{"id":4665,"date":"2021-06-14T12:12:04","date_gmt":"2021-06-14T10:12:04","guid":{"rendered":"\/blog\/?p=4665"},"modified":"2021-06-14T12:12:04","modified_gmt":"2021-06-14T10:12:04","slug":"solidarity-in-exile","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"\/blog\/2021\/06\/14\/solidarity-in-exile\/","title":{"rendered":"Solidarity in Exile"},"content":{"rendered":"

Solidarity in Exile<\/h1>\n

Fred Stein\u2019s photographs of refugee children during the Spanish Civil War<\/h2>\n

Lili Reyels | 14 June 2021<\/span><\/p>\n

Since 2001, World Refugee Day is observed every year on 20 June. This year the 20th<\/sup> of June is also the last day of our exhibition \u201cReport from Exile \u2013 Photographs by Fred Stein\u201d<\/a>. Dr Lili Reyels, head of the DHM collection Financial and Economic History, throws light on how France took in numerous Spanish refugee children during the Spanish Civil War, with financial support from the Spanish Republic and the Basque government as well as from several international aid organisations. Fred Stein, who himself had fled from Germany to France, photographed the children on behalf of the Spanish government. The photos were used to secure funds and support for the care of the children.<\/strong><\/p>\n

The Spanish Civil War was fought from July 1936 to August 1939 between the democratically elected government of the Second Spanish Republic and the right-leaning putschists under General Francisco Franco. The conflict soon took on an international dimension, in particular after Franco gained the support of fascist allies in Italy and the Nazis in Germany \u2013 the war became a propaganda platform for the ideologies. The civilian population above all suffered enormously under the conflict.<\/p>\n

As protection from the fighting and bomb attacks, thousands of Spanish children were temporarily sent out of the country. Host countries included Russia, Belgium and Great Britain, but especially France.<\/p>\n

\"Boy

Boy with beret, Ville-de-Valence, 1938 \u00a9 Fred Stein Archive, Stanfordville, NY<\/p><\/div>\n

The Spanish refugee children in France<\/h3>\n

The French Front Populaire<\/em> under L\u00e9on Blum endeavoured to maintain as neutral a policy in the Spanish Civil War as possible. Before the backdrop of the enormous domestic strife in France, the humanitarian help provided in 1936 by France in taking in Spanish refugee children seemed to be the most feasible option while not getting involved in the armed conflict.<\/p>\n

In France the children were housed in more than 100 accommodation centres and sometimes with foster families. The Spanish Republic and the Basque government transferred money to France for the provision of the children. In a wave of solidarity, Christian groups and various international aid organisations actively engaged in the rescue.<\/p>\n

\"Visit

Visit of the Office International pour l\u2019Enfance, Chartres, 1939 \u00a9 Fred Stein Archive, Stanfordville, NY<\/p><\/div>\n

The Conf\u00e9d\u00e9ration g\u00e9n\u00e9rale du travail<\/em> (CGT, General Confederation of Labour) was particularly successful in this effort. It financed the Comit\u00e9 d\u2019Accueil aux Enfants d\u2019Espagne<\/em> (CAEE, Welcoming committee for children from Spain) and organised the distribution of the children to the accommodations. The children were taught in their mother tongue. Alone in the first year of the evacuation, the CAEE raised 3.5 million francs for the care of the refugee children.<\/p>\n

\"Town

Town gate, Ville-de-Valence, 1938 \u00a9 Fred Stein Archive, Stanfordville, NY<\/p><\/div>\n

\"Geometry

Geometry lesson, Ville-de-Valence, 1938 \u00a9 Fred Stein Archive, Stanfordville, NY<\/p><\/div>\n

Fred Stein\u2019s commission<\/h3>\n

In 1938 and 1939, Fred Stein photographed numerous Spanish children, who had taken refuge abroad from the Spanish Civil War, on behalf of the Spanish government in order to secure funds and support for the care of the children. His photos are from such places as the military hospital in Bayonne, the Ch\u00e2teau de la Brosse, a refugee camp in the city of Colombes in the department of Cher, and a refugee centre in Valence.<\/p>\n

The photographer, who was living in Paris at the time, was able to continue his anti-fascist commitment in this way; he could thus combine his solidarity with the victims in exile (he was one himself!) with an enhancement of his professional profile and a financial income.<\/p>\n

For the most part, it is no longer possible to ascertain who the children in his photos were. We also do not know whether these photos were published at the time. Except for one photograph: that of the blond girl with a white coffee bowl, which appeared in July 1939 on the cover of L\u00f8rdagskvelden<\/em>, the weekly supplement of the Norwegian newspaper Arbeiderbladet<\/em> \u2013 probably through the mediation of Willy Brandt, who worked as a journalist for that newspaper.<\/p>\n

\"Refugee

Refugee girl, Ch\u00e2teau de la Brosse, Colombes, 1938 \u00a9 Fred Stein Archive, Stanfordville, NY<\/p><\/div>\n

Through Fred Stein\u2019s photographs, the children in this group of victims of a new kind of annihilation warfare with carpet bombing received a concrete face. As one of the first humanitarian aid actions in the 20th<\/sup> century, these transports of children to safety were followed by many more.<\/p>\n

Secondary literature<\/h3>\n

Atanassow, Alexander (ed.): Fred Stein. Kinder \u2013 Children, 2019<\/p>\n

Lagarreta, Dorothy: The Guernica Generation \u2013 Basque Refugee Children of the Spanish Civil War (1984)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Solidarity in Exile. Fred Stein\u2019s photographs of refugee children during the Spanish Civil War<\/h2>\n

Since 2001, World Refugee Day is observed every year on 20 June. This year the 20th<\/sup> of June is also the last day of our exhibition \u201cReport from Exile \u2013 Photographs by Fred Stein\u201d. Dr Lili Reyels, head of the DHM collection Financial and Economic History, throws light on how France took in numerous Spanish refugee children during the Spanish Civil War, with financial support from the Spanish Republic and the Basque government as well as from several international aid organisations. Fred Stein, who himself had fled from Germany to France, photographed the children on behalf of the Spanish government. The photos were used to secure funds and support for the care of the children.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":4660,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[20],"tags":[2024,205,343,809],"class_list":["post-4665","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-allgemein-en","tag-fred-stein-en","tag-photography","tag-refugees","tag-spanish-civil-war"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4665","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4665"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4665\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4669,"href":"\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4665\/revisions\/4669"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4660"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4665"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4665"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4665"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}