7. Workshops

Goli Otok was not just a place where people were tortured and interned, but a highly elaborate industrial complex. Since the begin­nings of the camp, the secret police used the inmates to perform various jobs: from building the camp, reforesting the island, to quar­rying for Goli Otok stone. With time, other industries developed, such as stone-masonry, iron-working, woodworking, ship repairs, and sand extraction. The UDBA, the secret police, made good money from these industries and from trading in various Goli Otok products and raw materials. Numerous workshops emerged at the site of the first camp, the Wire, which were moved to their current sites after 1956. It is interesting to note that for a long time, Goli Otok was the only place where the terrazzo tiles, used to surface numerous public institutions, were made.

Photograph: Darko Bavoljak