1JZGauQ

More documents

Recommendations

Info

CHAPTER 2 A physical metaphor Concrete and barbed wire. For many people in the West this is the typical picture of the Iron Curtain. The Iron Curtain has become synonymous with the Berlin Wall. When discussing the location of the former Iron Curtain, people often refer to the inner German border, continuing along the borders of former Czechoslovakia, Austria, Hungary, Yugoslavia and Italy: a long barrier between Eastern and Western Europe, a divider of ideologies that kept the communist in and the capitalist out, or was it the other way around These ideas of what the Iron Curtain was are a fusion of the physical and the abstract, a metaphor with a physical face. But what was the Iron Curtain Where does this picture of concrete and barbed wire come from Iron curtains first appeared as a very physical feature in the theatres of London during the 19th century to stop the fires that had become all too common. During the First World War, the term was used as an abstract visualisation of the barriers between the fighting sides, and during the interwar period, to make clear the growing differences between Europe and the Soviet Union. It was, however, Churchill’s use of the expression in his speech at Westminster College in Fulton, Missouri, in 1946, where he referred to an Iron Curtain, stretching across the continent from the Baltic to the Adriatic (Wright 2007:43), that cemented the image of the Iron Curtain in the popular imagination. Churchill may not have been the first to use this metaphor but by using these particular words he was pointing to something highly solid and impenetrable, a physical iron curtain imperative to stop fires and not letting them get out of control, he created an image in people’s minds which was to have a massive impact on how people viewed the division of post-war Europe even before any militarised borders had been fully raised. This image of an Iron Curtain as a barrier between two superpowers of different ideological convictions was therefore created through words before they were set in stone. Reactions to 31
AN ARCHAEOLOGY OF THE IRON CURTAIN Churchill’s speech demonstrate how the matter was more complex than the then former Prime Minister was making it seem. The Times expressed concerns that portraying Western democracy and Soviet Communism as two opposing sides was unwise and that both types of governments could learn from each other (Wright 2007:46). In the days following Churchill’s speech both Prime Minister Attlee and President Truman distanced themselves from Churchill’s opinions and Stalin made it known that he took this as a ‘call to war’ (Wright 2007: 47, 56). As the Cold War advanced the use of the term Iron Curtain increased and was frequently used in speeches, papers and the media. In the West, Europe was portrayed as two polarised halves of East and West, with the Iron Curtain standing as a barrier between them keeping the captive population of the communist regimes from escaping to the west. In the German Democratic Republic (GDR) the border was referred to as the Antifaschistische Schutzwall (Anti- Fascist Protection Wall) protecting the population from the West. Following the division of Germany into sectors tension soon arose between them, in particular on the border between the zones of what was seen as the Western allies, American, British and French and the East, i.e. the Soviet controlled sectors. In her research into the development of the Inner German Border, looking specifically at how the border developed between the two towns of Sonneberg and Neustadt bei Coburg, historian Edith Sheffer (2008) demonstrates how the confusion and turmoil following World War II helped to justify the development of the border, not only the physical fortifications but also the mental border. She claims: “This mental boundary evolved surprisingly quickly and proved surprisingly powerful, not just reflecting, but itself propelling the growth of the physical border” (Sheffer 2008:599). The chaos that existed in the border areas where illegal crossings, a thriving black market and violence often got out of hand, affecting life in these areas, caused