The Government of Spain has honoured today, at the Niemeyer Centre in Avilés (Asturias), those who, after the war and during the dictatorship, had to leave the country by force for political and ideological reasons. This act has recognized the role of these men and women, who were fundamental in the defense of democracy, both from exile and in the fight against fascism in Europe and Latin America.
The ceremony, which was attended by the Minister of Equality, Ana Redondo; the President of Asturias, Adrián Barbón; and the Secretary of State for Democratic Memory, Fernando Martínez, influenced the role of the so-called “children of war”, with the delivery of declarations of recognition and reparation to their families. It has also been celebrated in the week of the 80th anniversary of the liberation of the concentration camp of Mauthausen (Austria), on May 5, 1945, where more than 7,000 Spaniards and Spaniards were deported.
More than 450,000 people went into exile for political reasons after the Spanish War, and their contribution was fundamental in the countries that hosted them, being a key factor of cultural and intellectual renewal. Writers, artists, philosophers and scientists such as Max Aub, María Zambrano, José Gaos or Clara Campoamor among hundreds of thousands of Spaniards and Spanish, settled in different European and Latin American countries, where they continued their creative and intellectual work. His influence extended to literature, philosophy and politics. They actively contributed to the processes of democratization, cultural development and the fight against totalitarianism. They did so in Europe, in the resistance against Nazism; and in Latin America, in the movements against the Central American and Southern Cone dictatorships.
Mauthausen and Nazi concentration camps
This weekend the events commemorating the liberation of the last Nazi concentration camp take place in Mauthausen, precisely the one that housed more people from Spain, exiles captured by the German regime and its collaborators. Franco's regime did not recognize them and they were identified by the Germans with the blue triangle of the stateless and with the "S" of "Spanier". It is estimated that more than 5,000 people who arrived from Spain died in the Nazi concentration camp of Mauthausen, in Austria.
Within the framework of the Democratic Memory Act of 2022, the State officially recognizes for the first time Republicans and Republicans deported to Nazi camps as victims of Franco’s regime, and undertakes to repair their memory. The State expressly assumes its obligation to protect, maintain and promote the democratic memory of these victims, as well as the duty to publicly honor their history, recognizing that the Franco regime abandoned and denied their protection before the Nazi regime.
Boys and girls of war
This year, the Ministry of Territorial Policy and Democratic Memory of the Government of Spain wanted to celebrate the tribute to exile by focusing on the children of the war who left from the ports of Asturias, especially from El Musel, in Gijón. In the midst of Franco’s offensive against northern Spain, between June and October 1937 hundreds of minors aged between 4 and 14 were sent to countries of solidarity such as the Soviet Union, France, Belgium, the United Kingdom or Mexico, in a humanitarian operation promoted by the Government of the Republic to protect them from bombing and repression.
These minors, known as “war children,” lived a long, uncertain and, in many cases, permanent exile. Some joined their host countries and never returned to Spain; others participated in the European Resistance during the Second World War or suffered new tragedies in conflict contexts, as happened with those who were welcomed into the Soviet Union. Its history is a symbol of uprooting, but also of the resilience and dignity of Republican childhood.
In this context, this morning the State delivered the Declarations of Recognition and Reparation to the families of:
Nuria Balcells de Los Reyes, known literally as Nuria Parés, was a poet, essayist and translator. At the age of thirteen he left Spain with his family in 1938. First Paría, then New York, Havana and finally Mexico, where he died in 2010.
Pablo Benítez Castellano, who in 1939 crossed the French border and was interned, together with his family, in the Argelès-sur-Mer camp. Subsequently, the entire family went into exile in the Soviet Union. He returned to Spain in 1957.
Rosario Celia Canteli Osegui, evacuated in 1937 from Gijón to the Soviet Union. Three brothers marched with her: Ricardo, Marina and Amelia. He returned in 1996. Rosario is the widow of another child of the war, Ceferino Menor.
Alejandro Rodríguez Álvarez, known as ‘Alejandro Casona’, member of the generation of 27, linked to the Free Institution of Education, National Prize of Literature, went into exile to Buenos Aires. He returned in 1962 and died in Madrid in 1965.
