The Secretary of State for Democratic Memory, Fernando Martínez López, has attended the commemorative events for the declaration of Place of Democratic Memory of the city of Alicante, which has been published today in the Official State Gazette.

The Secretary of State has affirmed that “Alicante is closely linked to the Democratic Memory of Spain through three especially significant episodes: the bombing on the Central Market on May 25, 1938, the dramatic exile through the port of the city, as well as the tomb of Miguel Hernández.”

These milestones constitute, on their own, facts of singular relevance for their repercussions on the collective memory, linked to repression and violence against the population as a result of the resistance to the coup d’état of July 1936, the Spanish War and the Franco dictatorship, as well as to exile.

The Central Market of the city, bombed on May 25, 1938, when the Italian aviation that assisted the rebellious army dropped up to 90 bombs on the market, was completely overcrowded. The consequences of that massacre were 273 dead and at least 244 wounded, some of them very seriously.

The Port of Alicante became a great starting point for exile. From there, the Winnipeg and Marionga boats left, with the first refugees, on the 12th the Ronwyn did the same with more than 700 refugees, on the 19th the American Trader sailed with 859, and then small boats were added that left the ports of El Campello, La Vila Joiosa, Santa Pola and Torrevieja. Finally, on March 28, the last two ships start, the Maritime, with 32 passengers, and the Stanbrook, with 2,638 refugees. Today, the event was held alongside the bust of Captain Archibald Dickson, who captained the evacuation at the Stanbrook.

The third enclave is the tomb Miguel Hernández, a place of remembrance and tribute to the poet of the town who died in the infirmary of the prison of Alicante on March 28, 1942, as a result of the abandonment and mistreatment received by the Franco authorities.

Fernando Martínez highlighted the commitment of the Government of Spain to the recovery of the memory of the victims of war and dictatorship on the third anniversary of the approval of the Democratic Memory Law.

The Secretary of State remarked that the Government will follow the path marked by the law, with the declarations of ‘Places of Memory’, which to this day are 19, plus another 18 dossiers already initiated, and with the application throughout the Spanish territory “of a law that obeys the mandate of the UN, respect for human rights and that defends the dignity of the victims.”