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SVN Solovelanet Global
Goli island.Massacred by the summer sun and
scourged by the bora wind in the winter, they had
neither trees to shelter them from the elements
on the naked island, nor rights to guarantee their
lives. The mainland, just a few miles away, was
an unreachable mirage because of the currents
of the Velebit canal: that was a torture of Tantalus.
In 1953, with Stalin's death, the life quality of in-
mates improved and the prison started to receive
common criminals in addition to political offen-
ders, until 1988 when it was closed for good.
Goli is the Croatian nemesis of the third millen-
nium. It is scary to look at ourselves through the
well of our soul.
Some argue that all in all Goli was not a concen-
tration camp like those of Stalinist Russia or the
fascist regimes. After all, "just" sixteen thousand
prisoners were incarcerated here in fifty years,
and "just" a part of them did not survive. Nothing
compared to Soviet gulags or Nazi camps.
Someone underplays the inhuman treatment un-
dergone by prisoners.
Someone thinks that maybe Goli should be reo-
pened.
On top, a
1949 photo of a
military parade
on the streets of
Goli. Aside, some
buildings of the
concentration
camp that was
operational in
Goli from 1948 to
1988.
