Pan-European Picnic
According to its files, the Hungarian State Security Service had known since July 10, 1989 that an event was planned at the border on the basis of a suggestion from Otto Habsburg. He informed the Hungarian domestic secret service on July 31, 1989 about preparations for this event. The operational group of the Ministry for State Security of the GDR (- the presence of the Stasi in Hungary) had information about the Pan-European Picnic, but their officers did not react either and the Stasi had no choice but to organise the return transport of the abandoned vehicles.