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5: CASE STUDY 2: THE CZECH/AUSTRIAN BORDER
was, however, that an Austrian government could soon be established even
though it took some time to convince the Western Allies who were worried
it would become a Soviet puppet regime. During elections in 1945 the
conservative party held the majority with the communist party only
receiving 5.42 percent of the votes and during the following years the
government was to orient its policies more towards the West (Jelavich
1987:249–253). The type of tensions that arose between Western and
Eastern zones in Germany therefore never quite happened in Austria.
Receiving great assistance and aid from the West, especially the US, in the
years 1945–1955 helped to position Austria even further on the Western
side of the Cold War divide. In 1955 allied occupation of Austria was ended
and the Austrian parliament adopted a policy of neutrality which placed it
outside any Cold War engagement. The Austrian Army was only to be used
to protect this neutrality and not to engage in other affairs (Jelavich
1987:255–269). Although defence of the state’s border was a large part of
the army’s task, border operations were on a much smaller scale than on the
Czechoslovakian, Hungarian and Yugoslavian sides. In the majority of the
border areas there was no regular military presence but only at times of
uncertainties in the neighbouring countries such as in 1968 or in 1991
during the Slovenian Independence War.
Militarised border in the study area
After World War II the towns and villages closest to the border in
Czechoslovakia became heavily monitored and only people that were considered
safe, i.e. not likely to attempt escape across the border or help other
people across, were allowed to live here. These areas were also severely
depopulated after World War II as the large German speaking population
living in these areas was forced out of Czechoslovakia as a vengeance against
atrocities carried out by the Germans during the war. In total nearly three
million people were forced out of areas on the Czechoslovak borders where
their families had lived for generations in the 18 months following the end of
World War II in what can only be described as ethnic cleansing (Shepherd
2000:16–17). The study area became increasingly militarized and difficult to
get through and was soon cut off from its western neighbours. The previously
frequent local interaction across the border was brought to an end. The
border areas were divided into several different zones with heavier security
closer to the border. The outer zones stretching around 3–4 km from the
border were restricted to anyone who did not hold a permit to work or visit
the area or to people living here. The boundaries of these zones were marked
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