Goli otok
Encyclopedia
Island
An island or isle is any piece of sub-continental land that is surrounded by water. Very small islands such as emergent land features on atolls can be called islets, cays or keys. An island in a river or lake may be called an eyot , or holm...
off the northern Adriatic
Adriatic Sea
The Adriatic Sea is a body of water separating the Italian Peninsula from the Balkan peninsula, and the system of the Apennine Mountains from that of the Dinaric Alps and adjacent ranges...
coast, located between Rab
Rab
Rab is an island in Croatia and a town of the same name located just off the northern Croatian coast in the Adriatic Sea.The island is long, has an area of and 9,480 inhabitants . The highest peak is Kamenjak at 408 meters...
's northeastern shore and the mainland, in what is today Croatia
Croatia
Croatia , officially the Republic of Croatia , is a unitary democratic parliamentary republic in Europe at the crossroads of the Mitteleuropa, the Balkans, and the Mediterranean. Its capital and largest city is Zagreb. The country is divided into 20 counties and the city of Zagreb. Croatia covers ...
's Primorje-Gorski Kotar county
Primorje-Gorski Kotar County
Primorje-Gorski kotar County is a county in western Croatia that includes the Bay of Kvarner and the surrounding Northern Croatian seacoast, and the mountainous region of Gorski kotar...
. The island is barren and uninhabited. Its northern shore is almost completely bare, while the southern one has small amounts of vegetation as well as a number of cove
Cove
A cove is a small type of bay or coastal inlet. They usually have narrow, restricted entrances, are often circular or oval, and are often inside a larger bay. Small, narrow, sheltered bays, inlets, creeks, or recesses in a coast are often considered coves...
s.
The prison
World War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...
, Austria-Hungary
Austria-Hungary
Austria-Hungary , more formally known as the Kingdoms and Lands Represented in the Imperial Council and the Lands of the Holy Hungarian Crown of Saint Stephen, was a constitutional monarchic union between the crowns of the Austrian Empire and the Kingdom of Hungary in...
sent Russia
Russia
Russia or , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...
n prisoners of war from Eastern Front
Eastern Front (World War I)
The Eastern Front was a theatre of war during World War I in Central and, primarily, Eastern Europe. The term is in contrast to the Western Front. Despite the geographical separation, the events in the two theatres strongly influenced each other...
to Goli otok.
In 1949, the entire island was officially made into a high-security, top secret prison
Prison
A prison is a place in which people are physically confined and, usually, deprived of a range of personal freedoms. Imprisonment or incarceration is a legal penalty that may be imposed by the state for the commission of a crime...
and labor camp
Labor camp
A labor camp is a simplified detention facility where inmates are forced to engage in penal labor. Labor camps have many common aspects with slavery and with prisons...
run by the authorities of FPR Yugoslavia
Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia
The Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia was the Yugoslav state that existed from the abolition of the Yugoslav monarchy until it was dissolved in 1992 amid the Yugoslav Wars. It was a socialist state and a federation made up of six socialist republics: Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia,...
, alongside with the nearby Sveti Grgur
Sveti Grgur
Sveti Grgur is an uninhabited island in Croatia, on the Adriatic Sea between Rab and Krk. The island was the site of a women's prison in communist Yugoslavia from 1948 to 1988.-Literature:*Milutin Popović, Sećanja na logor Sveti Grgur...
island, which was a similar camp for female prisoners. Until 1956, throughout the Informbiro
Informbiro
Informbiro was a period in the history of Yugoslavia characterized by conflict and schism with the Soviet Union...
period, it was used to incarcerate political prisoner
Political prisoner
According to the Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English, a political prisoner is ‘someone who is in prison because they have opposed or criticized the government of their own country’....
s. They included known and alleged Stalinists, but also other Communist Party members or even regular citizens accused of exhibiting any sort of sympathy or leanings towards the Soviet Union
Soviet Union
The Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991....
