Memorial to Iron Curtain victims unveiled in Mikulov

A memorial entitled the Gate to Freedom dedicated to the victims of the Iron Curtain was unveiled near the south Moravian border town of Mikulov on Friday. The monument has the form of 53 vertical iron bars, each bearing the name of a person who died on the Czech-Austrian border during communism. Besides Czechs, some of the victims were from East Germany, Poland and Austria; they were shot dead by Czechoslovakia’s border guards or killed by electricity in the border fence or land mines. The monument was erected by a Czech NGO in cooperation with two Austrian towns, and was partly paid for by the EU.

Author: Jan Richter