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5: CASE STUDY 2: THE CZECH/AUSTRIAN BORDER extensive electricity infrastructure had to be developed along the fences. In 1966 the high voltage current was turned off and a signalling fence system replaced it. There is likely to have been several factors for turning off the high voltage current. One was that it was very dangerous to the soldiers maintaining the fences causing many accidents, several with a lethal outcome. The cost of the electrical fences was also very high, for example copper had to be sourced and bought from Hungary, and the government wanted to prioritise other areas of spending (Vaňek, 2010, pers. comm.7 th December). It is also of note that the move away from electrical fence towards using a signalling one happened during the period of political thawing when policies were somewhat more relaxed. Guardians of the border Keeping the border zones under complete surveillance required large amounts of manpower. The border was constantly patrolled by border guards and border guard stations were located along the entire Czechoslovakian border. These were established in the early 1950s and although they varied somewhat in size they all had a very similar set-up. Some border guard stations were housed in already existing buildings whilst others were built new. In the study area there were three border guard stations: Hájenka, Čižov and Lukov. The compounds had several functional purposes. There were kitchen and storage areas, offices, garages and workshops at the compound. Dogs, mostly German Shepherds and Rottweilers, were used as part of the safeguarding of the borders and the dog kennels were usually located slightly away from the other buildings. There were also sleeping quarters for the soldiers as they stayed at the station during their service. Officers were given accommodation off the compound in nearby villages. Border guards were often placed at a station located far away from their home so that they would not know the local people. Most of the soldiers from Slovakia served in the army in what is now the Czech Republic. Service was part of the obligatory two years of service that had to be served in the army. Service commenced around the age of 18–20 depending on a person’s studies. There were two dates to join each year, 1 st of April and 1 st of October. Special military trains took the men to their place of service. Jozef, a man in his early 60s answered my note asking to get in contact with former border guards on the Army Forum website and subsequently shared his experiences with me. He was a border guard between 1972 and 1974. He remembers: “A military train left the station in Presov [Slovakia] 141
AN ARCHAEOLOGY OF THE IRON CURTAIN on the 1 st of October in the evening. The station was full of soldiers to be, all saying goodbye to their family and friends. The train took off and stopped in several places along the way letting soldiers on and off. My destination, Budejovice, was around 700 km away and we arrived here in the afternoon of the 2 nd of October. At the station there were buses and military lorries waiting for us. A short time later we were behind the barrack gates. Our civil clothes were sent home, our hair was cut, after which we showered and were given our military clothes and equipment. We were also trying to get to know the other new soldiers. We were then divided into groups such as dog handlers, drivers, and cooks or, such as I was, a telephone and radio operator. In the evening we put our clothes and things into the lockers and our first night in green was about to commence…” (Jozef, 2010, pers. comm. 14 th November) (Figure 58). There were different specialisations of border guard such as gunners, dog handlers, drivers, radio operators, engineers, surveillance technicians and cooks. Initial training was given at several training facilities such as in Jemnice which was the training facility for the border guards in the study area (Tomas, 2010, pers. comm. 14 th October). Here the future border guards were trained in physical exercise, shooting and gun handling, military tactics, special border training, political schooling (communist propaganda) and particular training required for the different specialisation. This training lasted around 3 months (Marek, 2010 pers. comm.4 th November). If you were given more specialised training such as to become a radio and telecommunication operator the training was usually around 6 months (Jozef 2010, pers. comm. 14 th November 2010). A border guard had approximately 10 days off per year with an extra one to three days off in order to travel home depending on the distance. The pay a border guard received was not much more than pocket money but the guards that served directly on the border were paid a bit extra. This did not include people at the border guard station, for example cooks that were not out by the actual border. Work as a border guard could be hard. The guards schedule followed the following pattern: two days on duty then one day of training followed by one day off and then it stated all over again. If, however, the area was under high alert (due to circumstances such as political disturbances in the country or an important political visit) there would not be any days off or time for training at all. A working day was 10 hours and 12 during periods of high alert. Work was not, however, limited to these hours. Marek who worked as a driver with the 12 th Company, 5 th Brigade at the Chebská border guard station near the border to GDR 142
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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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402 Kojsko Hum 402 THE OSIM
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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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