History UsefulNotes / IronCurtain

More recently, however, UsefulNotes/{{Hungary}} has erected a fence between itself and Serbia to stop the flow of migrants, essentially recreating the Iron Curtain there but in a different form. Ditto with UsefulNotes/{{Poland}} and UsefulNotes/{{Lithuania}} in 2021 in the face of the migrant crisis that's been organized/weaponized by UsefulNotes/{{Belarus}}ian president Alexander Lukashenko. Even moreso, there's now Russia's diplomatic isolation due to its 2022 invasion of UsefulNotes/{{Ukraine}} and NATO expanding to UsefulNotes/{{Finland}} and UsefulNotes/{{Sweden}} and dramatically increasing its presence in Eastern Europe as a direct result of the invasion.

More recently, however, UsefulNotes/{{Hungary}} has erected a fence between itself and Serbia to stop the flow of migrants, essentially recreating the Iron Curtain there but in a different form. Ditto with UsefulNotes/{{Poland}} and UsefulNotes/{{Lithuania}} in 2021 in the face of the migrant crisis that's been organized/weaponized by UsefulNotes/{{Belarus}}ian president Alexander Lukashenko.

'''Kara''': Except this cello!

The Iron Curtain was the physical dividing line between Western Europe (mostly under UsefulNotes/{{NATO}}'s protection) and the UsefulNotes/WarsawPact section of CommieLand during the Cold War, designed to stop people from the East going to the West, and (to a lesser extent) people from the West going to the East without authorization. It was justified with the argument that a barrier was needed to stop the infiltration of spies from the other side.

The most infamous part of the Iron Curtain was, of course, the UsefulNotes/BerlinWall. However, the Berlin Wall was physically separate from the rest of the Iron Curtain, since it encircled West Berlin, which was an isolated Western exclave inside Eastern Europe. The divided city of Berlin came to be a powerful symbol of the Cold War and a fertile setting for spy dramas.

The PresentDay legal status of these boundaries vary widely. Outside Germany, most of these are now peaceful (but sometimes still heavily-armed) international boundaries, although in most cases the countries on both sides are EU member states whose citizens have the right to free movement between them. The longest stretch of the old Iron Curtain that is still a closed border to this day is the border between UsefulNotes/{{Armenia}} and UsefulNotes/{{Turkey}}, due to animosities that predate the Cold War by a long shot. Within Germany, most of it forms a number of [[UsefulNotes/TheSixteenLandsOfDeutschland state lines]]; within UsefulNotes/{{Berlin}}, due to a [[TheNineties late 1990s]] readjustment of borough boundaries, some parts of it have no legal status as boundaries whatsoever. In addition, much of the old Iron Curtain is now nature reserves; it was left largely untouched for 40 years and the wildlife moved in - although deer will still not cross over the old border.

More recently, however, Hungary has erected a fence between itself and Serbia to stop the flow of migrants, essentially recreating the Iron Curtain there but in a different form.

It bears mentioning that Churchill did not coin the phrase "Iron Curtain" to describe the Soviet takeover of Eastern Europe. It was also not, despite what you may have heard, coined by [[ThoseWackyNazis Joseph Goebbels]] in the closing days of UsefulNotes/WorldWarII. In 1920, British socialist Ethel Snowden first used the term in her book ''Through Bolshevik Russia'', where it described the border between Soviet Russia and the rest of Europe; for most of Stalin's rule entry into the USSR was effectively impossible for a Westerner.

* The Author/JohnLeCarre novel ''The Looking Glass War'' (turned into a film) has a British spy cut his way through the fence to ''enter' East Germany. He encounters a border guard... and kills him. [[spoiler:This proves to be his undoing. The East German and Soviet forces are out looking for the guy who killed the soldier immediately, while the whole affair ends up all over the papers, forcing the British to have to pull their monitoring team out on the other side]].

The Iron Curtain was the physical dividing line between Western Europe and the UsefulNotes/WarsawPact section of CommieLand during the Cold War, designed to stop people from the East going to the West, and (to a lesser extent) people from the West going to the East without authorization. It was justified with the argument that a barrier was needed to stop the infiltration of spies from the other side.

--->'''Bond''': We have nothing to declare!
--->'''Kara''': Except this cello!
* Series/MacGyver crossed it from East Berlin with a coffin that (somehow) converts into a jet ski. See the scene [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LTWEh2mcdsg here]].

* The German series ''Line of Separation'' is about a small German village (fiction, but based on the real community of Mödlareuth) that due to a small stream that forms the [[UsefulNotes/TheSixteenLandsOfDeutschland Bavaria-Thuringia]] running right through it, ends up being split between East and West Germany. The third episode sees the erection of the Iron Curtain through the village; [[spoiler: One character who has been smuggling people and goods over the border is shot dead by an East German police officer. His eastern relatives are told the Americans killed him.]]

* The German series ''Line of Separation'' is about a small German village (fiction, but based on the real community of Mödlareuth) that due to a small stream that forms the [[UsefulNotes/SixteenLandsOfDeutschland Bavaria-Thuringia]] running right through it, ends up being split between East and West Germany. The third episode sees the erection of the Iron Curtain through the village; [[spoiler: One character who has been smuggling people and goods over the border is shot dead by an East German police officer. His eastern relatives are told the Americans killed him.]]

