See the decrepit and haunting remains of a prison on Goli Otok island described as a ‘Living Hell’, ‘Devil’s Island’ and ‘Croatian Alcatraz’ (because of its location on an island and high security).
Bob Thissen, a Dutch filmmaker passionate about documenting and exploring abandoned buildings and ruins, travelled by private ferry to the island back in 2016 where he filmed the decrepit remains of what was once a political prison and labour camp. National Geographic recently published his eerily beautiful video showing the creepy ruins of the prison that closed in 1989.
Goli Otok (meaning barren island in Croatian) is an uninhabited island, which is very different from other islands in Croatia in that it is not famous for its quaint historic streets, but as a infamous political prison camp during Josip Tito’s regime in Yugoslavia, where mostly people who supported Joseph Stalin or opposed Tito would end up.
At least 50,000 people were imprisoned on the Goli otok island, where they had the task of “reforming” each other by beating, many of them dying in severe pains. The older and already “reformed” prisoners would torture the newcomers. Prisoners described the place as living hell. The cells were small and dark, and the conditions were intolerable. Many of the imprisoned were innocent and had done nothing wrong, reports Vijesti RTL., on September 5, 2017.
“Lying just two miles off the coast of Croatia, the prison was less a place for petty criminals and more a dumping ground for prisoners of war and later political dissenters,” reports National Geographic.
Thissen camped on the island overnight and described the place and the lack of flora and fauna as eery and quiet: “Walking among ruins… It’s pretty creepy,” he said in an interview with National Geographic. “You can see the high walls and the cells still there.”
Watch the video below:
Excerpts translated from Vijesti RTL
