The Story of ŘETÍZKÁRNa
The Chain Changing Room (“Řetízkárna”) was built with slave labor and used by prisoners of the Rovnost (“Equality”) labor camp in Jáchymov in the 1950s. Situated between the barracks and the mine entrance, the prisoners would enter the changing room twice a day: once in the morning before entering the mine, and then in the evening, where they would hang their clothing and equipment from a series of chains and pulleys in order to dry them.
In 1961, the camp was abolished and nearly razed to the ground. The mine near the Rovnost shaft was also closed and demolished. Today, the Řetízkárna stands as the last physical reminder of this traumatic period of Czechoslovak history, when a small Bohemian town became the largest Gulag-type prison outside of the Soviet Union and—by some definitions—the western-most island of the so-called “Gulag Archipelago.”
In the fall of 2022, the ruins of this site were purchased by the Političtí vězni.cz (“Political Prisoners”) Association. The goal of its members is to repair the former chain locker room and transform it into a community and educational center. While working to realize this goal, Političtí vězni also organizes annual events celebrating the closure of the mines, hosts guided educational tours, and supports a community of camp survivors, historians, artists, and students who organize in and around the ruins of the Řetízkárna.
