven-nine-jihadis-involved-Paris-terror-attacks-entered-Europe-Hungary-pretending-refugees.html.
Hooper, John. “East Germany Jailed 75,000 Escapers.” The Guardian, 7 Aug. 2001, www.theguardian.com/world/2001/aug/07/johnhooper.
Hawthorne, Christopher. “Trump’s Border Wall through the Eyes of an Architecture Critic”, Los Angeles Times, 30 Dec. 2017, www.latimes.com/entertainment/arts/la-ca-cm-building-type-border-wall-20171231-htmlstory.html.
Huetlin, Josephine. “Bricks and Mortals: The New Great Wall of Trump Looks a Lot Like the Old Iron Curtain.” The Daily Beast, 14 Apr. 2014, www.thedailybeast.com/the-new-great-wall-of-trump-looks-a-lot-like-the-old-iron-curtain.
“Hungary Asylum Applications, 2013-2017.” Trading Economics, Dec. 2017, tradingeconomics.com/hungary/asylum-applications.
“Hungary: Migrants Diagnosed with Infectious Diseases.” Medical Headlines, 14 Aug 2015, medlines.org/2015/08/14/hungary-migrants-diagnosed-with-infectious-diseases/.
Immigration and Asylum Office. “Statistics, 2011–Nov. 2017.” 28 Nov. 2017, www.bmbah.hu/index.php?option=com_k2&view=item&layout=item&id=492&Itemid=1259〈=en#.
Jacobo, Julia, and Serena Marshall. “Nearly 700 Miles of Fencing at the US–Mexican Border Already Exist.” ABC News, 26 Jan. 2017, abcnews.go.com/US/700-miles-fencing-us-mexico-border-exist/story?id=45045054.
Janik, Szabolcs. “Defending Europe. Enhanced Physical and Legal Securing of Hungary’s Borders.” Focusing on Hungary, Századvég Foundation, March 2017, pp. 15-19, szazadveg.hu/uploads/media/58f9dfb7e2e7f/szazadveg-foundation-focusing-on-hungary-032017.pdf.
Jarausch, Konrad H. The Rush to German Unity. Oxford University Press, 1994.
Jones, Reece. “Borders and Walls: Do Barriers Deter Unauthorized Migration?” Migration Policy Institute, 5 Oct. 2016, www.migrationpolicy.org/article/borders-and-walls-do-barriers-deter-unauthorized-migration.
Jones, Reece. Border Walls: Security and the War on Terror in the United States, India, and Israel. Zed Books, 2012.
Jones, Reece. Violent Borders: Refugees and the Right to Move. Kindle edition, Verso, 2016.
Karasz, Palko. “Reflecting on a Hungary Escape 60 Years Ago, and on a Refugee’s Plight.” The New York Times, 20 Dec. 2016, www.nytimes.com/2016/12/20/world/europe/hungary-refugee-1956.html?mcubz=0.
Kengor, Paul G. “America’s ‘Berlin Wall’?” The Center for Vision and Values, Grove City College, 16 March 2007, www.visionandvalues.org/2007/03/americas-berlin-wall/.
Komska, Yuliya. “Iron Curtains: The World’s New Dividing Lines are No Better Than the Old.” Reuters, 14 May 2015, blogs.reuters.com/great-debate/2015/05/14/dont-bring-back-the-iron-curtain/.
Komska, Yuliya. “What Red Deer Tell Us About Our Dangerous Iron Curtain Obsession.” Pacific Standard, The Social Justice Foundation, 11 March 2014, psmag.com/social-justice/red-deer-tell-us-dangerous-iron-curtain-obsession-76252.
Kramer, Mark. “Stalin, Soviet Policy, and the Establishment of a Common Bloc in Eastern Europe, 1941-1949.” Imposing, Maintaining, and Tearing Open the Iron Curtain: The Cold War and East-Central Europe, 1945–1989, edited by Mark Kramer and Vít Smetana, The Harvard Cold War Studies Book Series, Lexington Books, 2014, pp. 3-39.
“Latin American Reaction to the Secure Fence Act.” Latin American Working Group, Nov. 2006, www.lawg.org/storage/documents/latin%20american%20reaction%20to%20the%20secure%20fence%20act.pdf.