. During the years also many anticommunist (Serbian, Croatian, Macedonian, Albanian and other nationalists etc.) were incarcerated on Goli Otok. Non-political prisoners were also sent to the island. Some were sent to serve out simple criminal sentences and some of them were sentenced to death penalty.Numbers of total prisoners and massacred victims are unknown but Vladimir Dedijer
Vladimir Dedijer
Vladimir Dedijer was a Yugoslav partisan fighter, politician and historian.During World War II he was an editor of the Yugoslav Communist Party newspaper Borba, and member of the agitprop section to the General Staff.After the war he was a member of Yugoslav delegation on 1946 Paris peace...
estimates 32,000 male prisoners in Goli otok only; other historians estimates 4,000 killed.
The prison inmates were forced to do heavy labor (in a stone quarry, pottery
Pottery
Pottery is the material from which the potteryware is made, of which major types include earthenware, stoneware and porcelain. The place where such wares are made is also called a pottery . Pottery also refers to the art or craft of the potter or the manufacture of pottery...
and joinery
Woodworking joints
Joinery is a part of woodworking that involves joining together pieces of wood, to create furniture, structures, toys, and other items. Some wood joints employ fasteners, bindings, or adhesives, while others use only wood elements. The characteristics of wooden joints - strength, flexibility,...
), regardless of the weather
Weather
Weather is the state of the atmosphere, to the degree that it is hot or cold, wet or dry, calm or stormy, clear or cloudy. Most weather phenomena occur in the troposphere, just below the stratosphere. Weather refers, generally, to day-to-day temperature and precipitation activity, whereas climate...
conditions: in the summer
Summer
Summer is the warmest of the four temperate seasons, between spring and autumn. At the summer solstice, the days are longest and the nights are shortest, with day-length decreasing as the season progresses after the solstice...
the temperature would rise as high as 35 to 40 °C, while in the winter
Winter
Winter is the coldest season of the year in temperate climates, between autumn and spring. At the winter solstice, the days are shortest and the nights are longest, with days lengthening as the season progresses after the solstice.-Meteorology:...
they were subjected to the chilling bora
Bora (wind)
Bora or Bura is a northern to north-eastern katabatic wind in the Adriatic, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Montenegro, Italy, Greece, Slovenia, and Turkey....
wind and freezing temperatures. Inmates were also regularly beaten and humiliated either by guards or, predominantly, by other inmates
Political prisoner
According to the Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English, a political prisoner is ‘someone who is in prison because they have opposed or criticized the government of their own country’....
. Guards did not kill any inmate but they did not prevent inmates from killing each other either.
After Yugoslavia
Yugoslavia
Yugoslavia refers to three political entities that existed successively on the western part of the Balkans during most of the 20th century....
normalized its relations with the Soviet Union, Goli Otok prison passed to the provincial jurisdiction
Jurisdiction
Jurisdiction is the practical authority granted to a formally constituted legal body or to a political leader to deal with and make pronouncements on legal matters and, by implication, to administer justice within a defined area of responsibility...
of the Socialist Republic of Croatia
Socialist Republic of Croatia
Socialist Republic of Croatia was a sovereign constituent country of the second Yugoslavia. It came to existence during World War II, becoming a socialist state after the war, and was also renamed four times in its existence . It was the second largest republic in Yugoslavia by territory and...
