AEMI

48 AEMI JOURNAL 2015
1937 immediately after the bombing of
the towns of Durango (31st March) and
Gernika (26th April).
In order to frame the issues that surrounded
and led to the evacuations we
must remember the complex international
diplomatic scenario of the Europe
of the 1930s. The prevailing policies of
appeasement had led to a Non-intervention
Agreement signed by 27 countries1
at the end of August 1936, which in
turn was counterbalanced by the birth
of a significant international volunteer
movement.
Aerial bombardment targeting civilians
and killing thousands in Basque
towns and cities was new within the European
context. As a result large numbers
of the population began to flee towards
Bilbao, leaving their homes behind to
seek refuge. An important consequence
was that this generated a revived interest
and a broader, often passionate, debate
about the War of 1936 within the international
community. It certainly played
a decisive part in the general response
concerning relief.
The idea of large numbers of children
being evacuated to other countries,
which had previously been rejected by
the foreign governments approached,
became a real prospect. These would
be the first massive child evacuations, a
new phenomenon in European contemporary
history. Due to the particularly
brutal treatment to which the Basques
were subjected there was a shift in public
opinion, and to some degree governments
relaxed their previous inflexible
stance with regard to non-intervention.
The treatment included:
• Civilians targeted by aerial bombings.
• Starvation and related illnesses aggravated
as a result of:
- An international embargo,
which was in effect favoring the
insurgents.
- The Italian and German attacks
of ships that carried supplies.
- The naval blockade of Bilbao in
March 1937, ordered by Franco to
stop food entry, which generated
much controversy with regard to international
law.
Consequently the Basque Government
made an appeal to the world to save
the Basque children. The cry for help
throughout the territories loyal to the
Republic was Salvad a los niños! (Save
the children!), since they were the most
vulnerable members of society.
The next step for the Basque Government
was to organize the evacuations;
both the internal ones within the territory
controlled by the Basque forces,
for which they had the support of the
Spanish Republican Government and
the Generalitat (Catalan Government),
and those to other countries. A variety
of foreign institutions and committees
collaborated in order to facilitate population
displacements. The committees
were mainly formed by political organizations,
trade unions, and humanitarian
aid groups, very often set up with the
sole purpose of helping refugees in general
or to provide asylum to a particular
group, such as the children.
Each evacuation was advertised in the
local press, where information with regard
to destination and other relevant
matters was displayed. There was also an
indication of any compulsory requirements
that needed to be met, such as
those related to the medical condition