Repatriation to Spain

Repatriation

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Basque Children Leave for Home

    ANOTHER batch of olive-skinned young Basques bade farewell to Birmingham, their city of refuge, to-day, when they began the journey to war-wreaked Spain.
    Fourteen of them came from Elford and four from Offenham, and they were brought to Birmingham in the coach this morning, carrying with them bundles containing their belongings.
    Each had a large identification label tied to their clothing.
    Before leaving by train for London the children were received at the Council House by Ald. Harold Roberts, the Deputy Mayor.
    "We have been very happy to have you here with us," he said, "and we hope you will return to your homes to be just as happy. We hope you will always retain pleasant memories of England."
    Ald. Roberts presented a souvenir badge or brooch, consisting of the city arms, to each child, and there was a chorus of "T'ang you, sah!"

Newspaper article not known, but we believe it to be a cutting from a local Birmingham paper.

By the end of October 1937 the short-lived Basque Republic (Euzkadi) had been occupied, dismantled, and 'pacified'. The British government suggested that preparations should be made for the return of the children. A papal envoy, virtually representing the Franco regime, had visited England to urge prompt repatriation, producing letters from anxious parents to strengthen his case. Playing for time, the staunchly pro-Republican Children's Committee acted slowly and reluctantly. By February 1938 only about 900 children had been returned. With backing from the Catholic Church, led by Cardinal Hinsley, a Spanish Children's Repatriation Committee, chaired by the Duke of Wellington and including such ultra-reactionaries as Douglas Jerrold (who referred to Franco as "a hero,

Fascist re-education

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Basque children in the waiting rooms at Newhaven Docks on January 1944, prior to boarding for Bilbao.

Departing from Victoria station with children from 'The Oaks' Carshalton.

possibly a saint") and Lady Londonderry swung into action. In the letter columns of the Times accusations that innocent children were being turned into 'Christ-hating little Communists' were answered by allegation, that too often repatriation would mean semi-stavation and misery in and orphanage and that children would be treated as politically suspect and subjected to 'fascist re-education'.
Certainly for many children repatriation was a terrible ordeal. Father's were dead or in prison, mothers at their wits' end to survive. Returning to Guernica after an absence of nearly three years, the Ozamiz children were kept for a while in a convent of disapproving nuns in Bilbao.
"They treated us like miniature monsters, the children of Reds," says Koni. "When our parents arrived, the nuns pushed us out and slammed the door behind us as if we were mangy animals. We had to forget the socialist songs we had sung in France and learn the falangist anthem, Cara al Sol."

Children from The Oaks, Carshalton in the refreshment room of Victoria station.

During the severe famine of the 1940s (ed--in Spain) children filched food from horses' nosebags and tuberculosis was rampant, The Basque language and culture was driven underground. According to the official version Guernica had been destroyed by the Reds in order to put the blame on the Nationalist 'crusaders'.
By the end of 1939 most of the refugees in England had gone back. But some Basque parents had sent carefully coded letters warning their children to stay where they were...

Article taken from The Children They Sent Away in the Magazine LOOKOUT, September 1983.

Carshalton group leaving forBilbao.

A woman carer waving good-bye to children leaving for Spain from the Langham colony.

We assume that this train is leaving from Colchester station heading for Victoria, and from there, another train will be caught, and on to the coast of England, before embarking aboard a ship for Spain.

A group photograph showing the children from Langham colony at the station of Colchester due to leave for Spain.

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A newspaper cutting, but unfortunately we don't know which newspaper, nor the colony where the children set out from.

The fact of returning to Spain after the civil war was known to be a mixed blessing. Recriminations by the fascist government are known and many more are now finally emerging.

It was also a period of extreme poverty and unemployment and many children were, having been made orphans, were to endure great emotional hardship.

More to follow soon