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AN ARCHAEOLOGY OF THE IRON CURTAIN
Searching the landscape
My guide has promised to show me a soldier’s hut hidden in the woodland
and we are charging through the terrain, jumping over streams, climbing
over large, fallen tree trunks and balancing to keep ourselves steady on the
sides of the hill. The terrain here can be difficult to manoeuvre around but
eventually we reach our destination. Here, along the Dyji River, into the
woodlands and away from the tourist trails, is a small guard hut at the base
of a slope (Figure 72–74). It is located along an old road between Vranov
nad Dyji and Hardegg that is barely decipherable in the landscape today.
The small hut was used by soldiers but is now in a poor state. It consisted of
only one small room and was kept warm in the winter through the use of a
small wood burner. With the exception of the floor the entire hut is covered
by graffiti. Most of the writings refer to the end of the soldier’s service with
many stating how many days they have left. Some of the numbers also have
a name and a date next to them. The dates range from 1978 to 1990. The
floor of this hut consists of the same tiled floor as at the border guard
stations suggesting they were built at the same time. The door has been
taken off the hinges and left leaning against the back of the building. There
is one window opening but the actual window has been removed from the
site. Outside the hut the ground is littered with concrete slabs and iron rods.
It is not possible to say exactly what these have been used for but they are
likely to have been part of a vehicle obstacle.
Figure 72: Small guard hut
located along the river in the
study area. Photo: Anna
McWilliams 2011.
As we can see from these remains it is not just traces of the actual fences
that help us understand how the former militarised border functioned but
also other features that were also important parts of the border
infrastructure put in place to keep any unauthorised persons out. There are
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