Iron Curtain

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See also: iron curtain

English

WOTD – 5 March 2025

Etymology

PIE word
*h₁ésh₂r̥
PIE word
*ḱóm
The Iron Curtain depicted as a black line on a map of Europe.

A specialized use of iron curtain (“(figurative) impenetrable barrier”), probably partly a calque of German eiserner Vorhang which was used in speeches in the 1940s that were translated into English.[1] The English term appeared in telegrams from the British Prime Minister Winston Churchill (1874–1965) to the President of the United States Harry S. Truman (1884–1972) in 1945, before being popularized in a speech given by Churchill at Westminster College in Fulton, Missouri, on 5 March 1946:[2] see the quotations.

Pronunciation

Proper noun

Iron Curtain

  1. (historical) Chiefly preceded by the: the dividing line between Western Europe and the Soviet controlled regions, especially during the Cold War (1947–1991).
    • 1920, Mrs. Philip Snowden [i.e., Ethel Snowden], “Making Our Plans”, in Through Bolshevik Russia, London; New York, N.Y.: Cassell and Company, →OCLC, pages 31 and 32:
      We liked the plain people of Russia wherever we met them. […] We were behind the "iron curtain" at last!
    • 1945 May 3, Court Schwerin von Krosigk [i.e., Lutz Graf Schwerin von Krosigk], “New foreign minister broadcasts”, in , transl., The Manchester Guardian, number 30,757, Manchester: John Russell Scott for the Manchester Guardian & Evening News, , →OCLC, page 5, column 6:
      In the east the iron curtain behind which, unseen by the eyes of the world, the work of destruction goes on, is moving steadily forward.
    • 1945 May 12, Winston Churchill, “No. 6: Leahy Papers: Telegram: Prime Minister Churchill to President [Harry S.] Truman”, in Foreign Relations of the United States: Diplomatic Papers: The Conference of Berlin (The Potsdam Conference) 1945  (86th Congress, 1st Session, House Document; no. 161, vol I; Department of State Publication; 7015), volume I, Washington, D.C.: United States Government Printing Office, published 1960, →OCLC, paragraph 3, page 9:
      An iron curtain is drawn down upon their [Russia's] front. We do not know what is going on behind.
      This is Churchill’s first recorded use of the term.
    • 1946 March 5, Winston Churchill, “The Sinews of Peace”, in Westminster College Bulletin: World Spotlight Turns on Westminster, series 46, number 1, Fulton, Mo.: Westminster College, published April 1946, →OCLC, column 1:
      From Stettin in the Baltic to Trieste in the Adriatic an iron curtain has descended across the Continent.
    • 1960 March, “Talking of Trains: London–Paris in Four Hours”, in Trains Illustrated, London: Ian Allan Publishing, →ISSN, →OCLC, page 134:
      Indeed, rail traffic of all kinds is developing through the Iron Curtain – for instance, last year a total of 6,445 wagons controlled by Interfrigo, the international company for refrigerated transport, passed between East and West; […]
    • 1973 July 17 (date delivered), Chiang Kai-shek, “President Chiang Kai-shek’s Message to the Mass Rally Supporting Captive Nations Week”, in L. Y. Chen, editor, Free China Weekly, volume XIV, number 28, Taipei, Taiwan: Chung Hwa Information Service, published 22 July 1973, →ISSN, →OCLC, page 1, columns 1–2:
      Justice is giving ground to the forces of evil. These developments have confused the camp of freedom and abetted the growth of Communism. Even so, the fierce struggle for freedom of the people shut behind the Iron Curtain and the support for their emancipation provided by peace-loving people outside the Iron Curtain have never ceased despite the buffeting from waves of appeasement.
    • 2007 May 17, Tom Lantos, Chairman, Russia: Rebuilding the Iron Curtain: Hearing before the Committee on Foreign Affairs, House of Representatives, One Hundred Tenth Congress, First Session  (Serial No. 110-65), Washington, D.C.: U.S. Government Printing Office, →ISBN, page 3:
      Now, we are not in a new Cold War. We don't see the descending of a new Iron Curtain, but we have moved back very, very sharply in the wrong direction. We must work with the many Russian democrats still functioning in and out of government, in and out of Parliament, in and out of the business community, to make the dream of a Russian democracy become a reality.
    • 2022, Miklós Péti, “Samson: An Unlikely Hero of Socialism”, in Timothy Mathews, editor, Paradise from behind the Iron Curtain: Reading, Translating and Staging Milton in Communist Hungary (Literature and Translation), London: UCL Press, →DOI, →ISBN, page 68:
      […] Christopher Hill, one of the Western critics whose works were cited and appreciated behind the Iron Curtain throughout the decades of state socialism.

Coordinate terms

Translations

References

  1. ^ For example, “Hinter dem eisernen Vorhang [Behind the Iron Curtain]”, in Signal (in German), number 9, Berlin: Deutscher Verlag, 1943 May, →ISSN, →OCLC, page 2; Joseph Goebbels (1945 February 25) “Das Jahr 2000 [The Year 2000]”, in , transl., Das Reich‎ (in German), Berlin: Deutscher Verlag, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 2024-01-06, pages 1–2:
    (please add the primary text of this quotation)
    If the German people lay down their weapons, the Soviets, according to the agreement between Roosevelt, Churchill, and Stalin, would occupy all of East and Southeast Europe along with the greater part of the Reich. An iron curtain would fall over this enormous territory controlled by the Soviet Union, behind which nations would be slaughtered.
  2. ^ “iron curtain, n.”, in OED Online Paid subscription required⁠, Oxford: Oxford University Press, July 2023; “Iron Curtain, n.”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–2022.

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