The bombing of Guernica
Created | Updated Feb 23, 2018
The bombardment of Guernica took place in 1937. It is not only one of the bloodiest chapters of the Spanish Civil War,( A882902 ) it is also the first sample of modern warfare.
There are two people who made of this tragedy an anti-fascist and anti-war icon. The British-Southafrican journalist George Steer and the Spanish artist Pablo Ruiz Picasso.
THE BOMBING OF GUERNICA
Guernica , Guernika-Lumo in Euskera(1), is a town in the province of Biscay in the Basque Country, Spain. It is at 30km east of Bilbao.
It was a strategic point for communications.
On April 26th , 1937, there was an aerial attack that lasted more than three hours. About thirty tons of bombs were dropped. The villagers ran in panic seeking shelter and they were machine-gunned from planes. Everything was devastated except the Errentería bridge and some arms factories. The bombing wiped out most of the population and the buildings.
Civilians were the target. Creating horror through devastation was the plan of its master mind Colonel Wolfram Von Richthofen, a Nazi official that would plan other similar attacks, known as 'bliztkrieg', on Poland and France.
According to historians, Guernica was a place to try the deadly power of the Nazy Army. They had being bombing towns and machine-gunned civilians around Spain but not in such a degree of devastation.
The destruction was carried out by the German Condor Legion and the Italian air forces. They were commanded by the Francoist army, who had committed a coup d´etat on July, 18th , 1936.
The planes took off from Vitoria, a near town, went towards the coast and came back to the village so that Guernica was bombed throughout. There were three types of planes: Heinkel 111, Junker 52 for bombing and Heinkel 51 for machine-gun. There were two groups of about 20 planes that acted alternatively. First they dropped breaking bombs, then bunches of little flaming bombs and at the same time , the planes machine-gunned the panic-stricken population, not only those of Guernica, nearby villages also suffered the attack.
THE NON-INTERVENTION PACT
There was a pact among European countries to avoid participating in the Spanish war. However, Germany, Italy and Portugal broke that pact. The legal Spanish goverment asked for international help, only Russia offered it.
Churchill was against that Non-Intervention Pact. He knew that it was a war struggle between ordinary people and the establishment what caused the Spanish Civil War but he could also see the threat of fascism, and that was the real problem.
The Spanish Republican government was not backed because of its left-wing policies. The European establishment thought that it would be backing communism and let Spain alone.
SPREADING THE NEWS
George Steer was a war journalist. After covering the Italo-Ethiopian war, he was sent to Spain ( A27771348 ). In 1937 he was at the French-Spanish border. He reported on the destruction of Irún and Durango, two towns near Guernica. His reports also informed on refugees, who were flooding towards France, and on the progressive advance of Franco´s troops.
George Steer and other journalists arrived at Guernica at night. The town was sitll burning. The fire did not stop until several days later. All of them were shocked by the horror. Steer stayed in Guernica longer than the rest. On April 28th his report was published in The Times and in the New York Times. The reported atrocity showed that a new horrific kind of modern warfare had started.
The report(2) had an important political impact. It echoed in the British Parliament, the main international newspapers, leading religious figures in Britain... all of them were asking for action, many regretting the Non-Intervention Pact.
Soon, George Steer was in the black lists of Francoists and Nazis. Both accused the Spanish Republican army of causing the massacre. The Nazi propaganda said that the report was part of a Jewish-Marxist operation. The proof: Times spelled backwards is Semit.
COMMITTMENT
Picasso read Steer´s report on the communist French newspaper L´Humanité. The impact of those words would become the Guernica painting.(4)
He, as many other artists and professionals, considered that any person can change the nastiness of the world by doing the best they can in their personal sphere of work.
George Steer published The Tree of Guernica in 1938 : a Field Study of Modern War. He wanted to open the eyes to the world about the imperialism and fascism. In order to achieve that, committed professionals are needed:
“ A journalist is not a simple purveyor of news, whether sensational or controversial, or well-written, or merely funny. He´s a historian of every day´s events, and he has a duty to his public... and as a historian, must be filled with the most passionate and most critical attachment to the truth, so much the journalist, with the great power that he wields, see that the truth prevails.”
RECONCILIATION
In 1997,the then German president Herzog wrote a letter to the survivors. Germany admitted its implication in the air attack of 1937. There was a symbolic act of twinning between the town of Pforzheim and Guernica.
In Spain, the wounds of Guernica and of the rest of Spain are still open.
The socialist government of Zapatero passed the Law of Historical Memory (2007). The aim was to provide justice for the victims of the Francoist crimes. Most mass media in Spain are conservatives and present this law as a mistake since it only seeks to open closed wounds.
However, victims claim that they do not want revenge but justice. The current conservative government ignores the law completly. They even have not condemned the coup d´etat nor the dictatorship yet.
There are still many names of Francoist criminals in the streets of Spain and the fascist mausoleum where Franco is buried is kept with state funds. There are also many victims asking for a decent burial of the relatives that are in mass graves all around Spain.(4)
Those Guernica survivors in the twinning act said:
“We wanted, from the rubbles of what once was our village, a new flag of peace to emerge for the people of the world”
------------------------------------------------------------------------
–footnotes-
(1)http://www.bizkaiatalent.eus/en/pais-vasco-te-espera/senas-de-identidad/euskera-antigua-europa/
http://www.ehu.eus/en/web/eins/home
(2)http://poieinkaiprattein.org/kids-guernica/picasso-s-guernica/news-report-by-george-steer-for-the-times-about-guernica-1937/
(3)
Picasso was working on a mural for the International Exhibition of Paris. He changed his mind and painted the Guernica. http://www.museoreinasofia.es/en/collection/artwork/guernica
(4) After Cambodia, Spain is the second country with more mass graves in the world. This association helps relatives to find the rests of their loved ones. http://memoriahistorica.org.es/
There are two people who made of this tragedy an anti-fascist and anti-war icon. The British-Southafrican journalist George Steer and the Spanish artist Pablo Ruiz Picasso.
