1JZGauQ

More documents

Recommendations

Info

5: CASE STUDY 2: THE CZECH/AUSTRIAN BORDER fortunate position during the negotiations in Moscow and subsequently in the running of the new Third Czechoslovak Republic (Innes 2001:21). The fact that the communist groups played an important role in the resistance movements during the war also seemed to give them a moral advantage and respect (Shepherd 2000:21). This combined with general feelings that they had been let down by the West in Munich and the Red Army’s liberation of the country helped to spread support for communism. During elections in 1946 the Communist Party won 38 percent of the votes and became the largest party and with that gained the most important posts within the government. Edvard Beneš was elected president. Ahead of the 1948 elections, however, the support for the communists appeared to have fallen and in order not to lose the election the party managed to stage a coup d’état which resulted in a 90 percent win for the party. Beneš retired and Klement Gottwald took on the role as president (Lund 1992:17, Leff 1997:49) The Communist Party soon took control of many of the state’s functions such as the police, security forces and the media. Political opposition was brutally fought with tens of thousands sent to prison or work camps during the 1950s. Travel outside the country became strictly controlled and for many impossible (Shepherd 2000:22–24). Following Stalin’s death and the condemnation of his politics by Khruschchev at the Twentieth Congress of the Communist Party of the USSR in 1956 there was a general thawing of communist policies throughout the Eastern Bloc. This also happened in Czechoslovakia although at a slightly slower rate than in other states. 1961 saw the release of thousands of political prisoners and censorship was somewhat relaxed (Shepherd 2000:24–26). The election of a Slovak as First Secretary of the Party, Alexander Dubček, in 1968 and the following line of reform which declared a new political climate of “socialism with a human face” was presented in April 1968 (Lund 1992:17). The reforms, referred to as the ‘Prague Spring’, were to include freedom of media and speech and a move away from planned economy and Stalinism. But these reforms put strain on the relationship with Soviet and on the 21 st August 1968 Soviet tanks rolled onto the streets of Prague in an invasion aimed at reeling the power back in. The so called ‘Normalisation’ that was imposed on Czechoslovakia forced the reformists out of the party and led to a more totalitarian system (Shepherd 2000:30–31). This normalisation which was dominant in the 1970s and 1980s meant a return to the policies that the 1968 reforms were to change. Many of the people at the party’s top were forced to resign and given other jobs. Dubček, for example, was given the job as forest worker in Slovakia (Lund 1992:18). A resistance movement, 137
AN ARCHAEOLOGY OF THE IRON CURTAIN called the Charta 77 after a document published in Western Media criticising Czechoslovakian government, started to take form in the 1980s. The organization was led by, amongst others, Václav Havel. It was their aim to make public the breaches to human rights within Czechoslovakia and its members were constantly under threat and persecution from the Communist Party (Lund 1992:18). Communism was brought to an end in Czechoslovakia during the so called Velvet Revolution in November 1989. This peaceful revolution, started as student demonstrations, led to the collapse of Czechoslovakia’s Communist Party. This followed the announcement of a new Soviet defence doctrine by the Warsaw Treaty Organization (WTO) in May 1987 which stated that global peace was now considered of higher importance than ideology (Tůma 2006:2). Without the threat of Soviet intervention demonstrations were carried out in many of the former Eastern Bloc states and eventually led to the fall of communism in many of these countries. Following the Velvet Revolution the cracks between Czechs and Slovaks started to become obvious. While Slovaks campaigned for a looser federation with more power given to the two republics the Czechs argued for a central government. These issues intensified during elections in 1992 and eventually led to a peaceful split of the two republics into two states, Czech Republic and Slovakia, on 1 st of January 1993 (Leff 1997:129–142). Both countries joined the EU in 2004 and Schengen in 2007 opening up the borders towards Western Europe allowing for free travel and much reduced controls at border crossings. With the new Czech government defence policies changed away from a focus on possible warfare against NATO towards a reorganization which was aimed at eventually joining NATO. Prior to the Velvet Revolution the Czechoslovak People’s Army (CSPA) was controlled by and highly loyal to the Communist Party, with 82 per cent of the professional officers being Communist Party members (Tůma 2006:6). Following a major survey of individual officers’ attitudes towards the new government led to the removal of almost all generals as well as other staff. Another priority of the new government was also to work towards the withdrawal of the Soviet forces within the country which were finalized by June 1991 when all Soviet forces had left (Tůma 2006:14). Austria faced other difficulties following World War II. Similarly to Germany the country was divided between the allies: the Soviet Union, United Kingdom, France and the US. Like Berlin, Vienna was also divided into zones. The difference with the case of Austria compared to Germany 138
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 32 and 33:
CHAPTER 2 A physical metaphor Concr
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 47 and 48:
Page 49 and 50:
Page 51 and 52:
Page 53 and 54:
Page 55 and 56:
Page 57 and 58:
Page 59 and 60:
Page 61 and 62:
Page 63 and 64:
Page 65 and 66:
Page 67 and 68:
Page 69 and 70:
Page 71 and 72:
Page 73 and 74:
Figure 16: Postcard of the newly op
Page 75 and 76:
Page 77 and 78:
Page 79 and 80:
Page 81 and 82:
Page 83 and 84:
Page 85 and 86:
402 Kojsko Hum 402 THE OSIM
Page 87 and 88: AN ARCHAEOLOGY OF THE IRON CURTAIN
Page 109 and 110: Figure 50: Map demonstrating the bo
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 160 and 161: Figure 77-78: Painting inside the f
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?