The Struggle over the Evacuation to the United Kingdom and Repatriation of Basque Refugee Children in the Spanish Civil War: Symbols and Souls

Abstract

In May 1937, British charities and political activists combined forces to evacuate nearly 4000 Basque children from Spain to the United Kingdom. The evacuation marks one of the great chapters in twentieth century refugee history. Once General Franco's supporters conquered the whole of the Basque Country in early July 1937, a battle developed over the repatriation of the children. The historiography of these watershed events has focused on the bombing of Guernica as the cause of the evacuation, the impact upon domestic British politics and the role of centre and left activists in the struggle over the repatriation of the children to Franco’s Spain. This article provides a fresh context by exploring the role of the children as symbols of Francoist violence behind the lines in the controversy over the evacuation. It also places the repatriation battle in the new framework of the Francoist removal of children from political opponents. It further examines the right-wing British activists who advocated repatriation and explores their entangled relationship with Spanish Francoists.