many of the locals to crave stability and clear rules. This in turn was used to justify stricter regulations in the border areas, which were even welcomed. Her research of the border between the two towns of Neustadt, subsequently in Federal Republic of Germany (FDR), and Sonnenberg, in German Democratic Republic (GDR), shows that it was the Americans who first started to demarcate and fortify the border here in the late 1940s. These actions were soon followed by the Soviets erecting their own barriers, making sure they reached higher than the American 1.8 m posts, as well as adding fencing and barbed wire in some places (Sheffer 2008:91). By the time the 1,380 km fence was erected along the entire border between East and West Germany in 1952 the border had already been sufficiently 32
Page 1 and 2: An Archaeology of the Iron Curtain
Page 4 and 5: An Archaeology of the Iron Curtain
Page 8 and 9: Contents Acknowledgements 11 CHAPTE
Page 10: The end of a journey 212 Sammanfatt
Page 13 and 14: AN ARCHAEOLOGY OF THE IRON CURTAIN
Page 16 and 17: CHAPTER 1 Introduction Standing on
Page 18 and 19: 1: INTRODUCTION carried out of the
Page 20 and 21: 1: INTRODUCTION they may be… It i
Page 22 and 23: 1: INTRODUCTION where the observer
Page 24 and 25: 1: INTRODUCTION former Iron Curtain
Page 26 and 27: 1: INTRODUCTION criticism from othe
Page 28 and 29: 1: INTRODUCTION itioned somewhere i
Page 30 and 31: 1: INTRODUCTION World War II dividi
Page 34 and 35: 2: A PHYSICAL METAPHOR established
Page 36 and 37: 2: A PHYSICAL METAPHOR The changing
Page 38 and 39: 2: A PHYSICAL METAPHOR the events t
Page 40 and 41: 2: A PHYSICAL METAPHOR As time has
Page 42 and 43: 2: A PHYSICAL METAPHOR highly influ
Page 44: 2: A PHYSICAL METAPHOR popular idea
Page 73 and 74: Figure 16: Postcard of the newly op
Page 83 and 84:
AN ARCHAEOLOGY OF THE IRON CURTAIN
Page 85 and 86:
402 Kojsko Hum 402 THE OSIM
Page 87 and 88:
Page 89 and 90:
Page 91 and 92:
Page 93 and 94:
Page 95 and 96:
Page 97 and 98:
Page 99 and 100:
Page 101 and 102:
Page 103 and 104:
Page 105 and 106:
Page 107 and 108:
Page 109 and 110:
Figure 50: Map demonstrating the bo
Page 111 and 112:
Page 113 and 114:
Page 115 and 116:
Page 117 and 118:
Page 119 and 120:
Page 121 and 122:
Page 123 and 124:
Page 125 and 126:
Page 128 and 129:
CHAPTER 5 Case Study 2 The Czech/Au
Page 130 and 131:
5: CASE STUDY 2: THE CZECH/AUSTRIAN
Page 132 and 133:
Figure 55: Bunker near the crossing
Page 134 and 135:
Figure 59: Military map from 1980 o
Page 136 and 137:
Page 138 and 139:
Page 140 and 141:
Page 142 and 143:
Page 144 and 145:
Page 146 and 147:
Page 148 and 149:
Page 150 and 151:
Page 152 and 153:
Page 154 and 155:
Page 156 and 157:
Page 158 and 159:
Page 160 and 161:
Figure 77-78: Painting inside the f
Page 162 and 163:
Page 164 and 165:
Page 166 and 167:
Page 168 and 169:
Page 170 and 171:
Page 172 and 173:
Page 174 and 175:
Page 176 and 177:
Page 178 and 179:
Page 180 and 181:
Page 182 and 183:
Page 184 and 185:
Page 186 and 187:
Page 188 and 189:
CHAPTER 6 An archaeology of the Iro
Page 190 and 191:
6: AN ARCHAEOLOGY OF THE IRON CURTA
Page 192 and 193:
Page 194 and 195:
Page 196 and 197:
Page 198 and 199:
Page 200 and 201:
Page 202 and 203:
Page 204 and 205:
Figure 102: Fence and Watch Tower a
Page 206 and 207:
Page 208 and 209:
Page 210 and 211:
Page 212 and 213:
Page 214 and 215:
Page 216 and 217:
Sammanfattning (Summary in Swedish)
Page 218 and 219:
SAMMANFATTNING En fysisk metafor I
Page 220 and 221:
SAMMANFATTNING komst och kunskapsf
Page 222 and 223:
SAMMANFATTNING Fältstudier av läm
Page 224 and 225:
SAMMANFATTNING som försöker ta si
Page 226:
SAMMANFATTNING mets dilemma”. Han
Page 229 and 230:
Page 231 and 232:
Page 233 and 234:
Page 235 and 236:
Page 237 and 238:
Page 239 and 240:
Page 242 and 243:
Södertörn Doctoral Dissertations
Page 244 and 245:
33. Sofie Bedford, Islamic activism
Page 246 and 247:
67. Anne Kaun, Civic Experiences an
Page 248 and 249:
Stockholm Studies in Archaeology Se
Page 250 and 251:
29. LINDGREN, Christina. 2004. Män
Page 252:
The Iron Curtain was seen as the di
show all

1JZGauQ

You also want an ePaper? Increase the reach of your titles

Delete template?

Save as template?