Everyone Quiet! Do You Hear It?

Published today at Berria:

A muffled cry

Children exiled during the Spanish Civil War congregated nearly 70 years later in Bilbo yesterday; they were brought together by a documentary made about them; it was an emotionally-charged event

Irune Berro – BILBO

At the Euskalduna palace in Bilbo yesterday, Steve Bowles, the British film maker, presented his Gernika Generation documentary near the building where the Basque Government organised the evacuation of Basque children –today the Hotel Carlton– and not too far from Gernika, which suffered the most intense bombardment of the Spanish Civil War. The documentary features the testimonies of seven children exiled during the Spanish Civil War. And four of the seven attended the presentation: Jesus Urbina, Andres Gonzalez, Juanita Prieto and Begoña Ballestero. Emeterio Paya also took part in the documentary; as a child he was sent to Mexico and died not long ago. So he was given a special mention, a simple tribute.

Urbina, Gonzalez, Prieto and Ballestero recalled hair-raising experiences. And they were very moved. But they were satisfied. They know that their testimonies will last forever and that they will rekindle the short historical memory of the Basque Country.

Steve Bowles, the Director of the Gernika Generation documentary said, “When I was a child my parents put the Gernika painting up on the main wall of our living room; apart from this, we had taken some children who had escaped from the Basque Country to the United Kingdom into our home; that was why when I saw the images of the camp close to Liverpool at the film library of my town, I didn’t have any doubts: I had to make a documentary about the children who had had to leave their country because of the Spanish Civil War.” So sooner said than done. But not immediately. Bowles spent five years on the documentary. He gathered together numerous documents in the Basque Country, France, the United Kingdom, Russia and Mexico and then conducted some in-depth research. Bowles spoke to about 200 war children in all. He chose seven people, seven stories depicting the experiences of thousands of children. The documentary was shot mainly in the Basque Country and Mexico.

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