Death...
In Spinalonga...
everything was moving towards death.
There was no creativity, no life...
We came in Spinalonga
in order to die...
with no hope...
We used in a life
different from ordinary people
They had plans
for the future...
but we didn't!
We were preparing to die!
Our sole became cold...
Every time we heard somone was dead....
we were thinking
"finally he found some rest"
This is Spinalonga-castle
builted in 1589
to protect golf of Mirambello.
This island has a huge history!
It was Venetian fortification,
refuge for Cristians
during Venetian-Turkish war for Crete,
under Ottoman rule after 1715...
Spinalonga named by Venetians
means "long thorn".
Before it was called "Kalydon".
December 1898
Crete is under European protection.
Prince George of Greece
has to deal with "leper"
the biggest plague of 20th cent.
In every county of Crete
there were 30-50 lepers.
They were beggars...
travelling around Crete...
If a member of the family
the girls could not marry.
Everybody was thinking the leper
as already dead.
Spinalonga Is notable for being one
of the last active leper colonies in Europe.
Why Spinalonga?
Because it was a castle...
no one could come or leave easiely...
Lepers was taken from their families...
It was so sad to see
young girls in their twenties...
kept as prisoner...
I could hear the cries from here!
I saw a father like crazy
for taken apart his only daughter...
The island as you see it form the shore...
the lepers' entrance...
Main road...
the market place...
the cemetary...
The hospital...
On the way to Spinalonga...
Lepers...
Epaminontas Remountakis
the leper lawyer
who stand for their rights!
Life in the island was unspeakable...
Life in death!
There was a sign
on top of main entrance:
"Leave every hope behind"!
"I first came in 1929
and stayed for 14 years...
Life sucks!
There was 400 lepers...
We were asking for better conditions.
In the first place,
here was no medical attention
only one doctor for 400 people!
The pharmacist was illiterate!
Spinalonga was a rock!
naked rock!
We planted lemon trees...
and every tree around...
I'll never forget Epaminontas,
he gave us hope
and made our voice heard!
The lepers' revolution...
they raised black flags...
Epaminontas was ahead...
He faced the minister and said:
"I am a living dead
just to save the future
of the society...
You have the obligation
to make my short life
tolerable...
From his biography...
September 1935:
they took my sister Maria to the island...
7 months later came my turn...
I was only 21...
In Agios Nikolaos harbour
I took a boat to Spinalonga...
The man who had it was calling out:
"Anyone to Spinalonga?"
I gathered my strength
and answered "yes" ...
They left them with nothing out there!
They only had a generator!
So stupid!
They had light...
but no clean water!!
They gathered the rain water...
I know...
You fell sorry for us...
because of our illness...
I think we should pitty you!
We should fell sorry for you...
Only a wall keep us apart
from the jungle of life out there...
But behind that wall, we found the mean of life!
we saw real life as we faced the death!
The island was used as leper colony
from 1903 to 1957.
The last inhabitant, a priest
left the island in 1962.
Other leper colonies that have survived Spinalonga
include Tichileşti in Eastern Romania,
Fontilles in Spain and Talsi in Latvia.
As of 2002, few lazarettos remain in Europe.