Léka, Gyula. “A műszaki zár- és erődrendszer (vasfüggöny) felszámolása, 1948–1989.” Hadtudomány, vol. IX, no. 3–4, zrinyi.zmne.hu/kulso/mhtt/hadtudomany/1999/ht-1999-34-17.html.
Lengyel, Tibor. “Toroczkai: Az illegális migráció ma a legnagyobb fenyegetés.” Origo, 9
June 2015, www.origo.hu/itthon/20150609-asotthalom-jobbik-polgarmester-toroczkai-laszlo-bevandorlok-fal.html.
Lyman, Rick. “Already Unwelcoming, Hungary Now Detains Asylum Seekers.” The New York Times, 8 Apr. 2017, www.nytimes.com/2017/04/18/world/europe/hungary-orban-populism-migrants-border-european-union.html.
Lyman, Rick. “Bulgaria Puts Up a New Wall, but This One Keeps People Out.” The New York Times, 5 April 2015, www.nytimes.com/2015/04/06/world/europe/bulgaria-puts-up-a-new-wall-but-this-one-keeps-people-out.html?mcubz=0.
Massey, Douglas S. “Patterns and Processes of International Migration in the 21st Century.” Paper prepared for Conference on African Migration in Comparative Perspective, June 2003, pp. 1–42. citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/download?doi=10.1.1.473.925&rep=rep1&type=pdf.
Máthé, Áron. “Border Fence Equals Iron Curtain? Three Reasons Why Cold War Analogy Is False.” Hungary Today, 14 Aug. 2015, hungarytoday.hu/news/border-fence-equals-iron-curtain-three-reasons-cold-war-analogy-false-38571.
McElroy, John Harmon. “Speaking of ‘Eastern Europe.’” Hungarian Review, 12 May 2016, www.hungarianreview.com/print/20160512_speaking_of_eastern_europe_.
Montgomery, Jack. “Hungary Builds a Wall, Cuts Illegal Immigration by Over 99 Per Cent.”
Breitbart London, Bretibart.com, 16 Sept. 2017, www.breitbart.com/london/2017/09/16/ hungary-builds-a-wall-cuts-illegal-immigration-by-over-99-per-cent/.
“More Than 1,100 Berlin Wall Victims.” Deutsche Welle, 9 Aug. 2005, www.dw.com/en/more-than-1100-berlin-wall-victims/a-1673538.
Nelsen, Aaron. “Homeland Secretary Nielsen Says Border Wall Needed to Stem the Flow of Illegal Crossers.” San Francisco Chronicle, 13 Dec. 2017, www.sfchronicle.com/news/local/ article/Homeland-Secretary-Nielsen-says-border-wall-12429173.php.
Nixon, Ron. “Border Wall Prototypes Are Unveiled, but Trump’s Vision Still Faces Obstacles.” The New York Times, 26 Oct. 2017, www.nytimes.com/2017/10/26/us/politics/ border-wall-prototypes-unveiled.html.
Perez, Chris. “Hungary Begins Building Second Portion of Its Border Wall.” New York Post, 27 Feb. 2017, nypost.com/2017/02/27/hungarys-border-wall-only-a-few-months-from-completion/.
Porter, Henry. “Why Trump’s Border Fence Won’t Work—And Neither Will the EU’s.” Vanity Fair, 4 Sept. 2015, www.vanityfair.com/news/2015/09/trump-europe-border-fence-refugee.
“Project 28—Migration.” Századvég Foundation, 2017, project28.eu/migrants-2017/.
Quinn, Mike J. “The US–Mexico Border Fence vs. The Iron Curtain. A Photo Essay.” 9 Sept. 2014, www.slideshare.net/thedishwashersson/usmexico-border-fence-vs-the-iron-curtain.
Rachman, Gideon. “Donald Trump, Viktor Orban, and the West’s Great Walls.” Financial Times, 29 Feb. 2016, www.ft.com/content/d5b74e78-dedb-11e5-b67f-a61732c1d025.
Regal, Brian. “Like the Iron Curtain, Trump’s Wall Won’t Work”, The Star-Ledger, N.J.com, 17 Apr. 2016, www.nj.com/opinion/index.ssf/2016/04/like_the_iron_curtain_trumps_ wall_wont_work_opinio.html.
