Franco’s army supporting the coup d’état steadily advanced, causing a constant exile of Republicans running away both from the bombings and the violent repression carried out by the army in the areas they were gradually occupying. The defeat of Barcelona, taking place on January 26th, 1939, was the main trigger to the massive exile towards the French border, known as la Retirada (the Retreat).
The history of Cerbère, a small town at the Côte Vermeille has been always subjected to their status as a border area. On 1864, France and Spain signed an agreement to connect their railway lines through the Belitres mountain pass, natural path of communication among Cerbère and the adjacent Spanish town Portbou. This decision entailed the building of a railway station in each town connected through an international tunnel opened in 1876.
At the last stage of the Spanish Civil War (1936-1939), General Franco’s coup army concluded the occupation of Catalonia on February 10th, 1939. Seeing the Francoist advance, over 450,000 Spanish republicans fled during the winter across the border into French territory. That massive exile was known as la Retirada (the Retreat). A few months before in France, precisely on November the 12th 1938, the government of Édouard Daladier approved a Decree-Law allowing the internment of “undesirable foreigners” under permanent surveillance.
The purpose of this website is to offer a guide to both general public and researchers of the museums of European political and violence, what content they offer and the topics that are not sufficiently represented. This website wants to help us to rethink the realities, shortcomings and possibilities of Public History in Europe.
This research was supported by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada.
