IN THE FOOTSTEPS OF THE IRON CURTAIN IN THE ŠUMAVA NP

Have you ever wondered how the Communist Czechoslovakia looked like? Do you want to learn more about this part of the Czech history, and do you want to experience how it felt?

In this case, this tour is perfect for you. We will take you to the Šumava national park, far from the noises of the towns, to the deep forested area where the World was split into the West and East part. We will explain you all about the communist history and we will go even further. Because this area played a big role also before the second WW. We will show you the old military bunkers and other defences. All in the backdrop of the amazing Šumava national park.

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We will head to Kvilda village, one of the best known and traditional villages in the park. From there we will continue hiking 9 km to reach the border of Germany where the former village Bučina was situated. The road is sealed, and the terrain is mild, so you don’t need any special physical conditions required to get there.

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Bučina is a former village which lies on the border of Germany. Its importance dates to the 18th and 19th century when it formed an important crossroad village of Czech and German farmers. After the WWII. the village was affected by the same fate as many villages on the Czechoslovakian borders. The German population was expelled and theCzech population was forced to move to some other parts of the country. In 1956 the village has been destroyed and the long stripe of the border between the west and east block became a land of nobody with only few soldiers and policemen who guarded it.

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As a memory of this events there was established a monument of the Iron Curtain: a 100 meter well maintained section with barbed wire and a watchtower. We can imagine how the Iron Curtain looked like: the approximately 20 meters wide strip with barbed wire fences, set in wide sections in the deep forests which lined the entire border with Austria and Germany. The wire barriers were under high voltage, barbed wire blades laid down on the ground and on some parts of the border explosive were even installed. The curtain lasted out until 1989 when the velvet revolution started. For almost 40 years, the Šumava national park was isolated from all civilization interferences. That’s why it retained its magnificent beauty which we can admire now.  

 

For the lunch you can expect traditional Czech meal and magnificent views to peaks of the south Šumava and even Alps!