Iron Curtain

See also: iron curtain

English

the Iron Curtain depicted as a black line

Etymology

Specialised use of iron curtain. Used (in German) during World War II by Joseph Goebbels. In English it appeared in telegrams from Winston Churchill to Harry S. Truman in 1945 before being popularized by Churchill in a speech he gave at Westminster College in Fulton, Missouri 5 March 1946[1].

Proper noun

Iron Curtain

(historical) The dividing line between Western Europe and the Soviet controlled regions, especially during the Cold War.
- 1946, Winston Churchill, Sinews of Peace:
  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, 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 22 [July 17, 1973], Chiang, Kai-shek, “President Chiang Kai-shek's message to the mass rally supporting Captive Nations Week”, in Free China Weekly‎, volume XIV, number 28, Taipei, ISSN 0016-0318, OCLC 1786626, page 1:
  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.

Translations

the dividing line between western Europe and the Soviet controlled regions

Albanian: please add this translation if you can
Arabic: السِتَار الحَدِيدِي‎ m (as-sitār al-ḥadīdī) (definite), سِتَار حَدِيدِيّ‎ m (sitār ḥadīdiyy) (indefinite)
Armenian: երկաթե վարագույր (hy) (erkatʿe varaguyr)
Azerbaijani: dəmir pərdə
Belarusian: жале́зная засло́на f (žaljéznaja zaslóna)
Bulgarian: желя́зна заве́са f (željázna zavésa)
Catalan: Teló d'Acer m
Chinese:
Mandarin: 鐵幕／铁幕 (zh) (tiěmù)
Czech: železná opona (cs) f
Danish: jerntæppe n
Dutch: ijzeren gordijn n
Esperanto: fera kurteno
Estonian: raudne eesriie
Finnish: rautaesirippu (fi)
French: rideau de fer (fr) m
Georgian: რკინის ფარდა (rḳinis parda)
German: Eiserner Vorhang (de) m, eiserner Vorhang m
Greek: σιδηρούν παραπέτασμα (el) n (sidiroún parapétasma)
Hebrew: מָסַךְ הַבַּרְזֶל‎ m
Hindi: लौह पर्दा m (lauh pardā)
Hungarian: vasfüggöny (hu)
Icelandic: járntjald n
Italian: cortina di ferro (it) f
Japanese: 鉄のカーテン (てつのカーテン, tetsu no kāten)
Kazakh: темір перде (temır perde)
Khmer: វាំងននដែក (vĕəng nɔɔn daek)
Korean: 철의 장막 (cheorui jangmak)
Kyrgyz: темир көшөгө (temir köşögö)
Latvian: dzelzs priekškars m
Lithuanian: geležinė uždanga f
Macedonian: железна завеса f (železna zavesa)
Maltese: Purtiera tal-Ħadid f
Mongolian:
Cyrillic: төмөр хөшиг (tömör xöšig)
Norwegian:
Bokmål: jernteppe n
Persian: پردهٔ آهنین‎ (parde-ye âhanin)
Polish: żelazna kurtyna (pl) f
Portuguese: cortina de ferro f
Romanian: cortină de fier f
Russian: желе́зный за́навес (ru) m (želéznyj zánaves)
Scottish Gaelic: Cùirtear Iarainn m
Serbo-Croatian:
Cyrillic: гвоздена завеса f, железна завеса f, жељезна завјеса f
Roman: gvozdena zavesa f, železna zavesa f, željezna zavjesa f
Slovak: železná opona f
Slovene: železna zavesa f
Spanish: cortina de hierro f, telón de acero m
Swedish: järnridå (sv) c
Tagalog: Kortinang Bakal
Tajik: пардаи оҳанин (pardayi ohanin)
Thai: ม่านเหล็ก (mâan-lèk)
Turkish: demir perde
Turkmen: demir perde
Ukrainian: залі́зна заві́са f (zalízna zavísa)
Uyghur: تۆمۈر پەردە‎ (tömür perde)
Uzbek: temir parda
Vietnamese: bức màn sắt

References

wikipedia on Iron Curtain, and Nigel Rees, Sayings of the Century