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6: AN ARCHAEOLOGY OF THE IRON CURTAIN the smaller components, however mundane, that we can gain a better understanding of the bigger picture. The mundane war In his review of Andreassen, Bjerck and Olsen (2010) archaeologist John Schofield writes about the importance of the mundane within the pictures they display in the book. He writes: “… it is not views and sight-lines that matter so much as the mundane, the everyday details of the place – objects, surfaces and their sometimes odd juxtaposition” (Schofield 2012:133). The most common find at excavations of sites from any period are those of the mundane, the everyday and even the banal. We find broken pots, ceramics, stone axes, glass bottles, clay pipes, all finds that have been part of everyday, mundane activities. The finds from a time closer to our own have a habit of finding their way under our skin, more so than those of older periods, partly because they fit easier into our own understanding. They remind us of the things we have around us in our own mundane lives. As there are more sources remaining it can be easier to follow the different leads and understand the relationship between different parts. When we think about remains of the Cold War we often refer to large military installations or sites connected with the nuclear arms race. This is clear also in most of the sites related to the Cold War that have so far been studied by archaeologists which have consisted of sites noted for their monumentality and significance in relation to the Cold War narratives we are so familiar with (for example Cocroft 2003, Schofield and Cocroft 2007, Burström et al. 2011). This is also true for my own research. There are few symbols or monuments cited as often within historical narratives of the Cold War as the Iron Curtain and as many others I started with a view of the monumental and what seemed most significant. My previous historical knowledge also informed me in my choice of study areas and what materials to approach during the early stages of my research. But what has become very clear during my fieldwork is that the sites and the objects that stand out the most are the leftovers of the mundane. The majority of the sites linked in some way to the Cold War are often smaller sites, places seen less important to the world in general but in fact probably more significant than they have been credited for. These are the sites that make up the intrinsic network of actions, people, objects that created the solidness of the Cold War. What I have always found so interesting about the Cold War is exactly this, that it is not only about the large military installations or the sites that had the worlds eyes focused on them during much of the second 205
AN ARCHAEOLOGY OF THE IRON CURTAIN part of the last century, interesting as they may be, but it is also about the way that Cold War, ironically, came closer to the people than many other wars in the past had. The constant threat of war was hanging heavy over the population in both East and West and reached us through media, through information packs delivered by the government in some countries of how to act in case of nuclear fallout and through emergency drills to prepare the population further. Growing up in a small town on the east coast of Sweden I knew exactly where our closest fallout shelter was located, at three o’clock on the first Monday of every month I heard the warning sirens as they were tested and I had seen the government issued brochures “In case of war” (Om kriget kommer), a handbook sent out to all citizens which explained evacuation plans, what to pack and other useful information of what to do in case of war. Similar handbooks were also issued in Denmark (Hvis krigen kommer), West Germany (Jeder hat eine Chance), East Germany (Was jeden über den Luftschutz wissen muss) and in Switzerland (Défense Civile) (Cronqvist 2008:452). News on the radio and on TV reported on the latest update on the US and USSR flexing their muscles and on the suspected sightings of yet another submarine within Swedish territory in the Baltic Sea whilst spy films and novels described the division between East and West as concrete, barbed wire and diligent guards who would not hesitate to shoot. The Cold War was all around and at the same time nowhere to be seen. As a child I asked my parents on a regular basis if we were at war yet. Their response was always a look of surprise and they would ask where I got such an idea from. I could never give them a very good answer, but as I think back now I find it less odd that one of my biggest fears as a child was one of war, seeing the whole society around me was one of total war preparation even though this was not explicitly stated, at least not in a ‘neutral’ Sweden. Even in places that were seemingly more involved in the Cold War than Sweden such as those on the border between the Eastern and Western blocs, the sites connected with this war were mostly made up of smaller military installations, protective zones and no-man’s land areas. Important as they were for sustaining the Cold War and the division that characterised it, they were often rather banal in their character. It is exactly this mundaneness that becomes evident when you visit these places. The stories that come from these sites are far less known. This is of course not exclusive to military sites. About her visits to an abandoned herring station in Iceland about which long accounts had already been produced, Pétursdóttir writes: “…while Eyri and the herring history appeared to be so well known, all these things I encountered on my first visit were unknown, unaccounted- and uncared for” 206
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An Archaeology of the Iron Curtain
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An Archaeology of the Iron Curtain
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Contents Acknowledgements 11 CHAPTE
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The end of a journey 212 Sammanfatt
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AN ARCHAEOLOGY OF THE IRON CURTAIN
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CHAPTER 1 Introduction Standing on
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1: INTRODUCTION carried out of the
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1: INTRODUCTION they may be… It i
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1: INTRODUCTION where the observer
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1: INTRODUCTION former Iron Curtain
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1: INTRODUCTION criticism from othe
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1: INTRODUCTION itioned somewhere i
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1: INTRODUCTION World War II dividi
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CHAPTER 2 A physical metaphor Concr
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2: A PHYSICAL METAPHOR established
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2: A PHYSICAL METAPHOR The changing
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2: A PHYSICAL METAPHOR the events t
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2: A PHYSICAL METAPHOR As time has
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2: A PHYSICAL METAPHOR highly influ
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2: A PHYSICAL METAPHOR popular idea
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Figure 16: Postcard of the newly op
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402 Kojsko Hum 402 THE OSIM
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CHAPTER 5 Case Study 2 The Czech/Au
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5: CASE STUDY 2: THE CZECH/AUSTRIAN
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Figure 55: Bunker near the crossing
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Figure 59: Military map from 1980 o
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