There is always an exception to the rule. Imagine a communist government during the Iron Curtain era in Eastern Europe protecting natural resources. Examples of this are so few and far between that it is hard to believe. Communist governments had a well-deserved reputation for degrading the environment. Natural resources were to be exploited to industrialize supposedly backward societies at a breakneck pace. The environmental and human costs from the communist’s point of view were collateral damage. Destroying one world to build a reputedly better one was the idea. Eastern Europe went from underdeveloped to mis-developed. The result was grotesquely polluted cities, and altered ecosystems that would need decades to heal from the damage inflicted upon them. The communist governments were banking on Marxist theory. No wonder they ended up financially and morally bankrupt.
Despite a horrific record there were a few success stories. Predictably these did follow any five-year plans. Instead, they were the product of planned neglect. A prime example was the Bialowieza Forest on the border between Poland and the Belarusian Soviet Socialist Republic (present-day Belarus). The forest is home to the only stretch of primeval forest that once covered the European Plain. The Polish portion was protected within a National Park, while the Belarusian SSR’s was protected by state decrees. The forest was left undeveloped and in a state of nature. A similar situation occurred with the Hungarian part of Lake Neusiedl (Neusiedler See)/Ferto-to (Lake Ferto) on the Austria-Hungary border.
State of nature – Map of Lake Neusiedl-Ferto-to and the Hansag in 1783
Turbulent Waters – No Day At The Beach
It is not a coincidence that two of the best examples of communist governments in Eastern Europe protecting natural resources occurred in borderlands. The areas along their national borders were no man’s lands where travel was either restricted or banned. Borders were militarized and under constant surveillance. This was as true with borders between nations in the Eastern Bloc, as it was with those bordering western nations. Everyone was under suspicion, more so when they crossed a border. In communist societies, all resources, human and natural, were marshalled in support of ideological goals. The ends justified the means. Nature could be politicized just like the people. This happened with the Hungarian portion of the Neusiedler See. It was the only part of the Austria-Hungary border divided by a body of water. Furthermore, parts of the border were in the water. That would make it much more difficult for the communist authorities in Hungary to police.
Extending the Iron Curtain from land to water could be an expensive task. The government had to keep people out of the water and inside Hungary. The only way to do this was by closing off all activity on Hungary’s part of the lake. Hungarians would not be birding in reed beds, windsurfing or frolicking in the shallow waters. There were not going to be any days at the beach. Taking a dip could get someone arrested or killed. The upshot of banning access for Hungarians to Lake Neusiedl was that a quarter of the lake would be left in its natural state. Being on the border saved the lake from a potentially worse fate. If it had not been on the border, Hungary’s communist government might have tried to alter the lake for agricultural or industrial usage. They would not have been the first Hungarian government with such ideas. For a long time, it was thought that nature could be bent to the human will. Hard lessons would be learned.
Watermark – Landmark with cross at the Austria-Hungary border during the Cold War
(Credit: Naturpuur)
Fluctuating Potential = A Drain On Resources
Lake Neusiedl was completely within the territory administered by the Hungarian half (Transleithania) of the Austro-Hungarian Empire prior to the Treaties of St. Germain-en-Laye and Trianon assigned 75% of the lake to Austria. While under Hungarian administration there were plans afoot to utilize the lake for agriculture. This seems rather bizarre considering that Hungary has some of the most fertile land found anywhere in Europe. The push for development in Hungary during the 19th and early 20th centuries had tamed the Danube and Tisza Rivers with flood control measures. Draining water-soaked land for farming was nothing new. Lake Neusiedl was an inviting target. The water’s average depth is 1.5 feet (46 cm), and at no point is the water deeper than 5 feet 11 inches (180 cm).
Mother nature had done the lake no favors when it dried up completely in 1866. Those with agricultural designs could see the land beneath the lake and wonder what might be done. Ten years later though, the lake was full again. That offered another idea. The water could be diverted for agriculture and the reclaimed land cultivated. Never mind that the wild fluctuations in the lake’s level were natural. Since its formation sometime between 18000 and 14000 BC, Lake Neusiedl has dried up every hundred years on average. The lake was too good of an opportunity for those with visions of development to ignore it. They could point to the Hansag, an area of swamp and marshland not far from Lake Neusiedl. A large part of it had been drained over the past few centuries.
Watching the sunset – Lake Neusiedl at Podersdorf
Transformative Nature – Protection & Preservation
A plan was formulated in the early 20th century to harness the Lake Neusiedl’s potential for agricultural purposes. The lakebed would be sectioned off by earthworks. The soil deemed most fertile would be drained and then transformed into farmland. The rest of the water would be used for aquaculture. Work was due to start in 1918. That year sounded the death knell of not only the development plan for Lake Neusiedl, but also the Austro-Hungarian Empire, as both collapsed under the weight of the lost war. The changes that came soon thereafter with the demarcation of the border between Austria and Hungary saved Lake Neusiedl from development and environmental degradation.
The Hungarian part of the lake would be similarly lucky when the communists denied access to its waters. In an irony so strange that no one could possibly have imagined it, Lake Neusiedl had been saved first by World War I, and then later by a communist government. The geopolitical chaos that plagued Hungary during much of the 20th century ended up saving the lake. That is not the way anyone had planned it.
Click here for: Distant Memory – Taking The Waters At Lake Neusiedl (The Lost Lands #49)
Europe Between East And West 