Former forced labor camp Barbora - Vršek

The camp was one of the most feared in the area, due to the very harsh climatic conditions given by its altitude of 1004 meters above sea level and the fact that it stood on the windward side of the mountain ridge. Due to the harsh climate and mining in unsuitable geological conditions, this workplace had the highest number of work injuries (including fatal ones) in the entire ČSSR. Adding to this was the cruelty and brutality of the guards.

The camp consisted of three prison barracks, a correction facility, and an administrative building. The warehouses and workshops known from other camps were part of the nearby Barbora mine. The camp's capacity was 450 persons. Although there are no records of expansion and camp maps show only the listed buildings, on October 1, 1956, there were 868 prisoners and 65 SNB members (Protocol on the handover of the camp commander's function) and on May 25, 1956, even 1,100 prisoners (Proposal to close the camp dated May 25, 1956). Thus, if the camp had not been expanded, it would have been significantly overcrowded.

The camp commanders were: Warden of the Prison Guard Association (SVS) K. Filsak, Senior Warden of the National Security Corps (SNB) F. Malina, and finally Senior Warden of the SNB F. Filandr.

The correction facility consisted of a concrete bunker with three cubicles, each with an internal size of 2 x 1 meters. In the shorter wall was a small barred window, which was not glazed even during winter despite thirty-degree frosts. The only furnishings were a wooden cot without a mattress and a bucket serving as a toilet. On even days of placement in the facility, the prisoner received no food, while on odd days they received coffee (breakfast), soup with a slice of bread (lunch), and unsweetened coffee (dinner). During winter, they had to clear snow drifts up to two meters high.

Among the most famous prisoners were the abbot of the Teplá monastery Heřman Till, who secretly provided spiritual solace, and the goalkeeper of the ice hockey national team Bóža Modrý, who never broke and always acted confidently, thus morally helping others. Other notable prisoners included Jiří Mucha (son of painter Alfons Mucha), who depicted his experiences with the Jáchymov mines in the book "Studené slunce -"

Collection Camp Ostrov. From here, transports are divided to individual Jáchymov camps. It is like one huge Pankrác 111. Or a prisoner-of-war camp. Lots of ragged people waiting to see what will happen next. And beyond the wire, there are black hostile mountains. It’s fantastic. Like a horrifying glimpse into the future world. Black mountains all around, wind, rain, and from the guard towers, automatic rifles are constantly aimed. Nikolaj is the worst. High in the mountains, cold, frequent shootings, dead. Big barracks, crowded with people, pillboxes every fifty meters. And the military like a whip. The camp is hermetically sealed by double fences of barbed wire and the perimeter is lit by floodlights all night. After curfew, no one is allowed out of the barracks. Guards shoot immediately. In the middle of the camp, an ugly, evil place. The correction facility. From the camps to the mines, kilometer-long tunnels of double barbed wire lead, rocky, steep. We are driven to work through them like lions to the arena. Linked one to another and crammed tightly together. Guards with automatics run around, shout, drive us on. Falling out of line is considered a rebellion. The whole column marches body to body as punishment. We wear mercenary clothing from the Thirty Years' War. Black boots, trousers, rubber coats with wide double shoulders, and whalers' hats. Robots whose faces are not visible, masses of moving strength. We assemble in the dark, rain and wind batter us, standing for hours like black boulders. Here, the joke ends. Like in a horror film, floodlights fix their blinding eyes on us and the entire mountainside is populated with cages holding thousands of robots. Three times at night, we wake up to automatic gunfire. At four, an alarm and an hour-long roll call. This is not a camp, this is a frontline! Months and months one says to oneself: This cannot be real! Surely, I won't stay indefinitely in this underworld. One looks for a way out, believes there is an escape, until one day realizing that the bars of the cage hold equally firm everywhere and that there is no way out, only long, endless waiting. Minutes seem like days. Weeks stretch into years.

After the mine was closed, military units were gradually established here. First, the Radiotechnical Targeting Unit and later VÚ 5849. Specifically, it was the Non-commissioned Officer School of Medical Instructors. The unit was stationed here until 1975 when it was moved to Uherské Hradiště. The buildings then fell into disuse and were eventually demolished in 1991.