April 26, 1937. Market day in the Basque village of Gernika. Though the Spanish Civil War raged around them, villagers still gathered at the market. However, that day would come to live in infamy as the Condor Legion of Germany, at the behest of the Franco and his forces, bombed the symbolic Basque town. Not […]
A film about the bombing of Gernika, appropriately entitled Gernika, is currently being shot in Bilbao. As opposed to other films about the Spanish Civil War, this one focuses entirely on the city of Gernika and that fateful day in April. Likely you’ve heard about the Basque presence on the eastern Canadian coast. Red Bay […]
Gontzal Aranguren is an old friend and roommate from my days in Seattle (old in the sense that we’ve known each other a while, not saying he is an old man (baina, gizon zaharra bada…)) Since he returned to the Basque Country, he has gotten involved in a number of very interesting and very different […]
On June 10th, A&E broadcast the episode of Longmire that features the crew dealing with a Basque community in Wyoming, Death Came in Like Thunder. For those who missed it but are interested in seeing it, you can catch it on A&E’s website. The plot centers around the murder of a Basque sheepherder, the grandson […]
The bombing of Gernika has become an integral part of the greater Basque experience, quite possibly of Basque identity itself. Every Basque, whether born in Bilbao or Boise, knows what happened in Gernika. Reproductions of Picasso’s Guernica can be found in even the simplest of basseriak in the rural Basque Country, in places where modern […]
1892: Castor Uriarte Aguirreamalloa, architect and author, is born in Catabuig, Philipines. In 1937 he witnessed the German bombardment of Gernika, during which the village fronton, which he had designed, was destroyed. He later tried to get Picasso’s Guernica moved to Gernika without success.
David Cox is a frequent contributor to Buber’s Basque Page. Today marks his first article in a new column entitled Altxor Bila (Looking for Treasure), inspired by a Pirritx eta Porrotx song. This series will examine various aspects of Basque music, from current bands to musical history. Ongi Etorri David! A few years ago, I got […]
I received this request for assistance from Daniel Clarke, who needs help researching how the diaspora commemorated the bombing of Gernika. Feel free to write Daniel directly or to post your comments here. Dear all, I am a student at the University of Cambridge, England, working as part of a project looking at memory, heritage […]
Sunday, April 26, marks the 72nd anniversary of the bombing of Gernika. When I posted on a previous anniversary, I wrote that the Wikipedia article on the bombing briefly mentions that, in addition to Gernika and Durango, Gerrikaitz was also bombed. I was intrigued by this as my dad is from that town and I […]