Rodgers, Amy and Annastiina Kallius. “Behind the Iron Fence: Why Hungary’s Anti-Migrant Fence Will Be a Disaster.” The World Post,
www.huffingtonpost.com/amy-rodgers/hungary-migrant-fence_b_7882824.html.
Rose, Brian. The Lost Border: The Landscape of the Iron Curtain. Princeton Architectural Press, 2004. www.brianrose.com/lostborder.htm.
Rottman, Gordon L. The Berlin Wall and the Intra-German border 1961–89. Fortress 69, Osprey, 2008.
Sandford, Alasdair. “Hungary Completes New Anti-Migrant Border Fence with Serbia.” Euronews, 28 April 2017, www.euronews.com/2017/04/28/hungary-completes-new-anti-migrant-border-fence-with-serbia.
Schmidt, Eric. “Milestones and Missteps in Immigration.” The New York Times, 26 Oct. 1996, www.nytimes.com/1996/10/26/us/milestones-and-missteps-on-immigration.html.
Serdült, Viktória. “Kerítést építene a határon Toroczkai.” Origo, 23 Jan. 2015, www.origo.hu/itthon/20150122-keritest-epitene-a-hataron-toroczkai.html.
Sergueva, Vassela. “Bulgaria’s New ‘Iron Curtain’ Keeping People Out, Not In.” Digital Journal, 23 March, 2016, www.digitaljournal.com/news/world/bulgaria-s-new-iron-curtain-keeping-people-out-not-in/article/460968.
Shattuck, John. “Hijacking Liberal Democracy.” BostonGlobe.com, 25 Aug. 2017, www.bostonglobe.com/opinion/2017/08/24/hijacking-liberal-democracy/ VsUuI1Pn1LAOt0GguqLwlK/story.html.
Silko, Leslie Marmon, “America’s Iron Curtain: The Border Patrol State.” Nation, 17 Oct. 1994, cc2spring2010.pbworks.com/f/Nation.pdf.
Smyser, W. R. Kennedy and the Berlin Wall: “A Hell of a Lot Better Than a War.” Rowman Littlefield, 2009.
“Successful Hungarian Border Fence Boosts Support of Right Wing Government.” Breitbart.com, 19 Sept. 2016, www.breitbart.com/london/2016/09/19/successful-hungarian-border-fence-boosts-support-right-wing-government.
Suls, Rob. “Most Americans Continue to Oppose U.S. Border Wall, Doubt Mexico Would Pay for It.” Pew Research Center, 24 Feb. 2017, www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2017/02/24/most-americans-continue-to-oppose-u-s-border-wall-doubt-mexico-would-pay-for-it/.
Taylor, Francis. The Berlin Wall: 13 August 1961–9 November 1989. E-book. AC Black, 2012.
“The Indisputable Success of the Hungarian Border Fence.” Visegrád Post, 15 May 2017,
visegradpost.com/en/2017/05/15/the-indisputable-success-of-the-hungarian-border-fence/.
Tomlinson, Simon. “World of Walls” Mail Online, Daily Mail, 21 Aug. 2015, www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3205724/How-65-countries-erected-security-walls-borders.html.
“Trump Mexico Wall Will Destroy Lives, Berlin Mayor Warns.” BBC.com, 27 Jan. 2017,
www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-38777514.
“Twenty Maps that Show the Legacy of the Iron Curtain.” ZME Science, 19 May 2017, www.zmescience.com/science/maps-iron-curtain-legacy-042323/.
U.S. Census Bureau. Statistical Abstract of the United States: 2011. Geography and Environment. Table 359. U.S.–Canada and U.S.–Mexico Border Lengths. www2.census.gov/library/publications/2010/compendia/statab/130ed/tables/11s0359.pdf.
U.S. Customs and Border Protection. Use of Force Policy, Guidelines and Procedures Handbook. Office of Training and Development, HB 4500–01C, May 2014, www.cbp.gov/sites/default/files/documents/UseofForcePolicyHandbook.pdf.
