A border view
Josef Altenburger lived at St Margarethen on the border of Austria Hungary border. During the Second World War he was interned as a prisoner of war at Camp Polk, Louisiana, USA.
Three years after he returned home, he found himself looking at barbed wire again, but this time he was close to home.
This picture gallery is his view of the strict border restrictions brought on by the onset of the Cold War.
In 1949 the Iron Curtain lowered across two formerly united countries: Hungary and Austria. These images, taken at St Margarethen in Burgenland, Austria, were taken throughout the Cold War.
Hungarian mounted soldiers as well as foot patrols checked the boundary behind the barbed wire. If several soldiers patrolled together, the last in line was always a reliable, loyal communist. Outwardly, the fence was there to protect Hungary from its Western enemies, but it was there to prevent its citizens escaping, too.
There were very few visitors to the increasingly fortified border fences, and those who came were extremely careful to stick to Austrian territory marked by the artificial ditch and boundary stones. In the west, curiosity soon gave way to indifference, but in the east, anger over the mines and contempt for the system remained.
The first lookout towers were put up to guard the soldiers patrolling the borders. Their proximity to the West made it tempting to seize the opportunity to escape. The towers were uncomfortable and dangerous for soldiers liable to nod off.
The entire Austria-Hungary border was secured with at least two barbed wire fences with anti-personnel mines laid between them. Mine specialists , like the one pictured here, worked on the Hungarian side of the fence. Any refugees injured by mines were always returned to Hungary.
In May 1989 Hungarian soldiers began to cut away the barbed wire at Burgenland, but still people were hesitant to hope for peace. By 19 August East Germans were streaming through the Austria-Hungary border.
From then onwards, the border was peaceful. The barbed wire soon entirely disappeared, and guards patrolled the border without menace. Pictures and words by Josef Altenburger, translated by Dave Bancroft