Memory of the “Retirada” and successive generations: From silence to cacophony

Abstract

In the spring of 1939, the Spanish Civil War, which since the summer of 1936 had brought into conflict Republicans and supporters of Franco, was coming to an end. Fleeing the advance of Franco’s army, thousands of Spaniards crossed the Pyrenees seeking refuge in the department of the Pyrenees-Orientales. Men were interned in camps, women, children and elderly in “shelters”. Since 2000 descendants of these refugees have created many associations aiming to break through the wall of silence surrounding this exodus of 1939, with multiple commemorative activities (marches, inaugurations of memorials, exhibitions, etc.). Nonetheless, looking more closely one can see that these associations are not, as they think, the first guardians of this memory. Well before them others had evoked that exodus. Amongst these, Spanish Civil War veterans had very often formed associations. Thus, passing in a way from parents to children, this memory underwent subtle but important changes, the reasons and effects of which are analyzed here.

Key words: Spanish Civil War, migration, confinement, memory.