In the pyrite area the daily rate for each working group was seven wagons. As such, the two carters of the group had to fill seven wagons of mineral. According to former prisoner Shkëlqim Abazi’s testimony, a wagon would take around 200 shovels of pyrite to fill. A shovelful of pyrite weighed from 18 to 25 kg. According to an average number, one wagon had around 3,600 kg of pyrite. This estimate would mean that the two carters had to fill seven wagons, or 25,200 kg of mineral per shift, or 12,600 kg of mineral each. Imagine the daily routine for this enslaving work where one man had to load 12,600 kg of mineral every day!
Beyond the grueling process of this mineral’s extraction, pyrite tunnels were far more dangerous than copper ones. The terrain was highly unstable due to the mineral’s acid sand-like composition, therefore collapses in pyrite tunnels were quite often. Furthermore, the acid environment made work all the harder. Acid drops that dripped ceaselessly in the tunnel not only eroded and burnt the prisoner’s unprotected skin; they also eroded and destroyed the rails on which prisoners had to push their wagons. This added on to the exhausting work: as the wagons had to be pushed for around one kilometer and the same distance back.
In the first years of the camp’s operation, prisoners ate wherever they could, as there was no dedicated area to eat in.According to Shkëlqim Abazi’s testimony, prisoners gathered in groups and consumed their food wherever they could in the areas near the barracks serving as a kitchen.
Showers were in front of toilets.Mainly in the first years, but also in the later stages, there was no hot water in the camp and the showers only brought the mountain’s icy water.Prisoners mainly washed with water, which they warmed themselves in metal tubs in the private kitchens.They then washed with the warmed water by pouring it on their bodies themselves with whatever vessel they had.Showers, like the toilets, were open and doorless.Prisoners were forced to wash in these conditions of utter lack of intimacy.
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.
According to collected testimonies, the camp’s sleeping areas had other bed placement systems, too, such as in this sketch. In some operating periods of this camp, when there was a large number of incomig prisoners, up to 50 people were forced to stay in one room.Prisoners also held their personal belongings and moccasins or clogs (shoes were rare) that they wore in the camp’s premises.Among the personal belongings, there were:2 pairs of clothes, 1 aluminum or plastic canteen, 1 toothbrush, 1 notebook, 1 bowl, 1 aluminum tablespoon, 1 mattress, blanket and sheet. The wooden stairs to climb the upper beds were everywhere in the sleepng area.
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.