THE BOMBING OF GUERNICA
Guernica , Guernika-Lumo in Euskera(1), is a town in the province of Biscay in the Basque Country, Spain. It is at 30km east of Bilbao.
It was a strategic point for communications.
On April 26th , 1937, there was an aerial attack that lasted more than three hours. About thirty tons of bombs were dropped. The villagers ran in panic seeking shelter and they were machine-gunned from planes. Everything was devastated except the Errentería bridge and some arms factories. The bombing wiped out most of the population and the buildings.
Civilians were the target. Creating horror through devastation was the plan of its master mind Colonel Wolfram Von Richthofen, a Nazi official that would plan other similar attacks, known as 'bliztkrieg', on Poland and France.
According to historians, Guernica was a place to try the deadly power of the Nazy Army. They had being bombing towns and machine-gunned civilians around Spain but not in such a degree of devastation.
The destruction was carried out by the German Condor Legion and the Italian air forces. They were commanded by the Francoist army, who had committed a coup d´etat on July, 18th , 1936.
The planes took off from Vitoria, a near town, went towards the coast and came back to the village so that Guernica was bombed throughout. There were three types of planes: Heinkel 111, Junker 52 for bombing and Heinkel 51 for machine-gun. There were two groups of about 20 planes that acted alternatively. First they dropped breaking bombs, then bunches of little flaming bombs and at the same time , the planes machine-gunned the panic-stricken population, not only those of Guernica, nearby villages also suffered the attack.
THE NON-INTERVENTION PACT
There was a pact among European countries to avoid participating in the Spanish war. However, Germany, Italy and Portugal broke that pact. The legal Spanish goverment asked for international help, only Russia offered it.
Churchill was against that Non-Intervention Pact. He knew that it was a war struggle between ordinary people and the establishment what caused the Spanish Civil War but he could also see the threat of fascism, and that was the real problem.
The Spanish Republican government was not backed because of its left-wing policies. The European establishment thought that it would be backing communism and let Spain alone.
SPREADING THE NEWS
George Steer was a war journalist. After covering the Italo-Ethiopian war, he was sent to Spain ( A27771348 ). In 1937 he was at the French-Spanish border. He reported on the destruction of Irún and Durango, two towns near Guernica. His reports also informed on refugees, who were flooding towards France, and on the progressive advance of Franco´s troops.
George Steer and other journalists arrived at Guernica at night. The town was sitll burning. The fire did not stop until several days later. All of them were shocked by the horror. Steer stayed in Guernica longer than the rest. On April 28th his report was published in The Times and in the New York Times. The reported atrocity showed that a new horrific kind of modern warfare had started.
The report(2) had an important political impact. It echoed in the British Parliament, the main international newspapers, leading religious figures in Britain... all of them were asking for action, many regretting the Non-Intervention Pact.
Soon, George Steer was in the black lists of Francoists and Nazis. Both accused the Spanish Republican army of causing the massacre. The Nazi propaganda said that the report was part of a Jewish-Marxist operation. The proof: Times spelled backwards is Semit.
COMMITTMENT
Picasso read Steer´s report on the communist French newspaper L´Humanité. The impact of those words would become the Guernica painting.(4)
He, as many other artists and professionals, considered that any person can change the nastiness of the world by doing the best they can in their personal sphere of work.
George Steer published The Tree of Guernica in 1938 : a Field Study of Modern War. He wanted to open the eyes to the world about the imperialism and fascism. In order to achieve that, committed professionals are needed:
“ A journalist is not a simple purveyor of news, whether sensational or controversial, or well-written, or merely funny. He´s a historian of every day´s events, and he has a duty to his public... and as a historian, must be filled with the most passionate and most critical attachment to the truth, so much the journalist, with the great power that he wields, see that the truth prevails.”
RECONCILIATION
In 1997,the then German president Herzog wrote a letter to the survivors. Germany admitted its implication in the air attack of 1937. There was a symbolic act of twinning between the town of Pforzheim and Guernica.
In Spain, the wounds of Guernica and of the rest of Spain are still open.
The socialist government of Zapatero passed the Law of Historical Memory (2007). The aim was to provide justice for the victims of the Francoist crimes. Most mass media in Spain are conservatives and present this law as a mistake since it only seeks to open closed wounds.
However, victims claim that they do not want revenge but justice. The current conservative government ignores the law completly. They even have not condemned the coup d´etat nor the dictatorship yet.
There are still many names of Francoist criminals in the streets of Spain and the fascist mausoleum where Franco is buried is kept with state funds. There are also many victims asking for a decent burial of the relatives that are in mass graves all around Spain.(4)
Those Guernica survivors in the twinning act said:
“We wanted, from the rubbles of what once was our village, a new flag of peace to emerge for the people of the world”
------------------------------------------------------------------------
–footnotes-
(1)http://www.bizkaiatalent.eus/en/pais-vasco-te-espera/senas-de-identidad/euskera-antigua-europa/
http://www.ehu.eus/en/web/eins/home
(2)http://poieinkaiprattein.org/kids-guernica/picasso-s-guernica/news-report-by-george-steer-for-the-times-about-guernica-1937/
(3)
Picasso was working on a mural for the International Exhibition of Paris. He changed his mind and painted the Guernica. http://www.museoreinasofia.es/en/collection/artwork/guernica
(4) After Cambodia, Spain is the second country with more mass graves in the world. This association helps relatives to find the rests of their loved ones. http://memoriahistorica.org.es/
