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AN ARCHAEOLOGY OF THE IRON CURTAIN
(2000) it becomes very obvious how silent the sites I visit are. Wollinger
explains how the noises of TVs, record players and conversations would
flow through the corridors in the evening, the sound of military boots
against the flooring and the sound of Velcro as someone opens their
uniforms as they enter a building (Wollinger 2000:75 and 62). She also
speaks of the smellscapes of the corridor, particularly on Wednesday
evenings, the usual time for a night on the town, when the smell of deodorant
and aftershave hung heavily in the air. The sites I visit are silent and
where smells are involved they are more likely to be connected with the
buildings’ degeneration than their previous occupants. But there are still
traces left of those who once spent two years of their lives here. Those who
patrolled, monitored and guarded the borders but also lived here and
carried out their everyday duties, both official and private. Their lives here
both on and off duty have come to linger through the remains they have left
behind, both at the site itself and through their memorabilia displayed on
their website and these things speak loudly. In the absence of people the
things themselves become more clear.
Although a lot of the buildings have fallen into disrepair and most of the
furniture has been removed walking around in this former guard station
still gave a sense of how life here would have been like. It is obvious from
graffiti in which soldiers were counting down the days that if they had been
given a choice many of them would not have been here. This was part of the
obligatory two year military service that all Czechoslovakian men had to do
in their late teens and early twenties (conscription to the army took place
after they had finished their studies and therefore the age of the soldiers
varied somewhat). After an initial month of training at the Jemnice facility
the soldiers spent the remainder of the time in one place, transfers being
unusual. It is clear from the graffiti but especially the “graduate drawings”
that were produced by the soldiers themselves and the many photos
displayed on the army forum that a real sense of camaraderie developed and
that contacts have been kept also after the soldiers left the camp (Army
Forum Website). Of course, one has to remember that the people displaying
these pictures and keeping up contacts on this website are a very small part
of the all the soldiers that came through these border guard stations. Many
of the former soldiers that are not taking part in these kinds of forums may
not feel the same. There is a great stigma attached to any act that is related
to communism or former communist activities.
The different areas within the study area also display slightly different
pictures of the soldiers. What is interesting is that the guard hut located
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