The Iron Curtain Trail's Landscapes of Memory, Meaning, and Recovery

Abstract

The post‐Cold War dismantling of the Iron Curtain through central Europe has spurred the region's transformation into a new “Green Belt” of Europe, which brings new conservation and tourism opportunities on lands depopulated and kept off‐limits for decades, while also raising concerns about the risk of historical erasure.

Transfrontier Routes and Trails

“…These networks should facilitate cultural exchange between residents and network creation between towns on both sides of the borders along the trail (Havlick, 2014;Stoffelen & Vanneste, 2019).…”

Scholarly discussion as engineering the meanings of a European cultural heritage

“…In this discourse, the ideas of cultural heritage and natural heritage were perceived as intertwined. As David G. Havlick (2014) states in his discussion on the heritage value of cycling routes along the Iron Curtain: 'the Iron Curtain now presents an important trans-European geography that blurs the boundaries not just of political ideologies, east and west but also those of nature and culture' (p. 126). The discourse includes a more or less critical standpoint on a 'traditional' notion of heritage.…”