Currents of History 2/2019
Srđan Cvetković
Who Were the Pеople Sent to Goli Otok?
Number and Structure of Prisoners who were Detained in “Mermer
Enterprise” and other camps
Abstract: The paper brings new facts and analyses regarding the number and structure of political prisoners in Yugoslavia who were detained in labour camps and prisons as supporters of the Informbiro (“ibeovci”) from 1948 to 1956. Based on available documents from the archives of the secret police, today it is possible to determine the number as well as the ethnic, social and gender structure of the victims of the political persecution at Goli Otok and other camps. It is also possible to reconstruct very precisely the methodology of terror, the conditions of detention, and the role of the state institutions and parties in implementing persecution and conducting torture.Key words: Goli otok, Camps, Communism, SFRJ, Political Prisoners
Based on recently available documents from secret police archives, today it is possible to determine the statistical data on the ethnic, social, and gender structure of the Informbiro detainees. It is also possible to make an accurate reconstruction of the methodology of terror and torture, the conditions of detention, as well as the role of the state institutions in organizing persecution and conducting torture. In total, according to incomplete official documents, at least 16,288 people were imprisoned at Goli otok and other camps. Serbs and Montenegrins constituted more than two thirds of the convicted IBs (Stalinists), while the smallest percentage was among the Slovenes. Overall, the social structure of the detainees is more prominent in relation to the total number of veteran partisans, students, lower party officials, military personnel (especially lower ranking officers) and police officers and members of the UDBA (State Security Administration); mostly younger people, men, and highly educated. Their numbers, the structure, and the intensity of repression, as well as the position of the political prisoners in the camps and prisons, are in line with the general socio-political situation. Using terror methods for re-educating and revise political opinions culminated in the years between 1949 and 1951, then gradually declined in keeping with the changing relations between Moscow and Belgrade. The Stalinists were constantly subjected to surveillance and scrutiny by the security services, often arrested and detained, particularly during times of political crisis (1958, 1968, and 1980), and held a hostages of the two parties’ relations after 1958. However, the relationships and cooperation between the persecuted and the political police continued after the sentence had been served. Many were recruited or forced through psychological pressures to work for the security service as informers until the end of the eighties.