Go to content

Tribute to the victims of the Spanish republican exile

08/05/2023
Tribute to the victims of the Spanish republican exile

The Secretary of State for Democratic Memory, Fernando Martínez, together with the mayors of Collioure and Argelès-sur-Mer, and hundreds of descendants of people exiled after the war in Spain, have paid a heartfelt tribute to the victims of Spanish exile in Le Perthus, Collioure and Argelès-sur-Mer (France).

Le Perthus, Collioure, Argelès-sur-Mer , France

Article 8 of the Democratic Memory Act (LMD) establishes May 8 as a day of tribute to the victims of exile: "May 8 of each year is declared as a day of remembrance and tribute to the men and women who suffered exile as a result of the War and Dictatorship." This date coincides with the definitive victory of the allied troops over the Nazi and fascist troops, putting an end to the Second World War, a day commemorated in France as "Victory Day".

This year the commemoration of the "Day of Exile" took place in the French stages of Le Perthus, Argelès-sur-Mer and Collioure, after having commemorated this date in the two years prior to the approval of the LMD in Madrid (Casa de América) and Alcalá de Henares (Cervantes Theatre).

Le Perthus, because it was one of the emblematic places of crossing the border of the bulk of the Spanish Republican exile in 1939, Argelès-sur-Mer, the first concentration camp in which the largest number of Spanish Republicans were confined after crossing the border (more than 80,000 Spanish exiles passed through the camp), and the municipality of Collioure, because it is an emblematic place of exile when the tomb of the great universal poet Antonio Machado is located in its cemetery.

The day began in Le Perthus where a 800m march was carried out. In memory of the border crossing in painful circumstances of thousands of exiles. The Secretary of State for Democratic Memory, accompanied by the Consul General of Spain in Perpignan, the councillors of the Foral Community of Navarre and Principality of Asturias, the Delegate of the Government in Catalonia, the Subdelegates of Barcelona and Girona, and the Prefect and Subprefect of the Eastern Pyrenees, and hundreds of descendants of the exile participated in it.

The municipality of Collioure hosted a floral offering at the tomb of Antonio Machado and the Act of State in which seventeen Declarations of Recognition were delivered. Recibieron dichas Declaraciones Jesús García Martínez, Carlos Martínez Parera, Hortensia Cobo de Diego, Francisco Cid Telle, Gabriel Pradal Gómez, Luis Fernández Juan, Ana Floristán Jimeno, José Carlos Vallejo Calderón, Pablo Ruiz Picasso, Geneviève Dreyfus-Armand, Asociación Niños de Rusia, FFREEE (Association de Fils et Filles de Républicaines Espagnols et Enfants de l´Exode de Argelès-sur-Mer), Mémorial du Camp de Rivesaltes, Maternité Suisse d´Elne, Museu Memorial de l´Exil, CIIMER (Centro de Investigación e Interpretación de la memoria de la España Republicana), y Pau Casals i Defilló.

Finally, the cemetery of the Spanish Exiles and the monolith of the Memorial in Argelès-sur-Mer were the scene of the commemoration with two floral offerings.