(as opposed to the Yugoslav federal authorities). Regardless, the prison remained a taboo
Taboo
A taboo is a strong social prohibition relating to any area of human activity or social custom that is sacred and or forbidden based on moral judgment, religious beliefs and or scientific consensus. Breaking the taboo is usually considered objectionable or abhorrent by society...
topic in Yugoslavia. Antonije Isaković
Antonije Isaković
Antonije Isaković was a Serbian writer and member of Serbian Academy of Science and Arts. He won NIN Prize in 1982 for his novel Tren 2. He was one of authors of Memorandum of the Serbian Academy of Sciences and Arts...
wrote the novel Tren (Moment) about the prison in 1979, waiting until after Josip Broz's
Josip Broz Tito
Marshal Josip Broz Tito – 4 May 1980) was a Yugoslav revolutionary and statesman. While his presidency has been criticized as authoritarian, Tito was a popular public figure both in Yugoslavia and abroad, viewed as a unifying symbol for the nations of the Yugoslav federation...
death in 1980 to release it. The book became an instant bestseller
Bestseller
A bestseller is a book that is identified as extremely popular by its inclusion on lists of currently top selling titles that are based on publishing industry and book trade figures and published by newspapers, magazines, or bookstore chains. Some lists are broken down into classifications and...
.
The prison was shut down in 1988, and completely abandoned in 1989. Since then it has been left to ruin. Today it is frequented by the occasional tourist on a boat trip and populated by shepherd
Shepherd
A shepherd is a person who tends, feeds or guards flocks of sheep.- Origins :Shepherding is one of the oldest occupations, beginning some 6,000 years ago in Asia Minor. Sheep were kept for their milk, meat and especially their wool...
s from Rab
Rab
Rab is an island in Croatia and a town of the same name located just off the northern Croatian coast in the Adriatic Sea.The island is long, has an area of and 9,480 inhabitants . The highest peak is Kamenjak at 408 meters...
. Former Croatia
Croatia
Croatia , officially the Republic of Croatia , is a unitary democratic parliamentary republic in Europe at the crossroads of the Mitteleuropa, the Balkans, and the Mediterranean. Its capital and largest city is Zagreb. The country is divided into 20 counties and the city of Zagreb. Croatia covers ...
n prisoners are organized into the Association of Former Political Prisoners of Goli Otok. In Serbia
Serbia
Serbia , officially the Republic of Serbia , is a landlocked country located at the crossroads of Central and Southeast Europe, covering the southern part of the Carpathian basin and the central part of the Balkans...
, they are organized into the Society of Goli Otok.
Notable prisoners
- Šaban BajramovićŠaban Bajramovic-Biography:He was born in Niš where he attended primary school for only the first four years. On quitting school, he picked up his musical education on the street.When he was 19 he ran away from the army out of love for a girl...
– Serbian Roma musician - Panko BrashnarovPanko BrashnarovPanko Brashnarov was a revolutionary and member of the left wing of the Internal Macedonian-Adrianople Revolutionary Organization . As with many other IMARO members of the time, historians from the Republic of Macedonia consider him an ethnic Macedonian, whereas historians in Bulgaria consider him...
– Bulgarian and Macedonian politician - Vlado DapčevićVlado DapcevicVladimir "Vlado" Dapčević was a Montenegrin and Yugoslav communist and founder of Party of Labour.-Early life:Dapčević was born 1917 in the village Ljubotinj in Montenegro, he attended Secondary school in Cetinje, where he was expelled because of organizing a student strike.At 16, in 1933, he...
– Montenegrin partisan - Adem DemaçiAdem DemaçiAdem Demaçi is a Kosovo Albanian writer and politician and a longtime political prisoner who spent a total of 28 years in prison for speaking out against the poor treatment of the Albanian minority in Yugoslavia as well as criticizing communism and the regime of Josip Broz Tito...
– Kosovar-Albanian politician and author - Teki DervishiTeki DervishiTeki Dervishi is an ethnic-Albanian poet, novelist and playwright, born in 1943 in Đakovica, at the time part of Axis-occupied Albania .- Works :Novels:*Pirgu i Lartë , 1972*Padrona, 1973...
– Albanian writer - Vlado DijakVlado DijakVlado Dijak was known a former Yugoslav poet and songwriter.-Biography:...
