Temperature in pyrite tunnels changed extremely compared to temperature out of tunnels, where prisoners got out to empty their wagons. Inside, temperatures varied from 50 to 60 degrees Celsius, whereas winter temperatures hit -20 degrees Celsius outside. In winter, prisoners worked naked inside the tunnels, whereas outside they wore fur coats they stored at the entrance to protect themselves somewhat from the extreme change of temperature. This was the cause that the predominant disease of the camp was the cold. It accompanied prisoners for as long as they were forced to live in that hell.

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.

Based on rare images that managed to film the area after the fall of the dictatorship at the beginning of the ‘90s, Spaç Camp looked like this.  The last political prisoners left the camp in June 1990.

The tunnels’ amortization was one of the largest impediments of the prisoners’ work process and often in their testimonies they recalled that the greatest difficulty was raising a wagon when it derailed and fell. The prisoner was forced to raise the wagon on his own using his shoulders and upon restoring it on the rails, he refilled it with the fallen mineral.

Whereas the two miners loaded wagons and did seven hellish trips on pyrite or copper tunnels, the other prisoner prepared the bodies to reinforce the whole dug area once it had been emptied. This area would be entirely reinforced on the sides and ceiling of the tunnel with wooden bodies, which were torn up and shaped in such a way to be fitted with one another. This wooden reinforcement secured the tunnel up to a point to avoid collapse and provide for further digging.