TEARS AND EMOTION AT LA SAUCEDA

Recuérdalo tú y recuérdalo a otros
Cuando asqueados de la bajeza humana,
cuando iracundos de la dureza humana:
Este hombre solo, este acto solo, esta fe sola.
Recuérdalo tú y recuérdalo a otros.
Luis Cernuda, 1936

Over the weekend Jimena de la Frontera hosted its first ‘Jornadas de Memoria Históricas’ dedicated to uncovering many of the facts surrounding the Spanish Civil War both in the village and wider province of Cádiz.

The presentations and round-table events were hosted at the Casa Verde of the environmental group Agaden. The conference itself was organised by the CGT, Partido Comunista, Izquierda Unida with the support of the Diputación de Cádiz and Jimena town hall.

Every session was packed with an audience ranging from a tall proud man, sadly now on walking sticks, who had fled the village on foot just days before Franco’s troops arrived to young people keen to learn the past and what had happened to the grand parents and great grand parents.

The weekend reached its climax on the Sunday with a visit to La Sauceda about 25 kilometres from Jimena, which is within the municipal boundaries of Cortes de la Frontera in Málaga province.

In November 1936 Lieutenant José Robles of the Instituto Armado led his troops from Ubrique to La Sauceda were they rendezvoused with other forces. La Sauceda was a small mountain top hamlet that for generations had been a refuge for bandits. Now apart from the local population it was a place of hiding for the many Republican and communist supporters that had fled the advance of Franco’s forces.

Several hundred people were sheltering there and the Nationalist force made up of the army, Falange, Guardia Civil and Militias crept up on La Sauceda through the woods. After an aerial attack in which many men were killed or fled the troops moved in and took the inhabitants prisoners.

The women and children were taken to the nearby cortijo of El Marrufo in lorries where they were held in the chapel. The men were taken on foot. Many of the women were raped before both they and the children were shot and dumped in a mass grave. The grave beneath one of the buildings is as of yet unexcavated but along with the men's graves nearer Puerto de Galis they are believed to be amongst the largest in the province with hundreds of victims.

So it was to this now ruined hamlet that the participants in the conference came. They gathered to lay flowers in the memory of all those who had perished at La Sauceda and locally in the Civil War. An emotive address was read out by José María Pedreño Gómez, the founder and president of the Federación Estatal de Foros por la Memoria, as an old woman, surrounded by her family, proudly held a photograph of her father who had died defending the Republic.

It is at these moments that the politics, the facts and the figures are stripped away. It is then you are faced with the raw emotion felt by those who suffered these deeds all these years ago. It was not statistics that perished but fathers and mothers, sons and daughters, brothers and sisters. It would take a stronger man (or woman) than me not to have been affected by their openly displayed grief and I have no shame in saying my tears mingled with theirs on this hallowed ground.

FRANCO’S LAST STAND

It is 33 years since General Franco died and now the regional government of Melilla has stated that its bronze statue of the dictator will be removed within the next 15 days.

Once the statue of Franco comes down there will be no more commemorative figures left in the nation’s streets to the man who ruled the country from the end of the Civil War in 1939 and his death in November 1975. The last statute on the mainland, in Santander, was removed last December.

Daniel Conesa, spokesperson for the Melilla regional government, said the statue would be kept in storage then transferred to a military museum.

The North African enclave of Melilla is removing the statue of ‘El Caudillo’ to comply with the controversial Law of Historical Memory. Under the 2007 law local authorities must remove symbols of the dictator or his supporters such as statues or plaques and change road names associated with the regime. But many right-wing local authorities have resisted attempts by campaigners to force them to comply with the legislation.

General Franco had close associations with North Africa and Melilla had refused to take down the statue of claiming it was erected in 1975 as a tribute to the “commander of the Legion of Melilla”, not as homage to the dictator. Franco fought in the Spanish Rif war against Moroccan tribesman and, in 1921, led a partial victory in Melilla. Of course he also launched his attacks at the start of the Civil War from North Africa.

I had my doubts about the Melilla claim until I saw the statue. I have to admit that unless I had read the plaque I would not have recognised the young Franco as the famed dictator.

My view has always been that how Spain deals with the memories of the Civil War and dictatorship is for Spaniards alone to decide, especially those who lived through those times.

I admit that my basic sympathies are with the left and those who suffered under the Franco regime. However I also recognise that many in Spain supported the Nationalist ideals and do so to in some degree to this day. What worries me is that in the drive to balance the books of history their legitimate ‘historic memory’ is being denied and swept away as if it never happened. It did and has shaped the Spain of today.

SLAUGHTER AT LA SAUCEDA

One of the tragedies of the Spanish Civil War is that no area of a city, a town, village or hamlet escaped its own act of terror and death.

