Paleo Trikeri (Greek: Παλαιό Τρίκερι) or Old Trikeri, also known as Trikeri Island, is a small island in the Pagasitic Gulf off the end of the Pelion peninsula in Thessaly, Greece. It is part of the municipal unit of Trikeri within the municipality of South Pelion. In the 2001 census it was reported to have a population of 87, but the year-round population has been estimated at 15. The island has an area of about 4.5 km2. There are no cars or roads on the island.
Map of Palaio Trikeri, Trikeri, Greece
In June of 1913, at the end of the Second Balkan War, the Greek authorities turned the almost uninhabited island into a death camp for Bulgarian POW. This was the first death camp in Europe, earlier than the Nazi Konzlagers and earlier than the Solovetskie Islands in Russia. The Greek Government interned there thousands of Bulgarian people, citizens of Thessaloniki and Aegean Trace, whose only guilt was, they were Bulgarian. Later on, thousands of Bulgarian POW, mostly ordinary and sergeants, were also brought in. Prisoners were forced to sleep under open sky and deprived of water, food and medical services. Many of the prisoners were thrown overboard and let drown on the bottom of the see under the cheers of the sailors. The prisoners were forced to provide for their own water, by digging holes in the sand near the see. At first, the muddy water was fresh and drinkable, but soon turned brackish and new holes were dug. When ships delivered food, the bags with bread were thrown in the water on purpose to soak the bread and to add more suffering and humiliation. It will never be known how many died there, and how many drowned in the sees. An International Committee, sponsored by the Carnegie Endouwment was send to inspect the conditions, but the local guards turned it back under the excuse that there was cholera epidemics. On October 9 1913 the Bulgarian ship "Varna" arrived and was allowed to take back home 1800 survivors.
From 1947 the island was used as a concentration camp for female antifascist political prisoners during the Greek Civil War. The women and children were relatives of members of the EAM-ELAS, the resistance forces which had fought against fascist occupation during World War II. In September 1949 political activists from other camps were sent to Paleo Trikeri, increasing the number of people held there to 4,700.