3.5.2019

Mauthausen (Austria)

The "Day of Tribute to the Spanish deported and deceased in Mauthausen and in other camps and to all the victims of Nazism" means the recognition and reparation, by the Government of Spain, to the more than ten thousand Spaniards who were in the Nazi concentration camps. May 5 commemorates the liberation, in 1945, by the allied troops of the Mauthausen concentration camp where around seven thousand five hundred Spaniards were interned. Deprived of their Spanish nationality by the decision of the Franco government, declared stateless, they suffered innumerable atrocities, losing the lives of more than five thousand of them.

These Spaniards, mostly exiled republicans, represent a fundamental part of the democratic memory of Spain, and link the history of our country with the history of Europe. As in other European countries, this annual day of homage serves to honour his memory and to thank him for his fight for democracy and freedom.

The Minister of Justice Dolores Delgado, the Under-Secretary of Justice Cristina Latorre, and the former Director General of Historical Memory, Fernando Martínez, participate in the tribute. Delgado recalled that the Spanish victims of Nazism were victims because of their ideas of freedom and democracy. "It must prevail that our compatriots, all of them, from any region, from any autonomous community, shared those values that today we want to honor, dignify and respect."