AEMI

SUSANA SABÍN-FERNÁNDEZ
form including a declaration stating their
will to send them there.
In any case, between March and October
1937 there were four official expeditions
which transported a total of nearly
3,000 children to the USSR. In June
1937 there was an official evacuation of
455 children to Mexico, known as the
Niños de Morelia.
Switzerland was of considerable interest
as a safe haven for refugees. It seemed
to be a perfect solution for relief effort
owing to its neutral status and political
stability. It was also acknowledged
for having a distinguished history of an
ethical approach to armed conflicts, as
the Swiss were the pioneers of initiatives
such as the Red Cross and the Geneva
Convention.
Despite some initial internal disagreements
on whether to stay neutral or to
provide help, the Swiss authorities in aid
organizations established contacts with
representatives of international groups
and, in February 1937, the Swiss Committee
to Aid Spanish Children was formally
created. The committee was then
renamed Swiss Aid.
However, at this point something
unexpected happened. Once the Swiss
support had been officially offered, the
Spanish Republican Government’s attitude
changed and they started to lay a
series of obstacles on the table. Consequently
the project of taking a group of
500 children to the Helvetic Federation
did not materialize. Whatever the differences
and the fruitless first attempts,
once the international community
became involved with the organized
evacuations in the spring of 1937, Switzerland
became part of the scheme and
received a number of children.
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There are large discrepancies regarding
figures, and whilst some sources give
an estimate of about 450 children in
Switzerland, others practically double
it, quoting two groups of approximately
400 each. In any case this remains an
under-researched topic that evidently
requires further investigation.
Denmark was one of the twenty-four
countries which formed the International
Commission for the Assistance of
Child Refugees, previously named International
Commission for the Assistance
of Child Refugees. In 1937, the Committee
for Children’s Spanish Sojourn in
Denmark was conceived as a response to
the appeal for help. The intention was
to organize shelter for some 300 Spanish
children with Danish families. The
support for this particular venture was
not nearly as massive as it had been for
some previous relief action in relation
to other conflicts, and it resulted in the
small number of 122 Spanish children
from the Basque Country, Cantabria
and Asturias being taken to Denmark.
However, despite the low number, the
press dedicated some space to the children
on a daily basis, and the campaign
had popular support. These children
travelled from France in two separate
groups in September 1937 and they
were not accommodated privately but
in two colonies in Ordrup and Odense,
near Copenhagen. After a few months
there their presence became a rather
controversial topic and in August 1938
it was decided to send them back to
France, where they would be supported
with Danish funds in a mansion near
Paris. There was also a colony subsidized
by Danish funds in Catalonia before it
fell to Franco.