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All Cyprus Polemi Concentration Camp
AO Edited

Polemi Concentration Camp

The site of a prison camp where Cypriot resistance fighters were held in the 1950s.

Stroumpi, Cyprus

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Laurel J
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Camp Entrance   lmjansury / Atlas Obscura User
Barracks   lmjansury / Atlas Obscura User
Old military truck   lmjansury / Atlas Obscura User
Some of the interred   Snowdrop68 / Atlas Obscura User
Model of the camp   Snowdrop68 / Atlas Obscura User
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About

Hidden in the foothills of the Troodos Mountains, the Polemi Concentration Camp offers a unique glimpse into Cyprus' history. The camp hosted Cypriot resistance fighters in the latter part of the 1950s, before Cyprus gained independence from Britain.

From August 1946 to January 1949, the British government established and operated a dozen camps in Cyprus, which were used as detention centers for more than 50,000 illegal immigrants, mostly Holocaust survivors seeking to resettle in Palestine. These camps were shut down after the establishment of the state of Israel. But a decade later, the British built a new set of camps on the Mediterranean island.

The Polemi Detention Center was one of eight British camps in Cyprus during the Cypriot War of Independence. From 1955 to 1959, the Ethniki Organosis Kyprion Agoniston (National Organisation of Cypriot Fighters), or EOKA, led an armed campaign against British colonial rule. Polemi opened near the end of the conflict and only operated for 102 days. But during that brief period, some 400 resistance fighters who were detained there experienced violence, cruelty, and torture. The camp was notorious for its horrific and inhumane conditions. In November 2017, 35 former EOKA fighters sought damages from the British government for the human rights abuses they experienced during the war.

Today, the site of the former concentration camp is barren. A few structures remain, including a guard tower, some old military vehicles. One of the remaining buildings hosts a small display explaining a bit about the camp and the people who were imprisoned there. Access is via the rear door. 

Related Tags

Memorials War History Colonialism Prisons History

Know Before You Go

The site is signposted from the  B7 and is just 100m from the junction,  and is just past the winery on the right . If you get to the village of Polemi you've gone too far.

The camp is free to  enter and  is open 24/7. Be careful of the rusting barbed wire.

 

Community Contributors

Added By

lmjansury

Edited By

Snowdrop68

  • Snowdrop68

Published

March 17, 2022

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Sources
  • https://www.theguardian.com/world/2018/jan/12/cypriot-veterans-win-right-to-claim-damages-over-uk-torture-claims
  • https://cyprus-mail.com/2021/10/31/dark-tourism-in-a-paphos-village/
  • https://encyclopedia.ushmm.org/content/en/article/cyprus-detention-camps
  • https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cyprus_internment_camps
  • https://www.paphoslife.com/blog/polemi-concentration-camp
Polemi Concentration Camp
Stroumpi
Cyprus
34.879213, 32.490609

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