Location

• Zagreb Ulica Antuna Gustava Matoša 9, Croatia 10000
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Languages

• Croatian

Website

• http://sjecanjana20st.hismus.hr/hr/Ostav%C5%A1tine/Grgo%20%C5%A0ore_1236

Name of collection

• Grgo Šore Goli Otok Collection

Provenance and cultural activities

• The Grgo Šore Collection was created between 1945 and 1998 and details Šore's detention on Goli otok from 1949 to 1953. According to Dubravka Peić Čaldarović, the collection contains 16 handwritten and typewritten documents, but in three to four variants, because Šore continually rearranged the manuscripts. The documentation consists of a diary, recollections, photographs and Šore’s official correspondence. In 2000, the Croatian Historical Museum bought the Grga Šore Collection from his son Stjepan. An employee of the Croatian History Museum, Dubravka Peić Čaldarović, inventoried the Collection and its contents became a part of the "Memories of the 20^th Century" online exhibition.

  The testimony of Grgo Šore is important because it provides a detailed description of the post-war communist prison camp on Goli otok. The prison camp was established in 1949 under the orders of the Yugoslav communist authorities led by Josip Broz Tito. The reason for the establishment of the prison camp was the conflict between Yugoslavia and the Soviet Union, which began in the summer of 1948 after the Cominform Resolution. In the beginning, the prison camp was the central venue for punishing “Cominformists,” i.e. all of those who had sided with the Soviet Union. Later, under false accusations of being “Cominformists,” many real or potential enemies of the communist regime were sent there (Previšić 2014, 1-6).

  Thousands of detainees passed through the prison camp, many of whom had been killed because of the harsh conditions and brutal political interrogation methods. The prisoners were brought to Goli otok until 1956, when relations between Yugoslavia and the Soviet Union were normalised. After 1956, the prison camp on Goli otok switched from federal jurisdiction to the jurisdiction of the People’s Republic of Croatia and its repressive apparatus, which continued to use it to confine the enemies of the system (Previšić 2014, 111, 283, 313, 315).

  Besides Grgo Šore’s testimony, the “Memories of the 20^th Century” online exhibition also includes the testimonies of other people who were victims of totalitarian systems and dictatorships in Croatia during the 20^th century. Their testimonies illustrate the typical moments of this harsh aspect of Croatian history. The Grgo Šore Collection is available for use with the permission of the Croatian History Museum (Interview with Dubravka Peić Čaldarović).

Description of content

• The Grga Šore Collection owned by the Croatian History Museum contains 16 documents, two journals and one photograph. Although it consists of a relatively small number of documents, the documents have dozens of pages of text. Šore would first handwrite the text and that he rewrite it with a typewriter. The rewritten texts are not identical, because Šore often added information by hand, and sometimes even glued pieces of paper to add sentences to the already typewritten text. Although in some details they differ, essentially the texts remained the same. The documentation from the collection, based on the example of one of the detainees, testifies to the repression of the regime against advocates of the Cominform Resolution and to all those who were considered politically threatening by the regime. Two issues of the weekly newsmagazine Danas from 1988 contain some of the first articles printed in Yugoslavia about the prison camp on Goli otok.

Content

• manuscripts (ego-documents, diaries, notes, letters, drafts, etc.): 10-99
• photos: 0-9
• publications (books, newspapers, articles, press clippings): 0-9

Operator(s)

• Croatian History Museum

Owner(s)

• Croatian History Museum

Stakeholder(s) of the collection

• Peić Čaldarović, Dubravka

Geographical scope of recent operation

• national

Topics

• survivors of persecutions under authoritarian/totalitarian regimes

Founder(s)

• Šore, Grgo

Date of founding

• 1983

Place of founding

• Seget Donji, Croatia
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Creator(s) of content

• Šore, Grgo

Collector(s)

• Šore, Grgo

Supporters

• Ministry of Culture of the Republic of Croatia

Important events in the history of the collection

• Acquisition of the Grgo Šore Collection by the Croatian History Museum, 2000
• Exhibition: Memories of the 20th Century, 2017

Featured items

• Šore, Grgo, Inmate Work Log from Goli otok, 1951. Manuscript
• Šore, Grgo. Goli Goli Goli – The Truth about Goli otok, 1983. Manuscript

Access type

• completely open to the public

Publications

• NONE

Part of network

• Croatian History Museum
• International Council of Museums

Author(s) of this page

• Godić, Darjan

References

Kosić, Ivan. 2009. Goli otok: najveći Titov koncentracioni logor (Goli otok: Tito’s Biggest Concentration Camp). Zagreb: Mikrorad; Udruga Goli otok "Ante Zemljar."

Previšić, Martin. 2013. “Broj kažnjenika na Golom otoku i drugim logorima za ibeovce u vrijeme sukoba sa SSSR-om (1948.-1956.)“ (The number of convicts on Goli otok and other Internment camps during the Cominform period, 1948 – 1956), Historijski zbornik 66, no. 1 (2013): 173–193.

Previšić, Martin. 2014. “Povijest informbiroovskog logora na Golom otoku 1949. – 1956.“ Ph.D. dissertation, University of Zagreb.

Peić Čaldarović, Dubravka, interview by Godić, Darjan, September 21, 2018. COURAGE Registry Oral History Collection