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5: CASE STUDY 2: THE CZECH/AUSTRIAN BORDER The Šafov border guard station has a similar setup to that at Hájenka with division of areas for private and official use. Here there was, however, somewhat less of a division between the sleeping quarters and the many storage areas both housed in the same wing of the main building. An extra storage section was added to this wing at a later stage. In one of these storage rooms there are traces left of wire fencing within the room which suggests that this was an extra secure storage area, possibly for weapons. In the soldiers’ bathroom at Šafov 31 stickers from tins of shoeshine have been stuck to the wall together with a handful of stickers from cleaning products such as toilet cleaner, attesting to the orderly and clean existence expected by the soldiers (Figure 96). Figure 96: Two low sinks with stickers from shoe shine jars and cleaning products stuck to the wall above at Šafov border guard station. Photo: Anna McWilliams 2011. Looking through the photos and drawings posted on the Army Forum one frequently comes across some sort of ‘graduate drawing’. It appears that many if not all of the groups of soldiers created one of these drawings when they finished their service. These types of drawings can be seen as having a vague similarity with school graduation materials such as yearbooks, signed T-shirts or school uniforms in which the group identity, friendship and solidarity are confirmed and often kept as a memento. These drawings are produced to varying quality, no doubt depending on the artistic skills of the ‘graduating’ soldiers. Usually the drawings include pictures or drawings of 169
AN ARCHAEOLOGY OF THE IRON CURTAIN the soldiers, part of a particular two-year group of soldiers, the years the soldiers were at the site and the name of the border guard station. Almost all drawings have images symbolizing everyday life at the station, such as watchtowers, the border guard symbol of a dog, fences and trees. Some of them even have the castle at Vranov nad Dyji included. From the mid-1980s until the last drawings in the early 1990s the style is changing and there no longer seem to be a great importance attached to including all the soldiers’ names and pictures. Instead there is a focus on the artistic, often with a strong, male character included as well as images from the site, such as watchtowers or the border guard station itself. It is not uncommon to also find images of women dressed only in underwear or not wearing anything at all in the drawings. These motifs mirrors the images displayed in the dorms at the stations. Other drawings are also posted on the Army Forum website but it is not as clear if these were drawn as part of the ‘graduation’ or not (Army Forum Website Image 4–7). Through the materiality left behind by these soldiers, both at the actual site as well as on the Army Forum, gives some insights to the people who worked and lived here. Although asking people in the area was not very fruitful as few people were interested in talking to me but I occasionally met some people who could give me more information. We walk along the main thoroughfare of Šafov village and at first it seems to be deserted. We have been tipped off that there is a former officer to the Šafov border guard station that still lives here and we have come to see if we can find him. We see a couple who are raking leaves in their garden and we decide to ask them. After the usual Dobrý den and references to the weather they confirm that the man next door to them used to be an officer. Excited by our progress we walk through the front gate and around the house to the entrance. The garden is small but the space is well used and vegetables and flowers take up a large part of its area and a few geese waddle around in the back of the garden. A woman answers the door and when she hears of the purpose for our visit she calls for her husband Tomas to come out. He confirms that he used to be an officer, right up till the closure of the border guard stations in 1991, and invites us in and says he’ll try to answer my questions although he does not seem sure that this information can be of any interest. As his wife serves us strong coffee from bright yellow mugs he tells us that his house was built by the soldiers. Although the soldiers were staying at the border guard station the officers and their families were offered accommodation in the village. He himself came here with his family in the early 80s and 170
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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 50: Map demonstrating the bo
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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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