Research in Spain

In 2019, a research was carried out at the General Administration Archive (AGA) in Alcalá de Henares, the General Archive of the Royal Palace in Madrid and the Casa de Alba Archive Foundation in Madrid.

In Alcalá de Henares is the General Archive of the Administration, which has already been visited by the research staff of this centre on other occasions due to its enormous amount of documentation. This time the research concentrated on the Azaña Private Archive, the Julio Álvarez del Vayo Archive, the Juan Negrín Archive and the Embassies and Consulates, specifically the documentation of the Spanish Embassy in London (1936-1939). Of particular note are the documents on the bombing of open cities, reports on the bombing of Guernica written by British political figures and the Friends of National Spain after their visit to the town, as well as unpublished photographs of Guernica under bombardment.

A pre-report of the famous ”Herrán Report” that Franco’s regime published in London to offer its official version of what had happened in Guernica on 26 April 1937 and to put an end to the ”black legend” that was doing them so much harm in the eyes of international public opinion. A pre-report with precise instructions on how it was to be drawn up to show the world that Gernika had not suffered a bombing of such magnitude and that it had been set on fire by the Reds.

The National Historical Archive continues to study the collection of Luis Araquistain, ambassador to France in Largo Caballero’s government, and the archives of the Casa de Alba Foundation continue to review the correspondence that the Duke of Alba, Jacobo Fitz-James Stuart, maintained as Franco’s agent in London and as one of the founders of The Friends of National Spain, set up in early May 1937, in the midst of the controversy over the authorship of the bombing of Gernika in order to promote national propaganda.

All this documentation will be available to researchers as soon as it has been organised.

In 2018, the investigation was carried out in the Archivo General de la Administración (AGA) (General Archive of the Administration ) in Alcalá de Henares (Spain), the Archivo Histórico Nacional (National Historical Archive), the Biblioteca Nacional de España (BNE) (National Library of Spain) and Fundación Archivo Casa de Alba (Casa de Alba Archive Foundation) in Madrid.

In the Archivo General de la Administración in Alcalá de Henares, work has been done on the documentation from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, specifically in the Burgos and the Barcelona Collections that contain documents on aerial bombings, the capture of Bilbao, interrogations of German and Italian pilots and correspondence. In addition to these two funds, the “Regiones Devastadas” collection was also consulted, where abundant graphic material of the reconstruction of Gernika, street by street and building by building, was found. This reconstruction was made by order of the ”Dirección General de Regiones Devastadas General”.

In the Archivo Histórico Nacional, the investigation has been focused on the Ministry of the Presidency collection: General Directorate for the Acquisition of War Material in Germany for the Condor Legion during the Spanish Civil War, and the Luis Araquistain collection with lots of correspondence with Jose Antonio Agirre, Manuel Irujo, Alvarez del Vayo, Jay Allen, Max Aub, Azaña, Pablo Azcarate and Burnett Bolloten, among others.

Addressing the BNE, all the graphic material corresponding to the war in Euskadi has been selected and classified.

At the Fundación Archivo Casa de Alba, the research has begun on the documentation that Jacobo Stuart Fitz James and Falcó, XVII Duke of Alba, originated as Franco’s representative in London.

This 2017 the research has been done in the Archivo General de la Administración (AGA) in Alcalá de Henares, in the Archivo del Senado (Madrid), in the Centro Documental de la Memoria Histórica (CDMH) in Salamanca and in the Archivo General Militar de Ávila. Except the Archivo del Senado, the other archives had already been investigated but another visit have been necessary due to the new documents added in these archives.

In the AGA, the documentation deposited in 2013 at the Ministerio de Asuntos Exteriores sobre la Guerra Civil have been consulted. The investigation had been focused on the so-called Archivo Burgos and Fondo de la Embajada en Paris; the documents consulted had been related to air war, bombing of cities, documents of the Lehendakari Agirre, Onaindia and Indalecio Prieto, the capture of Bilbao or the transfers of children in English warships, among others.

In the Archivo del Senado the whole set of parliamentary initiatives related to the bombing of Gernika had been consulted, as well as the records related to the transfer of Picasso´s ”Guernica” to Madrid, his transfer from the Casón del Buen Retido to the Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía or the records to transfer the painting to Euskadi, as well as information about the technical conditions or technical possibilities for the transfer.

In July, the research was conducted in the Centro Documental de la Memoria Histórica (CDMH) (Salamanca) to consult the documentation of the CEGES Archives: Centre d´Etudes et de Documentation Guerre et Sociétés Contemporaines that has been transferred from Brussels recently.

Headquarters of the Generalissimo; the Armero photographic resourses, some photographs unpublished (Irun, Gernika, Otxandio, Eibar, Bilbao, Burceña, Lekeitio); and the photographic collections of the Hoffman Agency and Marques Pries (photographs of Gernika and other cities have also been digitized) in addition to those already digitized in this archive of other photographic collections such as Capa, Erich Andres, Centelles, Deschamps or Heinrich Allers.

