Introduction

Fostering a culture of remembrance is not an easy task. Contemporary societies are faced with an increasing number of challenges, making it ever more difficult to find financing for projects focusing on historical topics. This makes the synergy between the Friedrich Ebert Stiftung Zagreb and the Documenta association on cultivating a culture of memory all the more unusual and praiseworthy.

Unusual, as it is precisely thanks to its cooperation with Documenta, an association with extensive experience in dealing with the past in a critical way, that the German political foundation can use this project to provide an insight into historical events and contemporary interpretations to the wider public in Croatia and abroad. Praiseworthy, as it contributes to a didactically appropriate mode of confronting the wider public with an important issue from the past, and thus to building a democratic political culture in the Croatian society. We are glad that the “foundation stone” for a guide to the history of the Goli Otok camp, laid at a seminar held in Rijeka in 2018, fell on “fertile soil”, and that in July 2020 the printed guide saw the light of day. We hope that this virtual guide will also find its way to many people visiting Goli Otok, as well as to other interested citizens wishing to understand what happened on Goli Otok and why it is important to foster remembrance of political violence and its victims.