Bratislava, April 9 -- President Droupadi Murmu on Wednesday (local time) laid a wreath and paid respects at the Gate of Freedom Memorial in Bratislava, Slovak Republic, on the banks of the Danube River during her two-day State visit to the country.

The memorial commemorates those who lost their lives while attempting to flee Slovakia during the communist regime.

Unveiled in 2005, the Gate of Freedom Memorial sits below Devin Castle at the confluence of the rivers Morava and Danube in the capital of the Slovak Republic, right on the border with Austria.

This memorial signifies a time when the borders to the West were protected by barbed-wire fences charged with high-voltage electricity and attempts to escape from behind the Iron Curtai...