In the beginning of Arkady and Boris Strugatsky's novel Hard to Be a God, the protagonist, Anton, goes down a country road, disobeying a "wrong way" sign, and finds a skeleton of a fascist chained to his machine gun - a remnant of The Great Patriotic War.

"Toshka, what did you find behind the one-way street sign?"

"A collapsed bridge," answered Anton. "And the skeleton of a German, chained to a machine gun." He thought a while, then he added: "the machine gun was halfway sunk into the ground already."

In the epilogue Anton's life-long friend Pasha wonders about the significance of this childhood experience:

"The anisotropic road. With the one-way street sign. Don't you remember? We were there, the three of us ..."

"Oh, yes. Now I remember. Anton used that word."

"Yes, and then he entered the one-way road the wrong way and walked its whole length; and when he returned he said he'd found a collapsed bridge and the skeleton of a German chained to a machine gun."

"I don't remember that part," said Anka. "What about it?"

"Nowadays I often think back to that road," said Pashka. "Maybe there's some connection somewhere... the road was anisotropic - just as history is. There is no way back. And he went right ahead anyway. And met up with a chained skeleton."

What is the meaning of the skeleton, and the anisotropic road with the one-way sign, in context of the events in Arkanar?

In the beginning of Arkady and Boris Strugatsky's novel Hard to Be a God, the protagonist, Anton, goes down a country road, disobeying a "wrong way" sign, and finds a skeleton of a fascist chained to his machine gun - a remnant of The Great Patriotic War.

“Toshka, what was there, beyond the sign?”

“A blown-up bridge,” answered Anton. “And the skeleton of a fascist, chained to a machine gun.” He thought a moment and added, “The machine gun had sunk into the ground.”
_{Hard to be a God, translated by Olena Bormashenko, Gollancz, page 15.}

In the epilogue Anton's life-long friend Pasha wonders about the significance of this childhood experience:

“Anka,” Pashka said. “Do you remember the anisotropic highway?” Anka frowned. “What highway?”

“Anisotropic. The one with the do-not-enter sign. Remember, the three of us went there?”

“I remember. It was Anton who said that it was anisotropic.”

“That was the time Anton went through the sign, and when he came back, he said that he found a blown-up bridge and the skeleton of a fascist chained to a machine gun.”

“I don’t remember that,” said Anka. “So what?”

“I often think about that highway nowadays,” said Pashka. “Like there’s some connection. The highway was anisotropic, like history. You weren’t supposed to go back. But he did go back. And stumbled on a chained skeleton.”
_{Ibid, pages 230-231.}

What is the meaning of the skeleton, and the anisotropic road with the one-way sign, in context of the events in Arkanar?