For the last three years, I’ve been collaborating with Pedro Oiarzabal, Guillermo Tabernilla, and the Fighting Basques: Basque Memory of the Second World War project, translating their articles from Spanish to English. The Fighting Basques project recognizes the sacrifices and contributions that Basque Americans made during World War II. These were often the children of […]
This article original appeared in Spanish at EuskalNews.eus. You can find Part I here. By Pedro J. Oiarzabal and Guillermo Tabernilla The Evacuation of Wake After the Japanese occupation of Wake Island on December 23, 1941, both military personnel and civilians were made prisoners of war without distinction, beginning an inhumane treatment that would continue […]
This article original appeared in Spanish at EuskalNews.eus. By Pedro J. Oiarzabal and Guillermo Tabernilla “He who has a why to live can bear almost any how.” (Friedrich Nietzsche, Twilight of the Idols, 1888). Operation Rainbow 5 The escalation of tensions between Japan and the United States during the 1930s focused attention on the Pacific […]
This article original appeared in Spanish at EuskalKultura.eus. Interrogated in Budapest “Alfonso Garde, Corporal, 3835273.” Those were the only words that came out of his mouth in response to the demands of his interrogator. Under the Geneva Convention, a prisoner of war only had to provide his name, rank, and serial number. “Alfonso Garde, Corporal, […]
This article originally appeared in Spanish at Euskalkultura.eus on May 27, 2022. As the Basque-Chilean musician Alberto Arregui contemplated the Statue of Liberty as he entered the Port of New York, the words of Carl Vincent Krogmann, the mayor of the German city of Hamburg, echoed in his head, “Why did you not join us […]
This article originally appeared in Spanish at Euskalkultura.eus on March 7, 2022. Joining the worldwide commemoration of Women’s Day, our colleagues from the historical research group of the Sancho de Beurko Association published another new and interesting article, on another little-known topic, the Nurse Cadets Corps of the United States and the participation of Basque-American […]
This article originally appeared in Basque and Spanish at Euskalkultura.eus on January 13, 2022. On this Memorial Day, we bring you the story of Joseph Etcheverry and Helena (Santana) Etcheverry, a story of our diaspora that, like many others, unites and connects origins in Euskal Herria — in this case Ortzaize and Arrosa, in Nafarroa […]
Not long ago, we learned about Florentino Goikoetxea, a mugalari – a smuggler – who helped fugitives cross the French-Spanish border during World War II. Of course, he didn’t act alone. Those fugitives needed a place to stay, and sometimes heal, before they could make the crossing. That was the role of people like Kattalin […]
This article originally appeared in Basque and Spanish at Euskalkultura.eus on November 23, 2021. In memory of Gorka Aulestia (1932-2021) Pete Cenarrusa passed away on September 29, 2013 at the age of 95 in Boise, Idaho. With him we lost possibly one of the last figures of his time to go down in history for […]
This article originally appeared in Spanish at El Diario on October 9, 2019. The bertsolaris Fernando Aire Etxart “Xalbador” from Nafarroa Beherea and Mattin Treku Inharga of Lapurdi arrived in the United States in June 1960 to participate for a month in the Basque festivals of La Puente, Bakersfield (both in California), and Reno (Nevada), […]
