On May 16, 2014, the Center for Transatlantic Relations at the School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS) at Johns Hopkins University together with the Embassy of Austria hosted an all-day event commemorating the opening of the Iron Curtain on the Austrian-Hungarian border 25 years ago. The event, which took place at the School of Advanced International Studies of John Hopkins University, featured three individual panel discussions focused on “Remembering 1989: Opening of the Iron Curtain”, “1989 in the Context of Today’s Challenges” and “The wall still to fall – for a new generation”.  

Former Chancellor of Austria Wolfgang Schüssel delivered the keynote address. In his remarks, he discussed the dramatic events of 1989 - the end of the Cold War era. One of the many highlights of the event was a wall erected in front of the SAIS building, on which guests were invited to leave their messages and thoughts about “walls still to fall.” As a symbol of change the wall was eventually knocked down. The event concluded with a live performance of the Blues/Rock band Misspent Youth.