Guernica

Chris and I both got good news about school.  I passed my exam to move onto the next level and he got into the higher level that he was seeking.  Carnival is what most Americans know by the French name of "Mardi Gras", and it starts today, so Chris and I are going to go out and celebrate our accomplishments.  Héctor said that it´s not a big event here, but we'll check it out anyway.  Now those of you good Catholics who are saying to yourselves that Ash Wednesday is not until next week; well this is Spanish culture baby, and these people get a head start on the partying.  Carnival lasts from today right up until the first day of Lent.  ¡Madre mia!

Guernica is a small town in the Basque region of Northern Spain which was the setting of a horrible war crime during the Spanish Civil War (1936-1939).  Civilians were fleeing the advance of mercenary troops throughout the province of Vizcaya, and thousands were funneled into the town of Guerncia as they tried to make their way to the Loyalist stronghold of Bilbao.  On April 26, 1937, the town was swelling with people for the weekly market, along with the refuges streaming through the town, looking for a place to rest before heading onward. 

German Condor Legion in flight

Generalisimo Francisco Franco was leading the Republican forces to win the war for their side, and he enlisted the German Luftwaffe to provide him with an air force.  Hitler was all too willing to oblige, because he needed to test out his newly developed war weapons on the eve of World War II.  Around midday on that April day the Germans began bombing Guernica.  Planes left Burgos, dropped their bombs on Guernica, strafed the streets with machine guns, headed back to Burgos to reload and refuel, and took off again. They caravaned in a circular pattern, nonstop for seven hours.  The world had not yet seen incendiary bombs used until the Spanish Civil War; bombs that didn't just explode, they burned with intense heat and created an inferno.

Guernica after the bombing

Guernica had little strategic purpose in the war, and the attack was grossly out of proportion to the size of the town.  People had crammed into makeshift bomb shelters, but the fire was so intense that it sucked all of the oxygen out of the air and stacks of people were later found simply suffocated.  Many who couldn't fit in the shelters were either killed by the intense heat or gunned down as they fled down the streets.  International outrage was immediate.  It made worldwide headline news as the world saw how war had not only moved from the battlefield to the city streets, but that it was being employed  for heinous, non-strategic reasons.

Pablo Picasso

Pablo Picasso's most famous work, and one of the most important paintings of the 20th century was his depiction of the chaos and devastation that day in Guernica.  Art appreciation classes on modern art always include a survey of it.  It measures 24.5' wide and 11' tall.  The reason that I tell you all of this is because Guernica was my mother's home town.  The painting now hangs in the Museo de la Reina Sofia in Madrid, and given my own family's connection, I had to once again make the pilgrimage and pay homage.  It's been sixteen years since I last saw it and every time I do, I am deeply moved ...

"Guernica"