Aurora Correa Hidalgo, arrived in Mexico at the age of 7 in the group known as the ‘Children of Morelia’. His professional work was always related to education, literature and the dissemination of culture. He died in 2008 in Guanajuato.
José Cuenca Pina, son of José Cuenca, deported to Mauthausen. In 1939, Algeria was exiled aboard the Stanbrook, where he was interned in the Relizane and Bou Arfa concentration camps. He managed to reunite with his family. He died in Colomb-Béchar in 1956.
Emilio Díaz Reverte, left in 1939 at the Stanbrook, passenger number 316. He passed through the concentration camps of Camp Morand, Bou Arfa and Foum Defla. He went into exile in Montpellier until his return to Barcelona in 1950, where he died in 1957.
Alfredo Espinosa Gómez, son of Alfredo Espinosa, Basque Minister of Health, shot in 1937. That same year he went into exile in Belgium, where he remained with his family until 1940. They returned fleeing the German army in very difficult conditions.
Acracio Fernández Pérez. With his father sentenced to life imprisonment, he embarks from Le Havre to Leningrando, along with the rest of the “children of war”. He returns on the first expedition of returned children but returns to exile in Denmark and Belgium. He returned definitively to Spain in 1970.
Andrés Gimeno Palacios, was exiled in 1939 aboard the Stanbrook to Oran. He went through various fields and when he returned to Oran he was director of various publications, as in France some time later. He died in Hendaye, in 1992.
Conrado Lizcano Montealegre. In 1939 he managed to reach the port of Cartagena where he embarked on the Campilo towards Oran. There he suffered all kinds of difficulties and internment in Algerian camps. When Franco died, he returned to Spain. He died in Altea in the year 2000.
Pelayo José Lopez Pérez. He left in the autumn of 1937 to return and go back to France in 1939, where he left for Mexico aboard Sinaia. In 2016 he returned to Asturias and in 2020, at the age of 94, he died in Gijón. He always stood out for his great sensitivity in the recovery of democratic memory.
José Maldonado González. Elected mayor in the district of Tuña by the Socialist Radical Republican Party in the municipal elections of 1931, and deputy in 1936, he went into exile in France where he served as minister and president of the Republic in exile. He came back with the democracy. He died in Oviedo in 1985.
Teresa Medina Navascués. He is exiled with his family to Mexico, in the Mexique. She worked as a hairdresser, assistant, editor, editor, advertising director and writer. He was integrated into an intellectual environment, along with other exiles such as Octavio Paz, Max Aub and León Felipe. He died in Mexico in 2009.
Vicente Moreira Picorel. He embarked with his brother Ramón to the Soviet Union from the port of El Musel, in Gijón. In 1945 he enrolled, in Moscow, in the School of Arts and Artistic Crafts. He returns in 1956. He is the author of the memorial to the children of Russia, on the beach of Arbeyal, in Gijón. He died in Madrid in 2009.
Maria Luisa Muñiz Concheso. Evacuated in 1937 from the port El Musel to Leningrad. He studied at the ‘Boarding School for Blind Children’ because he was blind from childhood, and as a result of a serious illness he lost his ear. She graduated from the University of Leningrad with a degree in Russian Philology. In 1987 he returned with his son and settled in Asturias.
José Muñoz Congost. At the end of the war, he embarked on the Stanbrook on his way to Oran. He was interned in the concentration camp of Hadjerat M’Guil. He settled in Algiers and in 1947 was appointed secretary of the Libertarian Youth of Africa. He died in 1996 in Limoges.
Francisco Padrino González. Exiled to the Stanbrook in 1939, he was interned in various labor and concentration camps where he survived until 1942. He was reunited with his family in Casablanca in 1956. He returned in 1980. He died in Madrid in 1994.
Matilde de la Torre Gutiérrez. Journalist, writer, pedagogue and politician. He held the general direction of Trade and Tariff Policy in the governments of Largo Caballero, until March 1937. Exiled in France and, finally, in Mexico. She died in 1946, being buried in the Spanish Pantheon.
Vicente Verdeguer Hipa. At the end of the war he had to go into exile to avoid a safe death. He embarked on the African Trader and arrived in Oran where he ended up in various French concentration camps and forced labour. In 1960 he returned to Valencia and continued his militancy in clandestinity. He died in Bétera in 2008.