* The German series ''Line of Separation'' is about a small German village (fiction, but based on the real community of Mödlareuth) that due to a small stream that forms the [[SixteenLandsOfDeutschland Bavaria-Thuringia]] running right through it, ends up being split between East and West Germany. The third episode sees the erection of the Iron Curtain through the village; [[spoiler: One character who has been smuggling people and goods over the border is shot dead by an East German police officer. His eastern relatives are told the Americans killed him.]]

* The Author/JohnLeCarre novel ''The Looking Glass War'' (turned into a film) has a British spy cut his way through the fence to ''enter' East Germany. He encounters a border guard... and kills him. [[Spoiler: This proves to be his undoing. The East German and Soviet forces are out looking for the guy who killed the soldier immediately, while the whole affair ends up all over the papers, forcing the British to have to pull their monitoring team out on the other side]].

Like the Warsaw Pact itself, it was not a monolithic entity. The level of defences varied between countries, being thickest between the two Germanies and on the border of Czechoslovakia and thinner elsewhere. One particularly nasty item was the East German [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SM-70 SM-70]], a trip-wire activated mine mounted to the border fences between 1971 and 1984 when they were removed in a deal with West Germany (who gave UsefulNotes/EastGermany a much-needed $496m loan in return); someone attempting to climb or cut the fence and tripping the device would get explosive-propelled shrapnel fired at them, lethal out to 25 metres. The most frequent victims were in fact deer.

More recently, however, Hungary has begun erecting a fence between itself and Serbia to stop the flow of migrants, essentially recreating the Iron Curtain there but in a different form.

The PresentDay legal status of these boundaries vary widely. Outside Germany, most of these are now peaceful (but sometimes still heavily-armed) international boundaries, although in most cases the countries on both sides are EU member states whose citizens have the right to free movement between them. The longest stretch of the old Iron Curtain that is still a closed border to this day is the border between UsefulNotes/{{Armenia}} and UsefulNotes/{{Turkey}}, due to animosities that predate the Cold War by a long shot. Within Germany, most of it forms a number of [[TheSixteenLandsOfDeutschland state lines]]; within UsefulNotes/{{Berlin}}, due to a [[TheNineties late 1990s]] readjustment of borough boundaries, some parts of it have no legal status as boundaries whatsoever. In addition, much of the old Iron Curtain is now nature reserves; it was left largely untouched for 40 years and the wildlife moved in - although deer will still not cross over the old border.

The Iron Curtain was the physical dividing line between Western Europe and the WarsawPact section of CommieLand during the Cold War, designed to stop people from the East going to the West, and (to a lesser extent) people from the West going to the East without authorization. It was justified with the argument that a barrier was needed to stop the infiltration of spies from the other side.

Like the Warsaw Pact itself, it was not a monolithic entity. The level of defences varied between countries, being thickest between the two Germanies and on the border of Czechoslovakia and thinner elsewhere. Between Austria and Hungary, it was just a fence and was easily dismantled. Or, to reuse a metaphor, the Iron Curtain turned out to be Rusted Drapes!

The PresentDay legal status of these boundaries vary widely. Outside Germany, most of these are now peaceful (but sometimes still heavily-armed) international boundaries, although in most cases the countries on both sides are EU member states whose citizens have the right to free movement between them. The longest stretch of the old Iron Curtain that is still a closed border to this day is the border between UsefulNotes/{{Armenia}} and UsefulNotes/{{Turkey}}, due to animosities that predate the Cold War by a long shot. Within Germany, most of it forms a number of [[TheSixteenLandsOfDeutschland state lines]]; within UsefulNotes/{{Berlin}}, due to a [[TheNineties late 1990s]] readjustment of borough boundaries, some parts of it have no legal status as boundaries whatsoever. In addition, much of the old Iron Curtain is now nature reserves; it was left largely untouched for 40 years and the wildlife moved in.

It bears mentioning that Churchill did not coin the phrase "Iron Curtain" to describe the Soviet takeover of Eastern Europe. It was also not, despite what you may have heard, coined by [[ThoseWackyNazis Joseph Goebbels]] in the closing days of UsefulNotes/WorldWarII. In 1920, British socialist Ethel Snowden first used the term in her book ''Through Bolshevik Russia'', where it described the border between Soviet Russia and the rest of Europe.

Not to be confused for a weapon in a [[VideoGame/TeamFortress2 certain game]] that you can get by beating a Russian in a [[VideoGame/PokerNightAtTheInventory certain other game]]. Or a different weapon in a [[CommandAndConquerRedAlert certain other game series]] that made your tanks invincible.

* ''Literature/HannibalRising'' sees a young Hannibal Lecter crossing the Iron Curtain between UsefulNotes/EastGermany and UsefulNotes/WestGermany while being shot at.

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[[caption-width-right:344:[[ComicallyMissingThePoint Not to mention the maintenance costs.]]]]

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