Lecture: Girona, passage way of refugees of WWII by Josep Calvet

"Girona, a passage way of World War II refugees"

Lecture by the historian Josep Calvet

Saturday, May 26, at 11 a.m.

According to the research of the historian Josep Calvet, a specialist in the study of the passage of refugees through the Pyrenees during the Second World War, around 80,000 people have taken this path legally and illegally. . The typology of the fugitives was very diverse. British, Canadian or American pilots shot down on French soil that their countries wanted to recover, thousands of French citizens fleeing Nazi occupation and who had opted for anti-fascist resistance, and no less numerous group of Jews from several European countries fleeing the persecution to which Hitler's Germany had subjected them. The lands of Girona, especially in its border strip, played a major role in this episode of World War II. Many of the refugees were arrested on the way, a case was opened against them and they were detained in various places such as La Carbonera and the Castle of St. Ferran in Figueres or the prison and hospice of Girona. Dr. Josep Calvet will speak in his lecture on the living conditions of those people and on government actions that are still little known, which reveal, among other things, the ambivalences of the Franco regime during the world conflict.

Josep Calvet Bellera (La Pobla de Segur, 1965), holds a PhD in history and is a member researcher of the History, Heritage and Documentation Service of the University of Lleida. He has devoted much of his research to studying the first years of the Franco regime in the Pyrenees. He is the author of the script for the documentaries: Terra de frontera. The Catalan Pyrenees between two wars (1938-1945) and Planes and aviators of the Second World War in the Pyrenees, published by the University of Lleida. He has coordinated the project to create the El Camí de la Llibertat museum, inaugurated in 2007 in Sort. He is also a historical adviser to the Perseguits i Salvats project promoted by the Diputació de Lleida to recover the escape routes through the Pyrenees of Lleida of Jewish families persecuted by Nazism. His books include the following: The Mountains of Freedom. The passage of escapees through the Pyrenees during World War II, 1939-1944. L'Avenç, 2008 (Published in Spanish by Alianza editorial in 2010); Fleeing the Holocaust. Jews escaped from Nazism through the Lleida Pyrenees. Editorial Milenio, 2014; Catalan people, start walking. 40 years of the Freedom March. Editorial angle, 2016, together with Oriol Lujan.

This activity is organized within the framework of the exhibition “Évadés. December 29, 1943. Jacques Léonard ”, which can be seen at the MUME until July 2, 2018.