Johann Sipötz celebrates 85th birthday

Former Burgenland governor Johann Sipötz celebrated his 85th birthday on Saturday, ORF reported. His political career took him from municipal politics to the state parliament and then to the governor’s office.

Sipötz is also associated with a historic image from 1989. ORF’s opening says he symbolically cut the border fence with Hungarian Foreign Minister Gyula Horn, while the article later describes a photograph of Sipötz cutting barbed wire at the border with Foreign Minister Alois Mock.

“Johann Sipötz accompanied Burgenland as governor during this period of change. His work is part of the shared effort to build the foundations on which we can build today,” current governor Hans Peter Doskozil said.