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5: CASE STUDY 2: THE CZECH/AUSTRIAN BORDER the buildings and monuments within it fell into disrepair (Vranov Castle website 2010). World Wars The area was part of the Habsburg Empire until maps were redrawn following the First World War when Vranov nad Dyji and Hardegg yet again became border towns with the river Dyji/Thaya forming the border between them. Following the crumbling of the Ottoman Empire and the defeat of Austria-Hungary and Germany, as well as the Bolshevik Revolution in Russia in 1917 led to great insecurity and the need for new states to be established (Leff 1997:20). The first Czechoslovakian Republic was established in 1918 following the breakdown of the Habsburg Empire. It was felt that the two states were unlikely to gain independence on their own and there was a lot of international pressure on such nation collaboration (Innes 2001:4). The new state consisted of the more industrialized Czech areas of Bohemia, Silesia and Moravia as well as the more agrarian Slovakia. The more economically advanced Czechs took the lead and the first president was the Czech T.G. Masaryk. The Czechs, who had been governed by the Austrian side of the Habsburg Empire, had experienced more independence during this period than Slovakia who, under Hungarian rule, had been much more repressed. Particularly during the 19 th century Hungary forced the Slovak minority to assimilate into Hungarian culture and language (Innes 2001:2). In the border areas of Czechoslovakia there was a large German speaking population, the so called Sudeten Germans. In 1919 a large portion of this population demonstrated and campaigned for gaining independence or self-government but the demonstrations were violently fought and the areas stayed within the Czechoslovakian state. Many German speakers continued to live in the border areas of Czechoslovakia. This was also the case within the study area (Zimmermann 2008:11–12). Following the First World War the Republic of Austria was created, greatly reduced in size from the previous Austrian Empire and the Habsburg Empire before that. Fascism increased its hold in Austria during the early 1930s which led to the installation of the authoritarian rule of an Austrofascist government in 1934 which lasted until Austrian Nazis gained power in 1938 only two days before Hitler established a union with Germany in April 1938 in which Austria was incorporated into the Third Reich. In Czechoslovakia the increased threat from the Nazis caused the creation of a new defence line built along the borders towards Germany and Austria in the years 1935–38. This defence line of made up of a series of 135
AN ARCHAEOLOGY OF THE IRON CURTAIN bunkers was modelled on the French Maginot Line. It was especially Czechoslovakia’s northern border towards Germany, between the towns of Ostrava and Nachod, where the heaviest defence was built but also the western border towards Germany and Austria was included in the defence line (Kaufmann 1999:240). In the study area 17 bunkers were installed at strategic positions, such as by the crossing over the border river Dyji (Thaya in German), in order to halt any attacks (Figure 55). In 1938 the French, Italians and British signed the Sudetenland areas over to the Germans in the Münich Agreements, forcing Czechoslovakia to hand these territories over to the Nazis (Shepherd 2000:15). Even though the majority of the Sudeten Germans were socialist and ready to fight against the Nazis they were sacrificed in hope that this would avoid another war. On the 29 th of September 1938 the Sudeten German areas were handed over to become German nationals (Zimmermann 1938:16–18). This deal also meant the majority of the Czechoslovakian defence line now came to lie within German-Austrian territory causing the Czechoslovak state to become completely unprotected against Hitler’s troops. With the Czechoslovakian state in a vulnerable situation Slovakia’s demands of autonomy had to be met and on the 6 th of October 1938 a second Czecho-Slovak Republic was declared. This was not to last long, however, with pressure from Germany mounting, giving Slovakia the ultimatum of declaring itself an independent state, with Germany’s support, or being taken over by Hungary. On the 14 th of March 1939 Slovakia declared themselves independent from the Czechs and with that became a Nazi puppet state. It was then easy for the Germans to occupy the Czech lands and making it the ‘Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia’, a part of the Nazi Reich (Innes 2001:14). During German occupation many of the Jewish populations were deported to concentration camps. When I visit the town of Šafov, just on the edge of the study area, the old Jewish graveyard demonstrates the large Jewish community that once thrived here. A new political order After World War II the allies, who wanted to restore the Czechs and Slovaks as they had been before the war, created a third Czechoslovakia. Through round-table discussions in Moscow, representatives from the Soviet Union and Britain discussed the future of the new state. As the Czech communist party had created strong ties with the Red Army during their strong presence in the country during 1944–45 they found themselves in a 136
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An Archaeology of the Iron Curtain
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An Archaeology of the Iron Curtain
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Contents Acknowledgements 11 CHAPTE
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The end of a journey 212 Sammanfatt
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AN ARCHAEOLOGY OF THE IRON CURTAIN
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CHAPTER 1 Introduction Standing on
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1: INTRODUCTION carried out of the
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1: INTRODUCTION they may be… It i
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1: INTRODUCTION where the observer
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1: INTRODUCTION former Iron Curtain
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1: INTRODUCTION criticism from othe
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1: INTRODUCTION itioned somewhere i
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1: INTRODUCTION World War II dividi
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CHAPTER 2 A physical metaphor Concr
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2: A PHYSICAL METAPHOR established
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2: A PHYSICAL METAPHOR The changing
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2: A PHYSICAL METAPHOR the events t
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2: A PHYSICAL METAPHOR As time has
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2: A PHYSICAL METAPHOR highly influ
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2: A PHYSICAL METAPHOR popular idea
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Figure 16: Postcard of the newly op
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5: CASE STUDY 2: THE CZECH/AUSTRIAN
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CHAPTER 6 An archaeology of the Iro
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6: AN ARCHAEOLOGY OF THE IRON CURTA
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Figure 102: Fence and Watch Tower a
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Sammanfattning (Summary in Swedish)
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SAMMANFATTNING En fysisk metafor I
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SAMMANFATTNING komst och kunskapsf
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SAMMANFATTNING Fältstudier av läm
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SAMMANFATTNING som försöker ta si
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SAMMANFATTNING mets dilemma”. Han
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Södertörn Doctoral Dissertations
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33. Sofie Bedford, Islamic activism
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67. Anne Kaun, Civic Experiences an
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Stockholm Studies in Archaeology Se
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29. LINDGREN, Christina. 2004. Män
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The Iron Curtain was seen as the di
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