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SVN Solovelanet Global
Yet the name of this island evokes horror, the
most despicable madness, and is synonymous
with evil: Goli Otok, the naked island, the prison
island of Tito's Yugoslavia.
For fifty years Goli has been hell on earth, or ra-
ther at sea, for thousands of prisoners. Although
maintaining a socialist regime, Tito did not tolera-
te the interference of Soviet Russia in the count-
ry's internal affairs. By the end of the Second
World War, Yugoslavia had got rid of the Nazis
without Soviet intervention, and for this reason
demanded independence from the rigid and blo-
ody Stalinist line.
This led to Tito's expulsion from Cominform and,
following the breach with Stalin, to him being
charged with nationalist deviationism. On the
other hand, he avoided the disturbing Soviet con-
trol of the Balkans.
Yugoslavia was in a very risky position, between
the NATO countries that were pressing to the west
and the intrusive Stalinist presence that hovered
like a spectre on Tito's politics. To avoid dan-
gerous imbalances towards the USSR, all those
suspected of siding with Stalinist politics within
Yugoslavia were sentenced to forced labour on
Zadar
Rijeka
Trieste
Rovinj
Losinj
GOLI Otok
Nothern Croazia Map
