Democratic Memory

To pay homage to the 36 people who died on 30 January 1938 in the course of an air raid by the fascist air forces, allies of Franco’s army. A new plaque remembering the victims was unveiled during the ceremony.

As well as an act of homage, the ceremony, under the title “Memory, Present and Future”, was also a vindication of memory as an essential trait for understanding the past and building the future.

Escola Sant Felip Neri students read texts that recalled the events, while members of the Altraitalia Association performed a dramatisation. These two actions served to link the memory of those events with the tragic reality of the air raids suffered by the civilian population in wars that are still taking place.

Ms Lola Obiols, a local resident and an eyewitness of the raids, unveiled the plaque and said that the ceremony, which she had been calling for years, served to reclaim the memory of victims unjustly forgotten.

During the Civil War, Barcelona became the testing ground for the widespread civilian bombings that took place years later during WW2. Between March 1937 and January 1939, the Italian fascist air force, allied with Franco’s army, carried out 385 air raids against the city, causing approximately 3,000 victims. The Gothic quarter suffered the most brutal bombings carried out by fascist planes in the Civil War.

The Ciutat Vella neighbourhoods suffered the raids intensely. La Barceloneta, given its special location next to the Port, became a strategic target, while the old centre, the streets around the Cathedral, also suffered intense bombing.

The ceremony was promoted by the Taula de Memòria Històrica i Democràtica de Ciutat Vella, a body which aims to carry out actions to reclaim, preserve, disseminate and dignify the district’s historical memory.