Former female political prisoner Hanna Baran told us how political prisoners were deprived of normal living conditions:
– The political prisoners had four check-ups a day. Constantly being outside regardless of the weather, constantly cleaning up the area. When it was full sun, your skin would scorch. And you would get the “colonial tan”. That meant that the skin near the neck was tanned in a triangle due to the neckline of the dress. It looked really scary – all the skin was white except for that dark triangle scorched by the sun, which distinguished us.
The midges in the colony were a problem for me. I hadn’t seen that kind of midges before in my life. The bite site hurt for a long time. Also, it swelled up and caused a strong itch. People had itched the midge bite site until it bled.
