<P> The use of the term iron curtain as a metaphor for strict separation goes back at least as far as the early 19th century . It originally referred to fireproof curtains in theaters . Although its popularity as a Cold War symbol is attributed to its use in a speech Winston Churchill gave in 5 March 1946 in Fulton, Missouri, German Minister of Propaganda Joseph Goebbels had already used the term in reference to the Soviet Union . </P> <P> Various usages of the term "iron curtain" (Russian: Железный занавес Zheleznyj zanaves; German: Eiserner Vorhang; Georgian: რკინის ფარდა Rkinis pharda; Czech and Slovak: Železná opona; Hungarian: Vasfüggöny; Romanian: Cortina de fier; Italian: Cortina di ferro; Serbian: Гвоздена завеса Gvozdena zavesa; Estonian: Raudne eesriie; Bulgarian: Желязна завеса Zhelyazna zavesä) pre-date Churchill's use of the phrase . The concept goes back to the Babylonian Talmud of the 3rd to 5th centuries CE, where Tractate Sota 38b refers to a "mechitza shel barzel", an iron barrier or divider: "אפילו מחיצה של ברזל אינה מפסקת בין ישראל לאביהם שבשמים" (Even an iron barrier cannot separate (the people of) Israel from their heavenly father). </P> <P> The term "iron curtain" has since been used metaphorically in two rather different senses--firstly to denote the end of an era and secondly to denote a closed geopolitical border . The source of these metaphors can refer to either the safety curtain deployed in theatres (the first one was installed by the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane in 1794) or to roller shutters used to secure commercial premises . </P> <P> The first metaphorical usage of "iron curtain", in the sense of an end of an era, perhaps should be attributed to British author Arthur Machen (1863--1947), who used the term in his 1895 novel The Three Impostors: "...the door clanged behind me with the noise of thunder, and I felt that an iron curtain had fallen on the brief passage of my life". It is interesting to note the English translation of a Russian text shown immediately below repeats the use of "clang" with reference to an "iron curtain", suggesting that the Russian writer, publishing 23 years after Machen, may have been familiar with the popular British author . </P>

What was the effect of the iron curtain