History & Research - CAROLINE AVAKIAN

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1939 Historical Context:

1. Over half a million Spaniards fled to France in early 1939 Following the fall of the Spanish Republic at the end of the Spanish Civil War, more than 450,000–500,000 Spanish civilians and soldiers crossed the Pyrenees into France in what became known as La Retirada. They arrived exhausted, injured, and often separated from family members.

2. France confined Spanish refugees in improvised camps under harsh conditions The French government interned Spanish refugees in hastily constructed camps across southern and central France. Many camps lacked adequate shelter, sanitation, food, and medical care, leading to widespread illness and death, especially among children and the elderly.

3. Spanish refugees were classified as “undesirable foreigners,” not asylum seekers Despite fleeing fascism, Spanish refugees were not granted political asylum. Instead, under the French Third Republic, they were treated as foreign labor risks or political threats, confined under military guard, and subjected to surveillance and forced labor programs.

4. Thousands of Spanish refugees were later deported to Nazi camps After the German occupation of France, Spanish refugees became one of the first non-Jewish groups deported to Nazi concentration camps, most notably Mauthausen concentration camp. The Spanish government told the Nazis to do whatever they wanted with them. More than 7,000 Spaniards were sent there, and the majority did not survive.

5. Spain refused to reclaim its own citizens The Franco regime officially denied citizenship to Republican exiles, leaving Spanish refugees stateless. This abandonment made them especially vulnerable to deportation, forced labor, and extermination, as no government intervened on their behalf.

NOTE: This history was only formally acknowledged in the last decade.

For decades after World War II, the experiences of Spanish refugees in France remained largely absent from official histories in both Spain and France. It was only within roughly the last ten to fifteen years that sustained efforts by historians, survivor testimony, and the work of refugees’ children and grandchildren forced broader public recognition.

Through oral histories, recovered archives, and legal advocacy, survivors and their descendants compelled both governments to acknowledge Spain’s abandonment of Republican exiles and France’s role in their internment and deportation. Much of what is now known exists because individuals spoke when institutions did not.