Location in relation to the surroundings

The monument is located near the state border with Austria, where hundreds of refugees tried to get into the free world. Some have paid for their efforts with their lives and the memorial is dedicated to them.

Text of the inscription

Bernard Bass 1958, Karl Benedikt 1956, Tadeusz Bernard 1962, Edward Bilt 1964, Ladislav Černocký 1956, Mieczyslaw Aloyzy Drazkowiak 1956, Roman Dzidycz 1956, Gerhardt (Gerhard) Eisner 1952, Olga Fictumová 1953, Rudolf Fritz 1961, Marian Grabowski 1957, Josef Haluzický 1962, Pavel Hanák 1960, Leo Bačík 1950, Vladimír Vymětalík 1967, Josef Hesek 1955, Miroslav Horský 1958, Štefan Hroz 1960, František Jagoš 1971, Jan Junga 1954, František Gajda 1950, Marie Kaňová 1956, Karel Killer 1953, Arnošt Klenner 1962, Štefan Kreiger 1951, Josef Kutra 1984, Boleslaw Lipski 1963, Franciszek Majcherek 1964, Vladislav Malina 1985, Jan Medek 1964, Neznámý Muž 1955, Neznámý Muž 1955, Zdeněk Orlík 1964, Jan Pazourek 1954, František Prcín 1962, Pavel Procházka 1959, Jan Karol Romanczik 1961, Jan (Hans) Ruiner 1953, Jósef Sell 1958, Stanislaw Szczotka 1956, Zdeněk Šťastný 1951, Ludvík Duroň 1950, Otakar Králíček 1950, Josef Štelmák 1960, Josef Švajda 1963, Rudolf Vaculík 1951, Walter Wawra 1956, Helmut Wittek (Witek) 1958, Jan Zeman 1956, Antonín Žoalio (Žolio) 1953, Alfred Winter 1973, Johann Weiser 1973, Josef Heinrich 1956.

General description

The memorial is made up of fifty-three steel stellas, each seven meters high, containing the name and the year when the victim was killed at the border.

Condition

Good

The circumstances of unveiling

The Memorial is dedicated to the victims of the Iron Curtain in South Moravia. Authors: Ing. Tomáš Pilař and Ladislav Kuba. The memorial was initiated by the civic association Memory. The memorial was unveiled on November 20, 2014 on the occasion of the twenty-fifth anniversary of the November revolution in 1989. The ceremonial unveiling was attended by the chairman of the civic association Memory Miroslav Kasáček, deputy governor of the South Moravian region Roman Celý, Mayor of Mikulov Rostislav Koštial and chairwoman of the Confederation of Political Prisoners of Czech Republic Naděžda Kavalírová.

Later history

The monument is located on the Iron Curtain Trail (EuroVelo 13, Path of Freedom), which runs along the border with Austria in the former Iron Curtain. One of the biggest crimes of the Communist regime was the tying of borders and preventing its own citizens from leaving the country. Hundreds of people died from electric shock, which was installed in the Iron Curtain until the mid-sixties, ripped by dogs, shot to dead, drowning while trying to cross border flows, or died of explosions of mines or other booby traps. It is these victims that the memorial commemorates.

Contemporary importance

The monument draws attention to the time of communist totalitarianism and commemorates the victims who tried to cross the Iron Curtain. There are regular gatherings and commemorative acts at the monument and are frequently mentioned in tourist guides and regional press in the Czech Republic as well as in Austria. The Communist totalitarian conference was launched several times at this memorial. In 2015, the memorial won the National Prize for Architecture Grand Prix 2015 and honorable mention in the category of architectural design.

Publications, sources, links

https://www.novinky.cz/vase-zpravy/jihomoravsky-kraj/breclav/3453-31264-pamatnik-obetem-zelezne-opony-stojici-u-mikulova-uspel-v-narodni-soutezi-architektu.html

http://www.pametnimista.usd.cas.cz/mikulov-pamatnik-obetem-zelezne-opony/

http://tretiodboj.sdruzenipamet.cz/index.php/cs/treti-odboj-na-jizni-morave/obeti-rezimu/zemreli-na-jihomoravske-casti-zelezne-opony/37-bacik-leo