Stripped of My Time: A Survivor of the Communist Political Prison on Goli Otok

Located just off the Dalmatian coast, Goli Otok, “Bald Island,” was considered the harshest prison environment for Yugoslavs who were not toeing the line. It was almost exclusively for citizens, and it was home to a bizarre but calculated Kafka-esque series of rituals designed to make the fellow prisoners act as jailers, torturers and intimidators of their fellow inmates. There, prisoners were given no time to rest, no time to think, and were forced to attack one another on a daily basis. This is the memoir of a survivor of the dreaded prison island. Radovan Hrast (born in 1931) was one of the first inmates there, sent for a trifle while still a teenager. When he got out, he was double-crossed and sent back. Those sent for a second time were subject to an increasingly brutal regime, and it is a small miracle that Radovan survived. It is a giant miracle that he flourished and lived out the rest of his life as a happy, fulfilled person unaccompanied by what would be understand rage and the urge for vengeance. This is the inside story of Goli Otok and the life of one of its last living survivors. This book should surely take its place on the shelves of every history library and make the reading list for all students of 20th century history and political science, especially those who deal with Yugoslavia and the aftermath of the Second World War.