SEE Oharrak Spring Newsletter 2009
Posted on April 24th, 2009 by jguerricabeitia
Seattle Euskal Etxeak’s New Newsletter Oharrak-Spring 2009
Archive for April 24th, 2009
Remembering Gernika
Posted on April 24th, 2009 by jguerricabeitia
Pablo Picasso's Guernica
April 26th marks the 72nd anniversary of the bombing of Gernika, which was one of the 1st ever bombings of a civilian population, a significant event in the Spanish Civil War and the inspiration for Pablo Picasso’s “Guernica.” Picasso’s “Guernica” was safely shown in New York during Francisco Franco’s reign and later transferred to the museum el Prado in Madrid. Basques have long demanded that it reside in Gernika, Bizkaia, its namesake, and many a Basque has a copy of this painting hanging in there home, commemorating the events that took place on April 26th, 1937.
It is difficult to understand a historical event, even one as important and life-altering as the bombing is and was, for many fellow Basques. So often we are inundated with reports of death and destruction on the news and yet some how it always seems that it is happening to someone else, somewhere else.
Growing up in a Basque family in Boise, ID, I was aware of the bombing of Gernika. A small copy of Picasso’s Guernica did, and still does sit in our family room right as you enter my parents home. Along side the painting are pictures of various generations of our extended Basque family, even one of my Aitxitxe Antonio in his military uniform from the Spanish civil war.
On one visit to my father’s home town of Munitibar, Bizkaia I spoke to my Atxtitxe about the war. I had been examining the baserri (farmhouse) and noticed that one of the major beams along the portal (entrance) seemed to be “newer.” That is to say, this beam seemed less worn and darker; not nearly as faded by time or the humidity. In asking about the beam Atxtitxe explained matter of factly that it had been replaced during the war. He related that during the bombing of Gernika, the entire valley had been carpet bombed and one of the bombs landed right in front of our baserri, Oloste, completley blowing up the huerta (garden) and cracking the beam which was then replaced. Luckily the beam supporting the fachada (face) of the house, which actually sat closer to the garden, did not give way, or the entire house would have tumbled.
No one in my family lost there lives that day, but hundres of people in Gernika did and hundreds of others were scarred by the images of watching there homes and towns destroyed. These weren’t the “surgical” strikes we are used to conjuring today or watching on CNN, if a bombing can ever truly be described as “surgical” or “precise”. The collateral damage is always there, and sometimes it goes much beyond the physical. Bricks and mortar can be rebuilt, trees can be re-planted, but for those that experience them the memories are eternal.
For the rest of us let us not forget the lives lost at Gernika, because Gernika is not alone. There are the Auschwitz’s, the Dresden’s, the Hiroshima’s, the El Salvadors, the Kosovo’s, the Darfur’s amongst many others.
Until we learn as a people, as a human race, to communicate and dissent without resorting to violence we will have many more Gernika’s.
To find out more about the bombing of Gernika check out:
General information on the Bombing of Gernika-
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bombing_of_Guernica
Boise Basques remembering the bombing in Gernika:*
http://www.democracynow.org/2009/4/24/on_anniversary_of_1937_guernica_bombing
*Thanks to Gorka Galdos, a long time SEE member and supporter for providing me the link above and inspiring me to write this post.