Goli otok (translated: "naked island") is an island on the Croatian Adriatic coast, located between the northeastern coast of Rab and the mainland, in the Primorje-Gorski Kotar county.
The island is barren and uninhabited. Its northern coast is almost completely naked, while the southern coast has a very small amount of vegetation. The southern coast does, however, have a number of coves.
Humans first took notice of the island in the modern times. During World War I, Austria-Hungary sent Russian prisoners of war from the Eastern Front to the Goli otok.
The whole island was officially made into a high-security prison in 1949 by the authorities of communist Yugoslavia. It was used to incarcerate political prisoners, notably the Stalinists during the Informbiro period, until 1956. Then it passed into the jurisdiction of the republic of Croatia (as opposed to the federal authorities), and was mainly used for nationalists, and later for common criminals and even some juvenile delinquents.
The prison inmates were forced to do heavy labor in a stone quarry, regardless of the weather conditions: in the summer it was at 35-40C, while in the winter they were subjected to the chilling bura wind. Inmates were also regularly beaten and humiliated.
The prison was abolished in 1988, and completely abandoned in 1989. Since then it was only frequented by the occasional tourist, and some sheep-herders from Rab.
