Breakfast in the Cafeteria, years ‘70

This is a view of the prisoners’ cafeteria in the ‘70s.After performing their morning routine in the toilet, prisoners who started first shift would hurry to the cafeteria to have breakfast and go to work.   At 6:00 am, all prisoners who’d work first shift had to have finished their breakfast and be ready to go to the tunnels.For the first shift that worked in the mines, breakfast was soup with seasonal vegetables and sometimes a little meat.But this menu did not apply to those working above ground or in supporting sectors, as they had a poorer diet and they never had meat.

Obligatory reading of ideological books

Afternoon at the camp for first-shift prisoners continued after roll call with what was called ideological education. In the camp library, the literature and press of the Labor Party of Albania was read. We learn from many testimonies that this process started from 05:10 pm to 7:30 pm. For the prisoners of conscience, this was another form of psychological violence.

Cooper  extraction

In the copper area the daily target was also seven wagons. Provided that one shovelful of copper weighed less than that of pyrite, work was somewhat less difficult in these areas. Furthermore, climate conditions in copper tunnels were more stable and there was no great temperature variation as in the pyrite area. According to the same estimate, the quantity a prisoner had to manually load onto the wagons every day to then transport them to the heap was 8,400 kilograms of copper.

The work routine was also the same in the copper area. At the start, they extracted mineral with wagons from the work front where the explosion had occurred, cleaned the inert material, and then reinforced the cleared front, create holes to detonate the explosives for the successive shift.

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Spy in the next bed

Spies were prisoners that infiltrated rooms through prison command, seeking to extract information on the activity of certain prisoners. They collected information and reported it to prison operatives. These briefings were often made to re-convict prisoners that were nearing their release. The infiltrated were often placed at the same sleeping room with the prisoner they surveilled.

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Private kitchen

The private kitchen was used by prisoners to cook the few foods they received from their families with which they somehow enriched their poor diet. The pots or pans were also private, brought by the family. These utensils, too, were held in the food depot.

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Roll Call on Top of the Toiletroom
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In the first years of Spaç Camp’s operation, roll call was done at the area in front of the sleeping rooms and craftsman’s barracks.  Later, it was done on top of the recently built toiletroom.The sketch shows the latter, where Spaç’s prisoners gathered.As the toilets were rebuilt isolated from above as well, two sets of stairs were used to climb on top, where prisoners gathered to do roll call.Even here, it wasn’t rare that prisoners were held two to three hours in the sun, rain or snow, while officers checked each prisoner.

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