The Brücke von Andau (Bridge At Andau) is a small bridge over the Einserkanal, a small river which partially represents the border to Hungary. It is located next to the village Andau (Burgenland, Austria) on the Austrian-Hungarian border.
History
Starting with the first turmoils in summer 1956, more and more hungarians fled to the western world over the border to Austria. Even though being just a small, wooden bridge over a small river, the Bridge At Andau was the escape route for about 70000 hungarian people during the Hungarian Revolution.
After crossing the border, fugitives had to walk a nine kilometer long road, the "Road To Freedom" (Fluchtstrasse), to the village Andau, where they were received with great hospitality by the inhabitants of Andau and the surrounding villages.
On November 21. 1956, the bridge was blasted by soviet troops.
Today
In 1996, with the 40th anniversary of the Hungarian Revolution, the bridge was not truly reconstructed but newly built as a symbol of tolerance and helpfulness. Organised as an unique joint operation of the austrian and hungarian armies, it replaced a stub bridge, which was eventually built by peasants for transportation reasons. At the same time, the Road Of Freedom was used for an open air exhibition with the title "Road Of Woes", showing about 90 sculptures and other art by various hungarian and austrian artists.
Literature and Film
Being a true Symbol of Freedom, the Bridge not only received its name with the book "The Bridge At Andau" by James Michener (1957), but also became a world known memorial. In addition to the book by James Michener, the Bridge of Andau is also topic of "Der Bockerer III", an austrian movie with slightly humoristic nature, dealing with the Hungarian Revolution.