TRIESTE - Transforming the former Mamula concentration camp into a luxury tourist resort is the goal of the Montenegrin government, which will closely follow the parliamentary proceedings today and tomorrow on the controversial privatization contract, where the Swiss-Egyptian company "Orascom" remains at the top of the bids for the project to transform this camp.

The Austro-Hungarian castle, located on an uninhabited island at the entrance to the Bay of Kotor (UNESCO), was used as a concentration camp during World War II, when this area was occupied by Mussolini's troops.

Given that most of the prisoners were local residents, it is not surprising that most of today's citizens consider that a luxury tourist resort is not the best way to appreciate this fortress. They want to see it as a museum, out of respect for history. According to records, at least 130 people out of 2,300 prisoners in the Mamula camp were killed or starved to death during the spring of 1942 and the fall of 1943.

A strong voice against the Orascom project is that of Boutros Boutros Gali, former UN Secretary-General, who in a letter sent to the speaker of the Montenegrin parliament, Ranko Krivokapic, states that "it is striking that the only solution to evaluate this castle seems to be a purely economic agreement." For their part, the investor and the government promise that the project will respect the history of the island with a room dedicated to the memory of the victims, although such a thing does not appear in the project that is available on mamulaisland.com.
(ed.me/BalkanWeb)