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1989 37 years ago Historical Events May 2 3 sources

Cold War: Hungary begins dismantling its border fence with Austria, which allows a number of East Germans to defect.

On May 2, in the year 1989, Cold War: Hungary begins dismantling its border fence with Austria, which allows a number of East Germans to defect. This event is recorded as a Historical Events event in the history of May 2, one of 377 recorded events on this date across all of history.

The Cold War was a period of international geopolitical rivalry between the United States (US) and the Soviet Union (USSR) and their respective allies, the capitalist Western Bloc and communist Eastern Bloc. It began in the aftermath of the Second World War and ended with the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991. The term cold war is used because there was no direct fighting between the two superpowers, though each supported opposing sides in regional conflicts known as proxy wars. In addition to the struggle for ideological and economic influence and an arms race in both conventional and nuclear weapons, the Cold War was expressed through technological rivalries such as the Space Race, espionage, propaganda campaigns, embargoes, and sports diplomacy.

Key Facts

  • This event took place on May 2, 1989 (AD era).
  • It is categorised as a Historical Events event in recorded history.
  • Referenced in 3 Wikipedia articles.
  • Wikipedia source last updated on 26 April 2026.

On This Date in History 377

Type Year Date Event
Notable Deaths 2025 May 2 Ricky Davao, Filipino actor and director (born 1961)
Notable Deaths 2025 May 2 George Ryan, American politician, 39th Governor of Illinois (born 1934)
Notable Deaths 2024 May 2 Sjoukje Dijkstra, Dutch figure skater (born 1942)
Notable Deaths 2024 May 2 Darius Morris, American basketball player (born 1991)
Notable Deaths 2024 May 2 Peter Oosterhuis, English golfer and broadcaster (born 1948)
Notable Deaths 2021 May 2 Marcel Stellman, Belgian record producer and lyricist (born 1925)
Notable Deaths 2020 May 2 Arif Wazir, Pakistani politician, leader of the Pashtun Tahafuz Movement (born 1982)
Notable Deaths 2016 May 2 Afeni Shakur, American music businesswoman, activist, and Black Panther (born 1947)
Notable Births 2015 May 2 Princess Charlotte of Wales, British royal, and third in line to the British throne
Notable Deaths 2015 May 2 Stuart Archer, English colonel and architect (born 1915)
Notable Deaths 2015 May 2 Michael Blake, American author and screenwriter (born 1945)
Notable Deaths 2015 May 2 Guy Carawan, American singer and musicologist (born 1927)
Notable Deaths 2015 May 2 Maya Plisetskaya, Russian-Lithuanian ballerina, choreographer, actress, and director (born 1925)
Notable Deaths 2015 May 2 Ruth Rendell, English author (born 1930)
Historical Events 2014 May 2 Two mudslides in Badakhshan, Afghanistan, leave up to 2,500 people missing
Notable Deaths 2014 May 2 Tomás Balduino, Brazilian bishop (born 1922)
Notable Deaths 2014 May 2 Žarko Petan, Slovenian director, playwright, and screenwriter (born 1929)
Notable Deaths 2014 May 2 Efrem Zimbalist Jr
Selected Events 2014 May 2 Russo-Ukrainian War: Forty-eight people were killed during a confrontation between pro-Russian protesters and pro-Ukrain
Selected Events 2014 May 2 Two mudslides in Badakhshan Province, Afghanistan, killed at least 350 people
Notable Deaths 2013 May 2 Ernie Field, English boxer (born 1943)
Notable Deaths 2013 May 2 Jeff Hanneman, American guitarist and songwriter (born 1964)
Notable Deaths 2013 May 2 Joseph P
Notable Deaths 2013 May 2 Dvora Omer, Israeli author and educator (born 1932)
Notable Deaths 2013 May 2 Ivan Turina, Croatian footballer (born 1980)
Notable Deaths 2013 May 2 Charles Banks Wilson, American painter and illustrator (born 1918)
Historical Events 2012 May 2 A pastel version of The Scream, by Norwegian painter Edvard Munch, sells for $120 million in a New York City auction, se
Notable Deaths 2012 May 2 Fernando Lopes, Portuguese director and screenwriter (born 1935)
Notable Deaths 2012 May 2 Zenaida Manfugás, Cuban-born American-naturalized pianist (born 1932)
Notable Deaths 2012 May 2 Tufan Miñnullin, Russian playwright and politician (born 1936)
Notable Deaths 2012 May 2 Endang Rahayu Sedyaningsih, Indonesian physician and politician, Indonesian Minister of Health (born 1955)
Notable Deaths 2012 May 2 Akira Tonomura, Japanese physicist, author, and academic (born 1942)
Notable Deaths 2012 May 2 Lourdes Valera, Venezuelan actress (born 1963)
Historical Events 2011 May 2 Osama bin Laden, the mastermind behind the September 11 attacks and the FBI's most wanted fugitive, is killed by the Uni
Historical Events 2011 May 2 An E
Notable Deaths 2011 May 2 Osama bin Laden, Saudi Arabian terrorist, founder of Al-Qaeda (born 1957)
Selected Events 2011 May 2 The Conservative Party of Canada won enough seats in the federal election to establish their first majority government
Selected Events 2011 May 2 Osama bin Laden was killed by U
Notable Deaths 2010 May 2 Lynn Redgrave, English-American actress and singer (born 1943)
Notable Deaths 2009 May 2 Marilyn French, American author and academic (born 1929)
Notable Deaths 2009 May 2 Kiyoshiro Imawano, Japanese singer-songwriter, producer, and actor (born 1951)
Notable Deaths 2009 May 2 Jack Kemp, American football player and politician, 9th United States Secretary of Housing and Urban Development (born 1
Historical Events 2008 May 2 Cyclone Nargis makes landfall in Burma killing over 138,000 people and leaving millions of people homeless
Historical Events 2008 May 2 Chaitén Volcano begins erupting in Chile, forcing the evacuation of more than 4,500 people
Notable Deaths 2008 May 2 Beverlee McKinsey, American actress (born 1940)
Notable Deaths 2008 May 2 Izold Pustõlnik, Ukrainian-Estonian astronomer and academic (born 1938)
Selected Events 2008 May 2 The Chaitén volcano in Chile began to erupt for the first time since around 1640
Notable Deaths 2007 May 2 Brad McGann, New Zealand director and screenwriter (born 1964)
Notable Deaths 2006 May 2 Louis Rukeyser, American journalist and author (born 1933)
Notable Deaths 2005 May 2 Wee Kim Wee, Singaporean journalist and politician, 4th President of Singapore (born 1915)

This article draws on content from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.

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