The events of those times are rarely spoken of, especially to strangers, and equally it is not a topic you raise with Spaniards.

Over a decade ago I wrote a play on the last days of La Pasionaria – Dolores Ibarruri – one of the most famous figures of the Civil War. I lived at the time in a secluded valley where one of the houses had a small bar where locals would gather. In passing I happened to mention the play and was stunned that the news was greeted with shock and disbelief. I quickly changed the subject but suspected that the wide family of farmers that had lived there for generations had been supporters of Franco and the Nationalist cause. One of the younger residents of the valley did tell me later that in his village of San Pablo de Buceite there had lived a man named “the butcher” because of his deeds during the Civil War and he had only in recent years gone to wherever assassins go.

There is a lovely driver from Jimena de la Frontera to Ubrique via the Puerto de Galiz with its famous ‘venta’ bar-restaurant. En route you pass the hamlet of La Sauceda which is now a campsite and popular with walkers. Just pass Puerto de Galiz you come to a large house with a chapel – Marrufo. This was the scene of a bloody slaughter in 1936 which lives on in the local memory to this very day.

At La Sauceda, which had been inhabited from the 16 th century, was a community of communists and Republic supporters. They were attacked by a force made up of Franco’s Nationalist troops, Falange, the Guardia Civil and Militias. The captured women and children were then taken by lorry to Marrufo and the men followed on foot. Once there they were held captive in the chapel – many of the women were raped – then finally they were shot and dumped in communal graves.

There is an opportunity to learn more about those troubled times when Jimena hosts ‘I Jornadas de Memoria Histórica’ between March 27 and 29. It is being organised by the Izquierda Unida and Communist parties, the UGT union with the backing of the ecologist group Agaden, the province of Cádiz and Jimena town hall. Respected experts will discuss the tragic events of those years. In addition there will be a discussion on the slaughter at La Sauceda. For me, and I am sure many others, the most poignant moment will come on the Sunday with a visit to La Sauceda and a commemoration ceremony. I know many people would prefer that this period in Spain’s history was left to rest. However too much injustice exists to this day with many of the dead laying in unmarked graves beside roads and down gullies. Before we move on we must at least honour and understand the dreadful wrongs of the past – on both sides of the Nationalist & Republican divide.

OUR VIEW OF THE SPANISH CIVIL WAR

Next year will mark 70 years since the end of the Spanish Civil War but of course the legacy continued much longer under the Franco regime.

It is still very much with us today as communities seek to find out what happened in their midst or where their dead are buried all these years on. This is not just some rarefied action taken by senior judges such as Gárzon but involves even the smallest communities. Indeed as I write this my own village has seen a grant made to José Manuel Algarbani to investigate the Civil War and post-war period.

I have always viewed such sensitive matters as being for Spaniards alone. However the civil war was not simply Spanish but an international encounter involving Germans, Italians, Russians and all those who volunteered for the International Brigades including many Britons.

Looking back over all those years it now seems absurd that the US, British and French Governments stood idly by following a policy of non-intervention whilst the legitimately elected government in Madrid was attacked and overthrown. Had they acted would the Second World War been averted? Who knows? However we should remember that the US entered WWII late because of its isolationist stance so we shouldn’t be surprised that much of Middle American supported the Catholic crusader Franco against the Moscow aligned government in Madrid.

It was not only foreign fighters that were in Spain at the time but also news correspondents. I must therefore commend to you Paul Preston’s new book – We Saw Spain Die – Foreign Correspondents in the Spanish Civil War.

It is estimated that around 1,000 journalists and writers were in Spain during the conflict and five of those were killed. Those who reported from the rebel zone were threatened with death or placed on Gestapo lists if they were found to have reported objectively.

The Times correspondent, George Steer, reported that “the reflection of the flames could be seen in the clouds of smoke above the mountains from 10 miles away.” He was witnessing the carpet bombing of Guernica by the Luftwaffe – a tragedy that was denied by Franco over the next 35 years.

Louis Fischer writing in the New York weekly ‘The Nation’ observed “it was not enough to write” and hence many correspondents became nurses, fighters, advisors and spies.

Herbert Matthews of the New York Times stated: “Spain was the melting pot in which the dross came out and pure gold remained. It gave meaning to life.” Indeed later he probably spoke for much of the international press corps when he wrote: “We left our hearts there.”

I leave the final word of this blog to Martha Gellhorn who wrote about the Republicans and their legitimately elected government: “They were fighting for us all against the combined forces of fascism. They deserved our thanks and our respect and got neither.”

These brave correspondents deserve our time in once again reading their stories and Paul Preston deserves our praise for putting together this fine book.