Goli Otok Explained

Goli Otok
Local Name:-->
Nickname:-->
Pushpin Map:Croatia
Etymology:Croatian: goli otok,
Waterbody:Adriatic Sea
Area Km2:4.54
Area Footnotes:[1]
Length M:-->
Width M:-->
Coastline M:-->
Country:Croatia
Country Admin Divisions Title:County
Country Admin Divisions:Primorje-Gorski Kotar
Country Area M2:or
Country Area Ha:-->
Country 1 Area M2:or
Country 1 Area Ha:-->
Population:0

Goli Otok (pronounced as /ɡôliː ǒtok/; ; Italian: Isola Calva) is a barren, uninhabited island that was the site of a political prison which was in use when Croatia was part of Yugoslavia.[2] [3] The prison was in operation between 1949 and 1989.[4]

The island is located in the northern Adriatic Sea just off the coast of Primorje-Gorski Kotar County, Croatia with an area of approximately 4.5km2. Exposed to strong bora winds, particularly in the winter, the island's surface is almost completely devoid of vegetation, giving Goli Otok (literally, 'barren island' in Croatian) its name. It is also known as the "Croatian Alcatraz" because of its island location and high security.

Prison

Type:labor camp
Goli Otok labor camp and prison
Location Map:Croatia
Location:Goli Otok, Croatia
Operated By:
In Operation:1949 to 1956 (for political prisoners) and until December 30, 1988 as a normal prison
Prisoner Type:Stalinists, anti-Titoist dissidents and anti-communists
Notable Inmates:See List of notable prisoners section

Despite having long been an occasional grazing ground for local shepherds' flocks, the barren island was apparently never permanently settled other than by the prisoners during the 20th century. Throughout World War I, Austria-Hungary sent Russian prisoners of war from the Eastern Front to Goli Otok.

In 1949, the entire island was officially made into a high-security, top secret prison and labor camp run by the authorities of the People's Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, together with the nearby Sveti Grgur island, which held a similar camp for female prisoners. Until 1956, following the Tito–Stalin split and throughout the Informbiro period, it was used to incarcerate political prisoners. These included known and alleged Stalinists, but also other Communist Party of Yugoslavia members or even non-party citizens accused of exhibiting sympathy or leanings towards the Soviet Union.

Many anti-communists (Serbian, Croatian, Macedonian, Albanian and other nationalists etc.) were also incarcerated on Goli Otok. Non-political prisoners were also sent to the island to serve out simple criminal sentences[5] [6] and some of them were sentenced to death. A total of approximately 16,000[7] political prisoners served there, of which between 400 and 600[8] [9] died on the island. Other sources, largely based on various individual statements, claim almost 4,000 prisoners died in the camp.[10] [11]

The prison inmates were forced to labor (in a stone quarry, pottery and joinery), without regard to the weather conditions: in the summer the temperature would rise as high as 40C, while in the winter they were subjected to the chilling bora wind and freezing temperatures. The prison was entirely inmate-run, and its hierarchical system forced the convicts into beating, humiliating, denouncing and shunning each other. Those who cooperated could hope to rise up the hierarchy and receive better treatment.[12] [13]

After Yugoslavia normalized relations with the Soviet Union, Goli Otok prison passed to the provincial jurisdiction of the People's Republic of Croatia (as opposed to the Yugoslav federal authorities). Regardless, the prison remained a taboo topic in Yugoslavia until the early 1980s. Antonije Isaković wrote the novel Tren (Moment) about the prison in 1979, waiting until after Josip Broz Tito's death in 1980 to release it. The book became an instant bestseller.[14] The prison was shut down on 30 December 1988 and completely abandoned in 1989. Since then it has been left to ruin.[8] It has since become a tourist attraction and is populated by shepherds from Rab. Former Croatian prisoners are organized into the Association of Former Political Prisoners of Goli Otok.[15] In Serbia, they are organized into the Society of Goli Otok.[16]

