Material from the archives
My father claimed to have been a border guard at the Czechoslovak-Austrian border. Once, he said, he saw a man and his two children being torn apart by watchdogs. I travelled to the Czech Republic to find out more about these stories. These are a few examples of the material I collected there.
The registry (image #1) from 1978–1979 is one of the few documents that prove that my father did in fact serve as a border guard. His excellent physical condition, outstanding political suitability and five disciplinary measures are the only details left behind of this period of his life. After drinking a lemonade in the sun instead of plastering the walls of the military barracks, he was transferred to the 79th motorised regiment. Although he never really served as a border guard, I am wondering how this story shaped him. After telling my brother about the murder of the family supposedly torn apart by dogs, he started sobbing uncontrollably. This rare emotional outburst from my father is the only evidence I have.
In the forest outside of Brno 1985 the atomic bunker couldn't be put to use after one of the contractors had fled to the West. A large part of the archives of the security services of former Czechoslovakia are nowadays housed here. (Images 2–3)
Here I found an odd series of photographs. They depict the restaging of a failed escape attempt. We see a man, a refugee, posing for the soldiers of the StB. (Images 4–5)
The video piece "Images of the Border" tries to piece together an image of my father based on the things that have been left behind of him: his apartment, photographs and archive material.
