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AN ARCHAEOLOGY OF THE IRON CURTAIN<br />
the soldiers, part of a particular two-year group of soldiers, the years the<br />
soldiers were at the site and the name of the border guard station. Almost<br />
all drawings have images symbolizing everyday life at the station, such as<br />
watchtowers, the border guard symbol of a dog, fences and trees. Some of<br />
them even have the castle at Vranov nad Dyji included. From the mid-1980s<br />
until the last drawings in the early 1990s the style is changing and there no<br />
longer seem to be a great importance attached to including all the soldiers’<br />
names and pictures. Instead there is a focus on the artistic, often with a<br />
strong, male character included as well as images from the site, such as<br />
watchtowers or the border guard station itself. It is not uncommon to also<br />
find images of women dressed only in underwear or not wearing anything<br />
at all in the drawings. These motifs mirrors the images displayed in the<br />
dorms at the stations. Other drawings are also posted on the Army Forum<br />
website but it is not as clear if these were drawn as part of the ‘graduation’<br />
or not (Army Forum Website Image 4–7). Through the materiality left<br />
behind by these soldiers, both at the actual site as well as on the Army<br />
Forum, gives some insights to the people who worked and lived here.<br />
Although asking people in the area was not very fruitful as few people were<br />
interested in talking to me but I occasionally met some people who could<br />
give me more information.<br />
We walk along the main thoroughfare of Šafov village and at first it<br />
seems to be deserted. We have been tipped off that there is a former<br />
officer to the Šafov border guard station that still lives here and we have<br />
come to see if we can find him. We see a couple who are raking leaves in<br />
their garden and we decide to ask them. After the usual Dobrý den and<br />
references to the weather they confirm that the man next door to them<br />
used to be an officer. Excited by our progress we walk through the front<br />
gate and around the house to the entrance. The garden is small but the<br />
space is well used and vegetables and flowers take up a large part of its<br />
area and a few geese waddle around in the back of the garden. A woman<br />
answers the door and when she hears of the purpose for our visit she calls<br />
for her husband Tomas to come out. He confirms that he used to be an<br />
officer, right up till the closure of the border guard stations in 1991, and<br />
invites us in and says he’ll try to answer my questions although he does<br />
not seem sure that this information can be of any interest. As his wife<br />
serves us strong coffee from bright yellow mugs he tells us that his house<br />
was built by the soldiers. Although the soldiers were staying at the border<br />
guard station the officers and their families were offered accommodation<br />
in the village. He himself came here with his family in the early 80s and<br />
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