In Spaç, prisoners died from mine accidents, diseases or executions by guard soldiers in escape attempts. Their bodies were not returned to their families, instead they were buried by camp command in a place that was kept secret during the years of dictatorship and after the regime’s fall this burial site was found out to have been in Shpal, Mirdita. No name was put on the prisoners’ graves, only a number. Family members have found a part of their relatives’ graves in Spaç Camp according to the prisoner’s data, which were placed in a small glass bottle in the grave, near the victim’s head.

This is an image of Spaç Camp during the last years of the communist regime.  The camp had exactly this structure at the end of the ‘80s, where two three-story buildings are noticed within the camp, which were used as sleeping areas.  Furthermore, there are also multiple vantage points where armed guards stayed to oversee the camp and make sure prisoners didn’t escape.

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.

In rare cases when there was little time before the evening, prisoners spent their time with conversations, simple games, hidden readings, and foreign language learning in secret.  Foreign language learning was prohibited by the camp’s command. This accusation was frequently collected by depositions of spies who had infiltrated in the sleeping rooms and were often used as evidence to re-convict prisoners.

Anyone who didn’t meet his target was forced back to the tunnel with the other shift and held there until the end of that shift with no food or rest at any given moment until they met their daily target. Police officers inflicted extraordinary violence to those prisoners who refused to enter the tunnel.