“V4 to Set Up a Common Crisis Management Centre.” Kormány.hu, 22 Nov. 2016, www.kormany.hu/en/ministry-of-interior/news/v4-to-set-up-a-common-crisis-management-centre.
Vallet, Élisabeth, ed. Borders, Fences and Walls: State of Insecurity? Kindle edition. Ashgate Publishing, 2014.
“Vasfüggöny a szerb–magyar határon.” Népszava, 17 June 2015, nepszava.hu/cikk/1060708-vasfuggony-a-szerb-magyar-hataron.
Veczán, Zoltán. “Nem kell a szómágia.” Magyar Nemzet, 7 Sept. 2015, mno.hu/velemeny/nem-kell-a-szomagia-1303305.
Weiner, Myron. The Global Migration Crisis: Challenge to States and Human Rights. HarperCollins College Publishers, 1995.
Willoughby, Ian. “Killings on Czechoslovak Border During Communist Era Examined in New Report.” Radio Praha, 10 Dec. 2004, www.radio.cz/en/section/curraffrs/killings-on-czechoslovak-border-during-communist-era-examined-in-new-report.
Wright, Patrick. Iron Curtain: From Stage to Cold War. Oxford University Press, 2007.
Zsiga, Tibor. A “vasfüggöny” és kora. Hanns Seidel Alapítvány, 1999.
Eötvös Loránd University, Budapest School of English and American Studies Department of American Studies Hungary
Éva Eszter Szabó, historian, Americanist and Latin Americanist, is Assistant Professor at the Department of American Studies, Eötvös Loránd University, Budapest, and editor of Hungarian Review – A Bimonthly Journal from Central Europe. She is a member of the Society for Historians of American Foreign Relations (SHAFR), the International American Studies Association (IASA), the Latin American Studies Association (LASA), and the Hungarian Association of American Studies (HAAS). She is an International Forum for US Studies Residential Research Fellow (2018). Her courses and research have focused on inter-American relations, U.S. immigration history and policies, and global migration issues. Her book, U.S. Foreign and Immigration Policies in the Caribbean Basin, was published by Savaria University Press in 2007.
The Copyright Holder of the submitted text is the Author. The Reader is granted the rights to use the material available in the RIAS websites and pdf documents under the provisions of the Creative CommonsAttribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License (CC BY-SA 4.0). Any commercial use requires separate written agreement with the Author and a proper credit line indicating the source of the original publication in RIAS.
- License
The University of Silesia Press provides immediate open access to journal’s content under the Creative Commons BY 4.0 license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). Authors who publish with this journal retain all copyrights and agree to the terms of the above-mentioned CC BY 4.0 license.
- Author’s Warranties
The author warrants that the article is original, written by stated author/s, has not been published before, contains no unlawful statements, does not infringe the rights of others, is subject to copyright that is vested exclusively in the author and free of any third party rights, and that any necessary written permissions to quote from other sources have been obtained by the author/s.
If the article contains illustrative material (drawings, photos, graphs, maps), the author declares that the said works are of his authorship, they do not infringe the rights of the third party (including personal rights, i.a. the authorization to reproduce physical likeness) and the author holds exclusive proprietary copyrights. The author publishes the above works as part of the article under the licence "Creative Commons Attribution - By the same conditions 4.0 International".
ATTENTION! When the legal situation of the illustrative material has not been determined and the necessary consent has not been granted by the proprietary copyrights holders, the submitted material will not be accepted for editorial process. At the same time the author takes full responsibility for providing false data (this also regards covering the costs incurred by the University of Silesia Press and financial claims of the third party).
- User Rights
Under the Creative Commons Attribution license, the users are free to share (copy, distribute and transmit the contribution) and adapt (remix, transform, and build upon the material) the article for any purpose, provided they attribute the contribution in the manner specified by the author or licensor.
- Co-Authorship
If the article was prepared jointly with other authors, the signatory of this form warrants that he/she has been authorized by all co-authors to sign this agreement on their behalf, and agrees to inform his/her co-authors of the terms of this agreement.
I hereby declare that in the event of withdrawal of the text from the publishing process or submitting it to another publisher without agreement from the editorial office, I agree to cover all costs incurred by the University of Silesia in connection with my application.
