On 3/19/2022 Antonio Muñoz, historian at the University of Lisbon, and Anja Hasler, historian at the University of Bremen, gave two talks at the Cervantes Institute in Bremen on the history of the approximately 50,000 Spaniards forced into forced labor by the Third Reich. Many of these Spaniards ended up in the National Socialist labor camp machinery after going into exile in southern France following the Spanish Civil War. They were deported after the occupation of France by the Nazis to various concentration and labor camps with the complicity of the French authorities. The Spanish authorities disregarded these political refugees and abandoned them to their fate.
Antonio outlined the historical, legal and juridical framework of this almost unknown and forgotten history. Anja presented the biographies she has rescued in recent years of some of the 37 Spaniards who were forced by the Nazis to perform forced labor in the Valentin Bunker in Bremen.
Thanks to all the people who attended the event, some came from Cuxhaven and Oldenburg to participate in the activity. Thanks also to the team of the Instituto Cervantes in Bremen for the support you have given us and to its director, Mila Crespo Picó, for her commitment to historical memory.
On March 20, we continued with two visits to the Rotspanier exhibition and the Denkort Bunker Valentin Memorial with Antonio, co-organizer of the exhibition, and Roberta Menéndez, pedagogue and guide of the memorial. Thanks to the Memorial team and especially to Roberta and Anja for their kindness and professionalism.