– Bosnian writer - Alija IzetbegovićAlija IzetbegovicAlija Izetbegović was a Bosniak activist, lawyer, author, philosopher and politician, who, in 1990, became the first president of Bosnia and Herzegovina. He served in this role until 1996, when he became a member of the Presidency of Bosnia and Herzegovina, serving until 2000...
– Former president of Bosnia and Herzegovina - Tine LogarTine LogarTine Logar, also known as Valentin Logar was a Slovenian historical linguist, dialectologist, and university professor...
– Slovenian linguist - Venko MarkovskiVenko MarkovskiVenko Markovski, in Bulgarian and Macedonian Венко Марковски, born as Veniamin Milanov Toshev; was a Bulgarian and Macedonian writer, poet and Communist politician.-Biography:...
– Bulgarian and Macedonian writer - Dragoljub MićunovićDragoljub MicunovicDragoljub Mićunović, PhD is a prominent Serbian politician and philosopher.-Early life:...
– Serbian partisan, sociologist, and politician - Dragoslav MihailovićDragoslav MihailovićDragoslav Mihailović is a Serbian writer. He graduated in Yugoslav literature from the University of Belgrade in 1957 and is a member of the Serbian Academy of Sciences and Arts since 1981. In 1950 he was arrested and imprisoned during two years, most notably at Goli otok...
– Serbian writer - Dobroslav ParagaDobroslav ParagaDobroslav Paraga is a Croatian right-wing politician.-Background:In his early days Dobroslav Paraga used to advocate secession of Croatia from Yugoslavia and that led him to be persecuted by the Communist authorities. Paraga used that persecution as an argument against Yugoslavia and its low human...
– Croatian politician - Igor TorkarIgor TorkarIgor Torkar was the pen name of Boris Fakin was a Slovenian writer, playwright and poet, most famous for his literary descriptions of Communist repression in Yugoslavia after World War II.- Life :...
– Slovenian writer
Goli Otok in literature
The first Yugoslav novel which raised the subject of purges against Stalinists in 1950s Yugoslavia was Kad su cvetale tikve (When Pumpkins Blossomed, 1968) by Dragoslav MihailovićDragoslav Mihailović
Dragoslav Mihailović is a Serbian writer. He graduated in Yugoslav literature from the University of Belgrade in 1957 and is a member of the Serbian Academy of Sciences and Arts since 1981. In 1950 he was arrested and imprisoned during two years, most notably at Goli otok...
. It is set in Belgrade
Belgrade
Belgrade is the capital and largest city of Serbia. It is located at the confluence of the Sava and Danube rivers, where the Pannonian Plain meets the Balkans. According to official results of Census 2011, the city has a population of 1,639,121. It is one of the 15 largest cities in Europe...
and tells the demise of a boxer, Ljubomir Sretenović, who eventually flees Serbia for a new life in Sweden
Sweden
Sweden , officially the Kingdom of Sweden , is a Nordic country on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. Sweden borders with Norway and Finland and is connected to Denmark by a bridge-tunnel across the Öresund....
. His brother and father both vanish at the hands of the UDBA
UDBA
The Department of State Security was the secret police organization of the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia.Although it operated with more restraint than other secret...
, and his brother spends time on Goli Otok (although the island itself is never mentioned).
The first book describing the conditions of the prison, was the autobiographic novel Umiranje na obroke (Dying in Installments) written by the Slovenian author Igor Torkar
Igor Torkar
Igor Torkar was the pen name of Boris Fakin was a Slovenian writer, playwright and poet, most famous for his literary descriptions of Communist repression in Yugoslavia after World War II.- Life :...
and published in 1984 by the alternative publishing house Globus in Zagreb
Zagreb
Zagreb is the capital and the largest city of the Republic of Croatia. It is in the northwest of the country, along the Sava river, at the southern slopes of the Medvednica mountain. Zagreb lies at an elevation of approximately above sea level. According to the last official census, Zagreb's city...
with the help of the Communist revolutionary poet Matej Bor
Matej Bor
Matej Bor was the pen name of Vladimir Pavšič , who was a Slovene poet, translator, playwright, journalist and partisan.-Biography:...
