Their visit was organised within the programme of a summer camp entitled "Venues of victims//Venues of perpetrators."
Goli Otok, which translates as Naked/Barren Island, was used as a hard-labour detention camp for people accused by by the Communist authorities of supporting Soviet leader Joseph Stalin after Yugoslav Communist leader Josip Broz Tito severed ties with the Soviet Union in 1948 or who for whatever reason were declared enemies of the state.
The international summer camp for the young Europeans will be held until August 31 in Zagreb, Vukovar, Pula and Rijeka with visits to the Jasenovac WWII memorial centre, Lipa apart from Goli Otok.
The camp is dedicated to facing the past and is organised by the European Youth Education Centre from Weimer, Germany, the Documenta NGO and other partner ogranisations and has attracted about 65 participants.
After inspecting the island a discussion was held about interpretations of the socialist era and the culture of remembering in post-socialist countries, headed by Dr. Monika Kareniuskaite from the Genocide and Resistance Research Center of Lithuania.
Other speakers included Uta Gerlant from the Lindenstrasse Memorial Centre in Potsdam, Germany and Vesna Teršelić and Dr. Boris Stamenić form the Documenta - Centre for Facing the Past from Zagreb.
Teršelić said that urgent work needed to be prepared for the conservation and permanent preservation of Goli Otok and Grgur islands.
Gerlant explained why Goli Otok is relevant for other European countries, underscoring the issue of universal repression and violence. She added that this visit could be of significance with regard to launching a joint initiative for the preservation of Goli Otok.