Notable prisoners

Literature

Film and television

Sources

Further reading

External links

Notes and References

  1. Coastline lengths and areas of islands in the Croatian part of the Adriatic Sea determined from the topographic maps at the scale of 1 : 25 000. Geoadria. Zadar. 9. 1. 5–32. June 2004. Duplančić Leder . Tea. Ujević. Tin. Čala. Mendi. 10.15291/geoadria.127. PDF. 2019-12-21. free.
  2. Book: Žižek . Slavoj . The Parallax View . 2009 . MIT Press . Cambridge, MA . 288 . Goli otok ... a notorious Communist concentration camp.
  3. Book: Almond . Mark . Europe's Backyard War: The War in the Balkans . 1994 . Mandarin . London . 158 . The island concentration camp of Goli Otok ....
  4. Book: Dežman . Jože . The Making of Slovenia . 2006 . National Museum of Contemporary History . Ljubljana . 140 . the concentration camp on Goli otok established in 1949.
  5. Web site: Donja Klada » Goli otok. 7 November 2017. https://web.archive.org/web/20171125020131/http://www.donja-klada.com/okolica/goli-otok. 25 November 2017. dead. dmy-all.
  6. News: Višestruki ubojica s Golog otoka opet ubio. 31 May 2006. Jutarnji list. 27 February 2017.
  7. Web site: Yugoslavia: The Outworn Structure. Central Intelligence Agency. Central Intelligence Agency. 20 November 1970. 3.
  8. Web site: See the Haunting Ruins of a Prison Once Known as a 'Living Hell'. https://web.archive.org/web/20170901221258/http://news.nationalgeographic.com/2017/08/goli-otok-political-prison-yugoslavia-croatia-video-spd/. dead. September 1, 2017. 29 August 2017. National Geographic. Gibbens. Sarah. 5 September 2017.
  9. Web site: Srbija nudi odštetu zatvorenicima na Golom otoku - devet dolara po danu. Slobodna Dalmacija. 25 July 2012. hr. 2 September 2014.
  10. http://aestovest.osservatoriobalcani.org/luoghi/goli_otok.html Goli Otok
  11. Web site: scotti. www.comune.bologna.it. 7 November 2017.
  12. Web site: Goli otok - zloglasna Titova kaznionica. Vežić. Goran. dw.com. Deutsche Welle. hr. 30 July 2018.
  13. Web site: 'Nikada nećemo saznati čija je konkretno ideja o osnivanju logora na Golom otoku'.
  14. Daniel J. Goulding, Liberated cinema: the Yugoslav experience, 1945-2001, Indiana University Press, 2002. (p. 159)
  15. Web site: Slobodna Dalmacija. arhiv.slobodnadalmacija.hr. 7 November 2017. https://web.archive.org/web/20121017094245/http://arhiv.slobodnadalmacija.hr/20040525/novosti06.asp. 2012-10-17. dead.
  16. Web site: Spomen žrtvama Golog otoka na Adi - Glas javnosti. www.glas-javnosti.rs. 3 December 2007. 7 November 2017.
  17. Web site: BIO JE NEPONOVLJIV / Odrastao u bijedi, zbog djevojke pobjegao iz vojske pa završio na Golom otoku. Pio je i trošio kao da nema sutra, a umro u bijedi – 100posto.hr . 2019-04-16 . 2019-04-16 . https://web.archive.org/web/20190416211803/https://100posto.hr/scena/odrastao-u-bijedi-zbog-djevojke-pobjegao-iz-vojske-pa-zavrsio-na-golom-otoku-pio-je-i-trosio-kao-da-nema-sutra-a-umro-u-bijedi . dead .
  18. Goli Otok: The Island of Death: a Diary in Letters, Venko Markovski, Social Science Monographs, Boulder, 1984,, р. 42.
  19. Web site: Odiseja Vlada Dapčevića . 2022-08-26 . NOVOSTI . sr.
  20. Web site: Magazin . X. X. Z. . 2017-03-14 . Ambasador boema - XXZ Portal . 2022-08-26 . www.xxzmagazin.com . sr . 2022-10-05 . https://web.archive.org/web/20221005090944/https://www.xxzmagazin.com/ambasador-boema . dead .
  21. News: Croatia ponders fate of 'Tito's Guantanamo' . 14 February 2019 . 2014.
  22. Web site: Никола Кљусев . 6 April 2011 . Makedonska nacija . 7 November 2017 . mk.
  23. Web site: 2003-01-05 . LINGUIST List 14.1: Obituary: Tine Logar . 2022-08-26 . The LINGUIST List . en.
  24. Book: Mikuš, Marek . Frontiers of civil society : government and hegemony in Serbia . 2018 . 978-1-78533-891-5 . New York, NY . 1020300288.
  25. News: Čadež . Tomislav . Alfred Pal: Preživio holokaust, dvaput bio na Golom otoku, a onda radio najljepše hrvatske knjige . hr . . 2012-07-03 . 2011-08-14 . https://web.archive.org/web/20110814031610/http://www.jutarnji.hr/alfred-pal--autobiografija-hrvatskog-pionira-grafickog-dizajna-/952583/ . dead .
  26. Web site: Na Golom otoku žalio sam što nisam kriminalac. 1 January 2005. Večernji list. hr. 27 February 2017.
  27. Web site: "Pitomac" Golog otoka. www.novosti.rs. sr-Latn. 2019-08-15.
  28. Web site: NEVJEROJATAN ŽIVOT LEGENDE / Pobjegao je iz nacističkog logora, a robijao je na Golom otoku. Zbog toga ga se žena odrekla i nikad joj nije oprostio, a ni nakon 90. Ne želi u mirovinu – 100posto.hr . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20190730171955/https://100posto.hr/scena/pobjegao-je-iz-nacistickog-logora-a-robijao-je-na-golom-otoku-zbog-toga-ga-se-zena-odrekla-i-nikad-joj-nije-oprostio-a-ni-nakon-90-ne-zeli-u-mirovinu . 2019-07-30 . 2019-07-30 . hr.
  29. Web site: Zemljar, Ante | Hrvatska enciklopedija . hr.
  30. Razgovor s dr. Savom Zlatićem. Interview with Savo Zlatić, M.D.. Arhivski vjesnik. 47. April 2004. 119–132. Croatian State Archives. Zagreb. Stipančević. Mario. 47. hr. PDF. 21 April 2014.
  31. Web site: Tito's Hawaii, a novel about Goli Otok. www.oocities.org. 7 November 2017.
  32. Web site: Cartolina estiva. 2008. AestOvest. Osservatorio Balcani e Caucaso. Ugrešić. Dubravka.
  33. Web site: Baza HR kinematografije.
  34. Web site: Eva. IMDb.
  35. Web site: Die vergessene Hölle der Adria. Der Standard. Markus. Peherstorfer. 5 May 2009. de. 30 July 2018.
  36. Web site: Goli otok. havc.hr. hr. 30 July 2018.
  37. Web site: Travel Channel's Lost Survivors episode, "Prison Island" partly filmed on Croati's Goli otok island . travelchannel.com . 17 January 2014 . https://web.archive.org/web/20131226165047/http://www.travelchannel.com/tv-shows/prison-island . 26 December 2013 . dead . dmy-all .
  38. Web site: Moja potraga za istinom o djedovom zatočeništvu na Golom otoku. 2 September 2014. Jutarnji list. Godeč. Željka. hr. 30 July 2018.

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