“We don’t forget them.” The Spanish government is not forgetting, said Minister for Democratic Memory Félix Bolaños, referring to the hundreds of people who died in Gernika during the “indiscriminate” bombing of that Bay of Biscay city on April 26, 1937 by “the Nazis and Fascists “ died ”, who allied with Franco’s troops in the civil war. In recognition of all the victims of this “cruel” attack on a defenseless civilian population, the executive branch has decided to designate the city of Vizcaya as the “first place of remembrance” in the country, under Article 49 of the Democratic Commemoration Law, for those places where “events of of particular importance because of their historical importance” or “have been subjected to repression and violence because of their resistance to the coup d’état of July 1936”.
Gernika is a universal symbol against the barbarism and horrors of war. It was the scene of one of the bloodiest attacks of the national conflict, when German and Italian planes dropped dozens of high-explosive bombs, sowing horror among civilians. 86 years have passed since those events that are remembered by all, although the wounds have not yet fully healed. The political struggle is responsible for each anniversary to keep this tragic memory alive.
In an unprecedented event, a government minister this Wednesday attended the memorial events for the victims of the bombing, which the city council organizes every year. Bolaños attended the ceremony along with the Lehendakari, Iñigo Urkullu and other institutional and political authorities. This is the first time this has happened, but the presence of a minister in Gernika did not seem sufficient to the highest representative of the autonomous government. The Basque President believes that “a gesture of restorative justice is pending” by the state.
The decision to appoint Gernika as a “place of remembrance” had already been put forward by the District President in a speech to the Senate the day before. Pedro Sánchez said he deserves this award because of the “horror of the fascist bombings” that his people suffered in 1937.
Urkullu was not entirely pleased with this decision. In a message broadcast this afternoon through his social media account ahead of the solemn ceremony at the cemetery and his meeting with Bolaños, he said the state must apologize and show a gesture of appreciation to the victims. “It is important to recognize the damage done to help close wounds that have been open for too many years. He is a matter for a democratic state and must take the lead in that recognition, he owes it to the victims,” he defended in his recorded message. It is a claim also made by the mayor of Gernika, José María Gorroño, of the PNV.
Bolaños did not rule on this request from the nationalist leaders. He limited himself to saying that it was “a pride” for him to be in Gernika “as a representative of the legitimate government of the republic, which was attacked by the putschists” during the “indiscriminate bombings against the population of this country City as it happened in Durango, Eibar, Otxandio and other places in the rest of Spain.” “We commemorate all the people who lost their lives.Spanish democracy is also the result of this struggle because democracy never fell from the sky , it always had to be fought for. 86 years after this massacre that immortalized Picasso, I want to tell you that we have not forgotten you. His memory also inspires our democracy,” the Presidency Minister told reporters before declaring the entered the cemetery, at the gate of which Bolaños and Urkullu shook hands. A few minutes later a wreath was laid in front of the mausoleum to commemorate the victims of the bombing. Both leaders exchanged friendly words without going beyond the borders.
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Urkullu thanked the minister for attending the anniversary of the bombing. “It’s a step forward,” he admitted, but he has asked for more. The state owes Gernika “a gesture of restorative justice,” according to Lehendakari, which he says is “pending,” though the Biscay city “well deserves it” for being “a universal symbol of peace” and a “perennial seed for that.” coexistence of people and peoples”. Bolaños has agreed on this. He stressed that after the air raids of 1937 “the oak tree of Gernika, to which the Lehendakari swear and which is the symbol of freedom in the Basque Country, remained standing”. Speaking on behalf of the government, he stressed that “the memory of all the victims is still alive and today democracy is the result of their recognition”.
The nationalist-led autonomous executive has always taken the view that the state has an obligation to commemorate the victims of this barbarism. The demand for reparation to Gernika and moral redress for the harm suffered by its residents is a recurring demand. In this vein, a year ago the Socialist executive passed for the first time an institutional statement that included “unreserved condemnation” of the bombing of Basque cities like Durango, which had remained loyal to the Republican cause. In 2022, the Sánchez administration compared these events to the airstrikes on civilians that took place during the invasion of Ukraine by Russian troops.
That statement, positively reviewed by Urkullu, included a “commitment to surviving memory to all victims, both those who lost their lives and those who survived, who carried the images and experiences of the collective tragedy forever in their memories.” meant civil war”. “The city of Gernika is an integral part of Basque, Spanish and European memory. It represents the cruelty of the war against the civilian population,” the executive interpreted from Sánchez.
The ceremony at Gernika Cemetery this Wednesday was attended by members of Urkullu’s cabinet, PNV President Andoni Ortuzar; the Secretary General of the PSE-EE, Eneko Andueza; among others the senator of EH Bildu Gorka Elejabarrieta and the parliamentarian of the PP Carmelo Barrio. Twenty-four bouquets of flowers and two wreaths of flowers were laid in front of the tomb commemorating the victims while the bells rang.
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