(Non)
remembrance

The existence of a camp network in the post-war Eastern Bloc was a taboo topic in the decades following its dissolution. Remembrance could persist only in exile. In the 1980s, the topic started slowly resurfacing. The Polish opposition printed a series of underground publications on the fates of prisoners of the Soviet GULAG. In the Soviet Union itself, the transparency policy (glasnost) allowed the fates of the prisoners and deportees to be remembered in the second half of the decade. The first attempts to commemorate their stories were noted. Nevertheless, the true breakthrough was the fall of the Communist system in East-Central Europe (1989) and the dissolution of the Soviet Union (1991). Societies of former prisoners could become organised, the first commemoration places – memorial plaques and monuments – were created. To date, they have been placed in a few dozen places. In literally a few camps, museums operate to remind visitors of the history of the prisoners.

Camp XII was part of a system of labour camps in the Hornoslavkov region, which was the third important uranium mining site in Czechoslovakia. In March 1953, there were approximately 2,000 people imprisoned here.
Credit: Petr Blažek

Rovnost Jachymov in Czechoslovakia. One of the largest and toughest in the system of forced labour camps in the uranium mines.
Credit: Petr Blažek

Soviet special NKVD camp located in Poznań, Poland. About a thousand people, including many women and girls, were imprisoned in the camp.
Credit: Institute of National Remembrance

The former camp in Tepelena, Albania. It operated between 1949 and 1954. It had about 3 to 5 thousand inmates, 600 of whom died there. Half of them were children under the age of 5.
Credit: Valentin Boboc

Bytom in Poland, the camp located at the "Bobrek" mine. In 1946 there were 481 people in the camp, and by 1949 52 people died there.
Credit: Institute of National Remembrance

Camp Nikolaj was part of labour camps in the uranium mines in the Jáchymov, Horní Slavkov and Příbram regions in Czechoslovakia. The camp with a capacity of almost a thousand prisoners was notorious for its harsh regime
Credit: Petr Blažek

Bytom-Łagiewniki in Poland, a labour camp of the coal industry. In August 1946, 318 prisoners were held there, 227 of whom worked underground.
Credit: Institute of National Remembrance

Slanchev Bryag camp was located next to the stone quarry, near Lovech, Bulgaria. It is estimated that 1500 people were imprisoned here and around 150 lost their lives.
Credit: Pavel Kotov

Periprava labour camp, Romania. Almost 9% of all political prisoners in Communist Romania did time at Periprava. By September 2020, the remains of 54 political detainees have been discovered.
Credit: Institute for the Investigation of Communist Crimes and the Memory of the Romanian Exile

Gjirokastër labour camp, Albania?
Credit: Joonasl - CC BY-SA 3.0

Forced labour camp in the Lena cooper mine in Wilków, Poland.
Credit: Institute of National Remembrance

The Borsod Chemical Works, Kazincbarcika, Hungary. It was built by the camp inmates of the Kazincbarcika. The camp was opened in 1951, where about 1200–1300 people were held captive.
Credit: Jávori István - CC BY-SA 4.0

Forced labour camp in Mysłowice, Poland. At least 2,281 prisoners died here
Credit: Institute of National Remembrance

Camp T was part of a system of labour camps in the Hornoslavkov region. In 1953, there were approximately 2,300 people imprisoned here.
Credit: Petr Blažek

Remembrance

The existence of a camp network in the post-war Eastern Bloc was a taboo topic in the decades following its dissolution. Remembrance could persist only in exile. In the 1980s, the topic started slowly resurfacing. The Polish opposition printed a series of underground publications on the fates of prisoners of the Soviet GULAG. In the Soviet Union itself, the transparency policy (glasnost) allowed the fates of the prisoners and deportees to be remembered in the second half of the decade. The first attempts to commemorate their stories were noted. Nevertheless, the true breakthrough was the fall of the Communist system in East-Central Europe (1989) and the dissolution of the Soviet Union (1991). Societies of former prisoners could become organised, the first commemoration places – memorial plaques and monuments – were created. To date, they have been placed in a few dozen places. In literally a few camps, museums operate to remind visitors of the history of the prisoners.

The former internment camp in Krndija, Yugoslavia (nowadays Croatia). It operated between 1945 and 1946. There were about 3.5 to 4 thousand inmates held here, out of whom 500 to 1500 people died.
Credit: ifob12

The Gate of Freedom sculpture, the centerpiece of a series of sculptures in Jachymov, Czech Republic. The monuments are dedicated to the prisoners of uranium mines in the Jáchymov, Slavkov and Příbram regions.
Credit: Petr Blažek

Vojna-Lešetice camp, Czechoslovakia (nowadays Czech Republic). In the years 1947-49 camp for German prisoners of war, 1949-1951 forced labour camp, 1951-1961 facility for political prisoners of the communist regime. The sign says "freedom through work". In total, approximately 65,000 prisoners passed through all uranium mines labour camps.
Credit: Petr Blažek

The former camp in Recsk, Hungary. It operated between 1950 and 1953. The number of inmates changed between 1300 and 1700.
Credit: VT  - CC BY-SA 2.5

The former labour camp of Jaworzno, Poland. As a communist camp it operated between 1945 and 1956. About 7 thousand people died here.
Credit: Beemwej - CC BY-SA 3.0

The former campsite of Teharje, Yugoslavia (nowadays Slovenia). It operated between 1945 and 1946. About 7 to 8 thousand inmates passed through the camp and about 5 thousand were killed.
Credit: Study Centre for National Reconciliation

The former camp in Zgoda, Poland operated between February and November 1945. Out of the 6 thousand inmates 1855 died.
Credit: Drozdp - CC BY-SA 4.0

The former Belene camp on Belene Island in Bulgaria. It operated between 1949 and 1959. At the end of 1952 there were 2348 inmates held captive there.
Credit: Yordanka Petrova

The former campsite in Kistarcsa, Hungary. It operated between 1949 and 1953. It had about 2 and 3 thousand inmates on the average. 
Credit: Csakachemistry - CC BY-SA 4.0

NKVD camp in Rembertów, Poland. In the years 1944–45 there was an NKVD Special Camp here. In March 1945, there were about 2,500 prisoners in the camp.
Credit: Adrian Grycuk  - CC BY-SA 3.0

The former prison camp of Knićanin, Yugoslavia (nowadays Serbia). About 11 thousand people, mainly of German minority, died here.
Credit: Adammathias - public domain

The former lager in Macikai, Lithuania. It operated between 1944 and 1955. Altogether 857 people died here, out of whom 70 were children.
Credit: Genocide and Resistance Research Centre of Lithuania