Exhibition to commemorate child refugees of the Spanish civil war
The University of Southampton is holding a special exhibition to commemorate 75 years since thousands of Basque children were evacuated from Spain to the UK during the country’s civil war.
In 1937, 4,000 children made the journey by ship from Bilbao to Southampton to escape the fighting in Spain and were then sent to a temporary camp at North Stoneham, Eastleigh. Eventually they were either housed by charities, the church or families.
This exhibition in the Hartley Library’s Special Collections Gallery* tells their story through photos, objects and their own testament of the time. It is also part of a number of events celebrating the University of Southampton’s 60th anniversary.
Lecturer Dr Alicia Pozo-Gutierrez, from Modern Languages at the University, says, "The children left their homes and sailed across the stormy Bay of Biscay to Southampton. Everyone thought they would only be away for three months. In the event, many had returned home by 1939, but around 250 were still in Britain in 1945 and most of these went on to make their lives here."
Dr Pozo-Gutierrez has been studying the history of the children or ‘niños’ for many years and together with the Head of Special Collections at the University, Professor Chris Woolgar, she has worked on a Heritage Lottery Funded project to create an oral history of their experiences, a travelling exhibition – which toured Hampshire, and most recently a book.
Professor Woolgar comments, “The history of the niños is a powerful one, yet without the recordings made during this project the perspective of the children themselves would remain elusive. Their stories document the longer term experience of exile and life in another land.”
Many of the surviving evacuees are now in their eighties and will be reunited at a special 75th Anniversary weekend of events (12/13 May), organised by the Basque Children of 37 Association and the University of Southampton. This will include film screenings, discussions and presentations by students and film directors.
*The exhibition is open Monday to Friday, 8 May – 22 June and 16 – 27 July, 10am - 4pm, and at the same times on Saturday 12 May. For more information about the exhibition please visit: https://www.southampton.ac.uk/archives/exhibitions/exhibnews.html
To see the coverage the event has received in the media click here.
For more information about the University of Southampton’s 60 years of world changing achievements visit: https://www.southampton.ac.uk/60
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Dr Alicia Pozo-Gutierrez PhD, BA
Dr Alicia Pozo-Gutierrez is a Lecturer within Modern Languages at the University of Southampton.
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Professor Chris Woolgar BA, PhD, Dip. Arch. Admin, FBA, FRHistS
Chris Woolgar is Emeritus Professor of History and Archival Studies. He read Archaeology and History at the University of Southampton, before training as an archivist at the University of Liverpool. His archival career saw him working with collections from the twelfth century to the present day, including the archives of two Oxford colleges (Magdalen and Corpus Christi), and he spent much of his career as an archivist and curator at the University of Southampton Library, before joining the History Department in 2013.
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