Communist Prison Camps as Sites of Memory and Legacies of Dissent: Belene and Goli Otok in Bulgarian and Croatian Cultural Memory

Abstract

This article investigates how two Communist forced labour camps, Belene in Bulgaria and Goli Otok in Croatia, became sites of memory and remain icons of political repression and state-organized torture. The article discusses how the public memory of the two camps has been shaped through vivid depictions in former inmates’ memoirs and in works of fiction. It analyzes recent debates about the preservation and institutionalization of these sites of memory and about what, whom, and how to commemorate. As a further step, it investigates how the camp sites have attracted visitors interested in so-called dark tourism. The article explores the creation of a literary tradition of memory by tracing the writings that have helped to establish Belene and Goli Otok as sites of memory of political repression in Bulgaria and Croatia, and it examines the processes involved in the construction of the physical sites as heritage sites and tourist attractions.