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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
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