Remembering the Children of the Spanish Civil War
This year marks the 75th anniversary of the evacuation of 4,000 children from Spain by sea to the United Kingdom. A broadcast at 11:00pm on Monday, June 18th (tonight) on bbc.co.uk told the “heart-warming story of how British people welcomed the Spanish children, and strived to make a difference during [the Spanish Civil War].” The story is told through refugees’ own first hand experiences and explores topics from the escape on the S.S. Habana to Great Britain from Bilbao, to the importance of the British Socialists in combating a fascism-sympathizing government. While many children eventually did return home to Spain (many after extended periods of time), a large portion of evacuees remained in Great Britain, and still live there today. While the 4,000 refugees have lived very diverse lives since their escape, each of their stories helps to preserve an important collective historical memory.
