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What is Goli otok?

Goli otok is an important site of political repression. From 1949 to 1956, it functioned as a camp for political prisoners who were actual or alleged supporters of the 1948 Informbiro Resolution.

The remains of the camp complex on Goli otok — today abandoned and left to decay.

The Informbiro and the conflict with Moscow

The Informbiro, or Cominform, was an international organisation of communist parties founded in 1947 under the strong influence of the Soviet Union. After the conflict between the Yugoslav leadership, headed by Josip Broz Tito, and the Soviet leadership, headed by Joseph Stalin, the Informbiro condemned the Communist Party of Yugoslavia and the Yugoslav state leadership in 1948.

The Informbiro Resolution accused Yugoslavia of departing from the Soviet model of communism, pursuing an independent policy, and disobeying Stalin’s authority. Behind the conflict lay a growing disagreement between Tito and Stalin over Yugoslavia’s position within the socialist bloc.

After the Second World War, Yugoslavia pursued an active and increasingly independent foreign policy. Tito supported the idea of creating a Balkan federation — a political alliance intended to connect Yugoslavia, Bulgaria, and possibly Albania and parts of Greece. This initiative, together with Yugoslav influence in Albania and support for the communists in the Greek Civil War, provoked Stalin’s dissatisfaction.

Persecution of the ‘Informbiro supporters’

The conflict was therefore not only about ideological differences, but also about political control. Tito sought to conduct Yugoslav policy independently, while Stalin expected obedience and alignment with the interests of the Soviet Union. After the Informbiro Resolution, any real or alleged support for the Soviet side in Yugoslavia was increasingly interpreted as political betrayal.

A person could be sent to Goli otok for actual support of Stalin and the Informbiro — but also for a suspicion, a denunciation, a joke, a criticism of authority, a private conversation, or association with someone already labelled as unreliable.

In this atmosphere, the persecution of so-called Informbiro supporters, or ibeovci, began, and Goli otok became the central place of their punishment and political „re-education”. The concept of the state enemy was broad and vaguely defined. The boundary between genuine opposition and alleged disloyalty became very thin. Many prisoners were sent to Goli otok without a public trial, on the basis of decisions made by the Yugoslav secret police, UDBA.

Traces of forced labour on the island — stone structures built by the prisoners themselves.

The camp 1949–1956

During the camp period from 1949 to 1956, Goli otok, together with the island of Sveti Grgur, functioned as a political camp for actual and alleged supporters of the Informbiro Resolution. Around 13,000 people passed through it and were subjected to forced labour, political „re-education”, humiliation, and severe forms of physical and psychological violence.

Around 13,000 people passed through the camp — subjected to forced labour, political „re-education” and severe forms of violence.

1949–1956

The camp system had its own specific features, but in its organisation and methods it showed similarities with Nazi and Soviet camp practices.

A view of the island and the remains of the built infrastructure.

From 1956 to today

In 1956, Goli otok ceased to function as an Informbiro camp and gradually became a penitentiary for people convicted of various criminal offences. Nevertheless, until its closure in 1988, some political prisoners were also held there.

After the dissolution of the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia and the independence of the Republic of Croatia in 1991, the remains of the former camp and prison complex on Goli otok and Sveti Grgur remained unprotected and were left to decay.

The buildings from the camp period are not ordinary abandoned buildings. They were created through the harsh forced labour of prisoners.

The history of the camp in 16 chapters

  1. 1Historical Context of Yugoslavia: The 1948 Split and the Beginning of Political PersecutionHow the 1948 conflict between Yugoslavia and the Soviet Union opened the way to political persecution and camps.
  2. 2The Founding of the CampWhy Goli otok was chosen in 1949 and how the camp was prepared before the first detainees arrived.
  3. 3Why the Goli Otok Regime Was Neither Constitutional nor LawfulAdministrative punishment, military courts and the guarantees that were missing – a legal assessment of Goli otok.
  4. 4Who Were the “IB-ists” and Why People Ended Up in the CampFrom collaboration with Soviet intelligence to silence at a meeting – what was enough in practice to end up in the camp.
  5. 5The Men’s Camp on Goli Otok (1949–1956)The largest and longest-running camp unit: the rhythm of the day, forced labour and the expansion of the system.
  6. 6The Camp for Women IB-ists (1949–1956)Ramski rit, Zabela, Sveti Grgur and Goli otok – a network of sites through which around 870 women passed.
  7. 7The Secret Camp Within the CampWorksite 101 (R-101), or “Peter’s Hole” – a hidden camp for some 135 of the most sensitive detainees.
  8. 8Re-education on Goli Otok: Violence as a Method of LoyaltyBoycott, the gauntlet, the tragač and “revising one’s stance” – how the camp turned detainees into an instrument of control.
  9. 9Camp Architecture of Goli Otok and Sveti Grgur (1949–1956)From wooden barracks to stone pavilions: how a space of surveillance was built through forced labour.
  10. 10Mermer and Velebit: Forced Labour, Production and ProfitThe camp enterprise, terrazzo tiles for all of Yugoslavia and the “invisible budget” of the security apparatus.
  11. 11Mortality in the Cominform Camp (1949–1956)399 deaths according to an archival document, peaking in 1951 – the figures, the causes and the fate of the bodies.
  12. 12Two Levels of Power: the UDBA and Prisoner Self-AdministrationA visible administration, an invisible UDBA and a “self-administration” in which detainees punished one another.
  13. 13The Return of the “Former People”Surveillance, stigma and silence – why for most returnees the camp did not end when they left the island.
  14. 14The End of the Cominform Camp and Later Use of the Site (1955–1992)From the Belgrade Declaration to the closure of the prison in 1988 and the decay after 1992.
  15. 15Goli Otok TodayA day-trip destination without a memorial institution: why the island is neglected and why it needs to be protected.
  16. 16Goli Otok in the European “Landscape of Camps”What Goli otok shares with other 20th-century camps – and how it was different.

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Lists of prisoners and of the dead

Scanned original documents (in Croatian).