Sopron in the context of "Removal of Hungary's border fence with Austria"

German (Deutsch, pronounced [dɔʏtʃ] ) is a West Germanic language in the Indo-European language family, mainly spoken in Western and Central Europe. It is the majority and official (or co-official) language in Germany, Austria, Switzerland, and Liechtenstein. It is also an official language of Luxembourg, Belgium and the Italian autonomous province of South Tyrol, as well as a recognized national language in Namibia. There are also notable German-speaking communities in other parts of Europe, including: Poland (Upper Silesia), the Czech Republic (North Bohemia), Denmark (North Schleswig), Slovakia (Krahule), Romania, Hungary (Sopron), and France (Alsace). Overseas, sizeable communities of German-speakers are found in the Americas.

German is one of the major languages of the world, with nearly 80 million native speakers and over 130 million total speakers as of 2024. It is the most spoken native language within the European Union. German is the second-most widely spoken Germanic language, after English, both as a first and as a second language. German is also widely taught as a foreign language, especially in continental Europe (where it is the third most taught foreign language after English and French) and in the United States (where it is the third most commonly learned second language in K-12 education and among the most studied foreign languages in higher education after Spanish and French). Overall, German is the fourth most commonly learned second language globally. The language has been influential in the fields of philosophy, theology, science, and technology. It is the second most commonly used language in science and the third most widely used language on websites. The German-speaking countries are ranked fifth in terms of annual publication of new books, with one-tenth of all books (including e-books) in the world being published in German.

The Pan-European Picnic (German: Paneuropäisches Picknick; Hungarian: Páneurópai piknik; Slovak: Paneurópsky piknik; Czech: Panevropský piknik) was a peace demonstration held on the Austro-Hungarian border near Sopron, Hungary on 19 August 1989. The opening of the border gate between Austria and Hungary at the Pan-European Picnic was an event in the chain reaction, at the end of which Germany reunified, the Iron Curtain fell apart, and the Eastern Bloc disintegrated. The communist governments and the Warsaw Pact subsequently dissolved, ending the Cold War.

The idea of opening the border at a ceremony and testing the Soviet Union's response came from Ferenc Mészáros of the Hungarian Democratic Forum (MDF) and Otto von Habsburg, then the President of the Paneuropean Union and the former Crown Prince of Austria-Hungary. The idea was brought up by them to Miklós Németh, then the Hungarian Prime Minister, who also promoted the idea.

István Küzmics (also known in Slovene as Štefan or Števan Küzmič, c.1723 – December 22, 1779) was the most critical Lutheran writer of the Slovenes in Hungary.

He was born at Strukovci, in the Prekmurje region of what was then Vas County, in the Kingdom of Hungary (now in Slovenia). His father György Küzmics (1703–1769) was a tailor. From 1733 to 1747 he went to school in Sopron and Győr, and studied at the lyceum in Pozsony (now Bratislava). He later became a pastor and teacher in the Slovene-speaking towns of Nemescsó (1751–1755) and Surd (1755–1779), in what is now Zala County, but was then part of Somogy, an area where many Slovene families settled in the 17th and 18th centuries. He also wrote catechisms and schoolbooks, and translated the New Testament into Prekmurje Slovene. The translated text, Nouvi zakon ali testamentom, was published in the German town of Halle in 1771. He died at Surd.