Abstract: The paper analyses the process of punishing convicted Cominform supporters on the island of Sveti Grgur between 1958 and 1965. It also explores the foreign policy relations that influenced this second wave of isolation of supporters of the Cominform, along with the social and political circumstances under which it was created. Special attention is paid to the conditions of the convicts’ stay in the Special Institution Grgur and to the activities of certain convicts who stood out. The behaviour and attitudes of the convicts towards the administration of the Special Institution Grgur, as well as the policies and measures of the police authorities and security services in relation to them were also examined.
Keywords: Special Institution Grgur, Cominform, Cominform supporters, convicts, Yugoslavia, isolation, surveillance, security service
Summary
Despite being disbanded in 1956, the Cominform's adherents in Yugoslavia were nevertheless named after it and kept under control and surveillance in the following decades. The Special Institution Grgur was established in 1958, with the commencement of the second Yugoslav-Soviet conflict. Although its alleged purpose was to isolate individuals who frequently committed offences against public order and peace, most of those convicted in the first period were those punished for supporting the Cominform, i.e. the Soviet politics and the Eastern Bloc. The attempts by the security services to introduce re-education measures that existed in the camps for the Cominform supporters beginning in 1949 failed. Causing division and conflict among the convicts was followed by their strong reaction and resistance. They even wrote a petition to the federal parliament. Although the measures were then tightened, the policy of isolating the Cominform supporters in this institution was gradually abandoned, with only one convict remaining by 1965. There have been 258 convicted Cominform supporters since 1958. Apart from the strong resistance of the convicts, the relaxation of restrictions was also affected by the easing of the Yugoslav-Soviet conflict, but the surveillance of the convicts continued even after their release, and the repression fluctuated in response to political developments.