. The same year, the book Goli Otok: The Island of Death, written by Venko Markovski
Venko Markovski
Venko Markovski, in Bulgarian and Macedonian Венко Марковски, born as Veniamin Milanov Toshev; was a Bulgarian and Macedonian writer, poet and Communist politician.-Biography:...
, was published in the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
. Ligio Zanini (1927–1993), a poet
Poet
A poet is a person who writes poetry. A poet's work can be literal, meaning that his work is derived from a specific event, or metaphorical, meaning that his work can take on many meanings and forms. Poets have existed since antiquity, in nearly all languages, and have produced works that vary...
born in Rovinj
Rovinj
Rovinj is a city in Croatia situated on the north Adriatic Sea with a population of 13,562 . It is located on the western coast of the Istrian peninsula and is a popular tourist resort and an active fishing port...
, wrote Martin Muma (1990), an autobiographical book about his imprisonment on the island. In 1991, the Slovene inmate Radovan Hrast published an autobiographical novel entitled Čas, ki ga ni (The Time That Is Not), based on his experience in the concentration camp.
Other significant literary reference to Goli Otok include Noč do jutra (Night till Morning, 1981), by the Slovenia
Slovenia
Slovenia , officially the Republic of Slovenia , is a country in Central and Southeastern Europe touching the Alps and bordering the Mediterranean. Slovenia borders Italy to the west, Croatia to the south and east, Hungary to the northeast, and Austria to the north, and also has a small portion of...
n writer Branko Hofman, Goli Otok: Italiani nel Gulag di Tito (Goli Otok: Italians in Tito's Gulag), by Giacomo Scotti, an Italian emigrant in Croatia
Croatia
Croatia , officially the Republic of Croatia , is a unitary democratic parliamentary republic in Europe at the crossroads of the Mitteleuropa, the Balkans, and the Mediterranean. Its capital and largest city is Zagreb. The country is divided into 20 counties and the city of Zagreb. Croatia covers ...
, and Brioni, by the Slovenia
Slovenia
Slovenia , officially the Republic of Slovenia , is a country in Central and Southeastern Europe touching the Alps and bordering the Mediterranean. Slovenia borders Italy to the west, Croatia to the south and east, Hungary to the northeast, and Austria to the north, and also has a small portion of...
n writer Drago Jančar
Drago Jancar
Drago Jančar is a Slovenian writer, playwright and essayist. Jančar is one of the most known contemporary Slovene writers. In Slovenia, he is also famous for his political commentaries and civic engagement.-Life:...
. Rade Panic wrote novel Tito's Hawaii.
Island of the World, a 2007 novel by Michael D. O'Brien
Michael D. O'Brien
Michael D. O'Brien is a Roman Catholic author, artist, and frequent essayist and lecturer on faith and culture, living in Combermere, Ontario, Canada. Born in Ottawa, he is self-taught, without an academic background...
, chronicles the life of fictional character Josip Lasta, who endures and ultimately escapes imprisonment on the island.
Documentary films
- Goli Otok directed by Darko Bavoljak, 2007.
- Austrian documentary film STRAHOTA — Gefangnisinsel Goli otok, Salzburg, May 2009, by the authors Reinhard Grabher, ORF journalist and Franz Schweighofer, cameraman. The documentary is based on the testimonies of former prisoners.
External links
- www.goli-otok.hr
- www.goli-otok.com
- Comparative criminology | Europe - Yugoslavia
- Goli Otok - Hell in the Adriatic is the true story of Josip Zoretic's tragic experience and survival as a political prisoner of the former Yugoslavia's most notorious prison, Goli Otok, and the circumstances that led to his imprisonment.http://www.goliotok.com
- Goli today - photoalbum http://picasaweb.google.com/kristoforina/GoliOtokCroatia