This exhibition aims to commemorate the 85th anniversary of the great exodus of civilian population on the road from Malaga to Almeria as a result of the fear of relentless persecution by the rebellious army. Of an eminently pedagogical nature, it aims to raise awareness of the consequences of the use of violence and sterile destruction caused by wars on the civilian population and the repudiation of the coup d'état of Franco's army in 1936.

The exhibition is the result of the commitment decided to enrich and consolidate the set of memorialist actions that have emerged, especially in recent years, around La Desbandá. The interest has started both from civil society and from academic institutions, whose researchers have shown great interest in the study of this dramatic mass displacement of February 1937.

Thus, the exhibition is the result of the collaboration between the University of Malaga, the Unicaja Foundation and the Secretary of State bringing together the institutional, academic and cultural effort at a time when, unfortunately, we once again have a war on the borders of Europe, with huge population movements, attacks and sites to population centers .

The inauguration ceremony was also attended by Alberto Garzón Espinosa, Minister of Consumption, Francisco de la Torre Prados, Mayor of Malaga, Emilia Garrido Oliver, responsible for Plastic Arts and Museum Spaces, Fernando Martínez López, Secretary of State for Democratic Memory and Diego Blázquez Martín, Director General of Democratic Memory.

The exhibition, curated by Encarnación Barranquero, Lucía Prieto Borrego and with the support of a scientific committee composed of professors from the Universities of Malaga, Granada and Almería, tries to show citizens, based on a wide set of documentary, photographic and testimonial, the magnitude and transcendence of this historic event, above all, focusing on the suffering of the civilian population as a result of the war. It does so through a tour of five rooms that aims to show the situation of Malaga and its population before "la desbandá", during the same and the extension of that exodus to other distant cities, and even exile.

More than 250 pieces are exhibited, which come from numerous public and private institutions and collections, national and international, among which are:. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Cooperation, the Ministry of Defense, the General Archive of the Administration, the National Historical Archive, the National Library, the University of Malaga, the Municipal Archive of Seville, the Archivio centrale dello Stato (Italy), the Magnum Photos Paris Agency, the Municipal Photo Gallery of Seville, the Institute of Social History of Amsterdam, the Municipal Archive of Almeria, the Library of Catalonia, the Municipal Historical Archive of Marbella and the Spanish Red Cross.

The exhibition will be open to the public from 9 September to 31 October 2022.