Memories of the Spanish Civil War, exile and political repression under Franco: Basque children's personal testimonies (1936–40).

The following interviews were conducted during the field work of my doctoral thesis, funded by the University of Reading. Interviews were conducted face to face in the summer of 2019 in Bizkaia. Both interviewees were over 90 years old when interviewed and lived through the state repression suffered under Franco's regime following their childhood exile. The fear that they endured remained latent. These excerpts are parts of interviews relating to their personal experience of childhood exile in the context of the Spanish Civil War. When the war intensified on the northern front with the bombing of the civilian population (specifically the bombings of Otxandio in July 1936 and Gernika in April 1937), the Basque Government of the Second Spanish Republic organized the so-called 'expediciones infantiles' ('childhood expeditions') for the evacuation of children. These first-person testimonies show how these children lived their experience of exile as refugees and their subsequent integration into Franco's Spain, a hostile space for them, as the evacuated children were considered traitors, 'los hijos de los rojos' ('the children of Reds'). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Las siguientes entrevistas se realizaron durante el trabajo de campo de mi tesis doctoral, financiada por la Universidad de Reading, Reino Unido. Las entrevistas se produjeron cara a cara con los entrevistados en el verano de 2019 en diferentes zonas de Bizkaia. Ambos entrevistados tenían más de noventa años en el momento de la entrevista, y vivieron de primera mano la represión de estado llevada a cabo por el régimen franquista tras su exilio infantil. El miedo está todavía latente en sus testimonios. Estos extractos sobre su exilio siendo niños, en el contexto de la guerra civil española, son parte de sus entrevistas más extensas. Cuando la guerra se intensificó en el frente norte, con el bombardeo de la población civil (bombardeo de Otxandio en julio de 1936 y Gernika en abril de 1937), el gobierno vasco de la Segunda República organizó las llamadas 'expediciones infantiles' para la evacuación de niños. Estos testimonios de primera mano muestran cómo estos niños vivieron la experiencia del exilio como refugiados, y su posterior adaptación a la España franquista, un espacio hostil para ellos, ya que el régimen consideró traidores a los evacuados, considerándoles 'los hijos de los Rojos'. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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