In August, the investigation focused on the Archivo Militar General (Ávila), previously visited, where Archivo Moscardó was consulted with correspondence between Moscardó, Mola and Fidel Dávila and campaign operations notebooks. Other documents were also consulted: Aviazione Legionaria, letters of the Lehendakari Agirre, correspondence and telegrams of the Basque Government and photographs from Campúa (Eibar, Gernika, Zornotza or Sollube).

All this documentation is now in Gernika, in the Documentation Center of the Bombing of Gernika and will be available for the researchers once it has been cataloged.

Digitization of the following documentation: (1936-1937)

• Documentation of Mission Orders: Front Biscay-Alava.
• Orders of operations: Front Biscay-Alava
• General orders of operations Brigades of Navarre.
• Campaign reports: Vizcaya-Alava Front.
• Aerodrome of Vitoria.
• Aerodrome of Lasarte.
• Photographs of Gernika after the bombing taken on April 28 by Breguet 19 reconnaissance aircraft.
• Photographs from Euskadi taken by reconnaissance aircraft.
• Situation maps North-Euskadi.
• Urban centers maps (Euskadi).
  (More than 1,000 documents).

Investigation into the bombing of Gernika and the Civil War in Euskadi.
Inventories Civil War Euskadi and Basque Government: Agirre.

Digitization of all the documentation generated in his research on the bombing of Gernika: interviews with German pilots, sketches, plans, correspondence, and so on. (More than 1,000 documents).

Research in the General Archive of Navarra (Collection Maíz): Correspondence with Francisco Franco and Serrano Suñer. Photographs of Mola, Franco, Serrano Suñer, etc.

There are a lot of documentation about the Civil War in Euskadi (Basque Country). It should be noted the war reports of aviation as well as the correspondence of Prieto with Jose Antonio Agirre and Manuel Irujo.

There has been checked the diaries of operations conducted by air forces in the north between October 15th, 1936 and October 21st, 1937. It highlights the general plan of operations in Biscay for the war in the north. You can look up information on the activity of aerodromes in Vitoria between March 1937 and March 1938 and campaign aerodromes of Agoncillo (Logroño), Somorrostro and Sondica (Biscay). The documentation of the Condor Legion and Italian Legionary Aviation has been consulted.

The Kindelan Family archive has also been consulted; there are a lot of important correspondence between Vigón and Kindelan about the campaign in the North.

The staff of the Documentation Centre on the Bombing of Gernika has been researching in the following archives in relation to the bombing of Gernika and the Civil War in the Basque Country:

• Centro Documental de Memoria Histórica (Salamanca)
• Arxiu Montserrat Tarradellas i Macia (Poblet. Cataluña

In the Centro Documental de la Memoria Histórica, research has focused on the recently incorporated collections such as the Negrín Archive, the Francisco Franco Foundation archive, the Geneva Red Cross archive, the Centelles photographic archive and the Heinrich Allers photographic archive dedicated to the Condor Legion.

In the Arxiu Tarrradellas, the archive of which he was advisor and president of the Generalitat de Catalunya, the following collections have been researched: Arxiu Generalitat-Exili, correspondence with Manuel Irujo, correspondence with Jesús de Leizaola, relations between Euskadi and Catalonia, Basque Nationalist Party, Conselleria de Defensa, President Companys, International Information and Foreign Intervention.

The research in both archives has been very positive as it has allowed the incorporation of more than two thousand documents to our archive of great interest for the study of the bombing of Gernika and the Civil War in the Basque Country.

All this documentation will be available to researchers once it has been classified and catalogued.

From 5 to 9 August 2013, the staff of the Documentation Centre on the Bombing of Gernika carried out research on the bombing of Gernika and the Civil War in this archive.
A large number of new documents and funds recently donated to the archive have been consulted. More than 500 documents have been digitised.

From July 8th to 12th 2013, the staff of the Documentation Centre on the Bombing of Gernika has conducted a research on the bombing of Guernica and the Spanish Civil War in the Basque Country. This has taken place in the Military Archives of Avila (Spain), although a first research was carried out fifteen years ago.

However, new photographic collections from Martínez Bande and J.M. Campúa, among others, have recently appeared. In addition, a large number of documents on those subjects have been consulted (Zona Roja, Zona Nacional, Cuartel General del Generalísimo, Gobierno de Euzkadi, etc). More than 900 documents have been digitilized and will be available after being classified.

The research in the Administration Archives (AGA) (Alcala de Henares) has focused on the extensive documentation on construction and reconstruction activities undertaken by the former ”Dirección General de Regiones Devastadas” (Ministry of Devastated Regions) in the town of Gernika.

Furthermore, the AGA preserves other photographic collections and archives including images of Gernika throughout the 20th century, in the province of Biscay during the Civil War, archives and photographic collections compiled by Delegación Nacional de Prensa, Propaganda y Radio del Movimiento Nacional / Medios de Comunicación Social del Estado (National Press, Radio and Advertising Delegation of the National Movement / State Social Media Communication).

The Fernando Gomez Pelaez archive is one of the most important collections of Spanish libertarians in exile. The documents that make up the archive, compiled throughout his long-standing affiliation to the National Labour Confederation (CNT) from his tireless publishing activity as an editor of libertarian publications in exile, have become a fundamental source of knowledge about post-civil war anarcho-syndicalism.