Museum honors Gilberto Bosques, Mexican diplomat
Gilberto Bosques (1892-1995), the Mexican diplomat who saved thousands of lives of anti-fascist European refugees in the wake of the Spanish Civil War and the outbreak of World War II, has been honored with the opening of his own museum in Puebla, La Jornada reports. Mexican president Lázaro Cárdenas appointed Bosques consul to Paris in 1939; after the German occupation of the French capital, he transferred to Marseilles. Bosques worked hard to assist thousands of Spanish Republicans still detained in concentration camps in Southern France–helping convince Cárdenas to open Mexico’s doors to an unlimited number of Spaniards, and renting two castles to house Republican refugees whose asylum requests were in pcoess–as well as Jewish refugees trying to make it to safety. Arrested by the Germans in 1942, Bosques and his family were allowed to travel back to Mexico after a prisoner exchange. Among the many individuals whose lives Bosques helped save were some prominent intellectuals, including María Zambrano, Carl Aylwin, Manuel Altolaguirre, Wolfgang Paalen, Max Aub, Marietta Blau, Egon Erwin Kisch, Ernst Röemer, and Walter Gruen. More on the museum here.
I am looking for a listing of names of all the Mexican volunteers who assisted in the Spanish Civil War- there were 90 volunteers mentioned. I need the names for work my husband Jorge Soto Curiel is carrying out at the Mexican Aerospacial museum of which he is a member. Please, please could you help direct us to websites or to a book that would have these names in them together with the military. I have been trying to contact Hugh Thomas author of ‘Rivers of Gold’. Thank you. Kind regards- Ana Maria Das Gupta
This is not only forgotten history but also ignored history!! I am proud of Gilberto Bosques!!! It is a shame that he is not more known & more properly recognized, especially in Mexico & throughout Latin America!!! I think a documentary & or a movie about his remarkable life would be more than appropriate & also long overdue! Thank you Gilberto Bosques!!! 🙂
Michael Cristian (actor)