Since 1987 a memorial in Barcelona is dedicated to citizens of the city who perished in German concentration camps.

Mauthausen, 1945, A group of Spanish Repbublicans on the »Appellplatz« on the camp shortly after liberation, MHC – Fons Amical de Mauthausen


Barcelona, 2015, Memorial to the victims of Nazism from Barcelona, Yeagov C.

In the last months of the Spanish Civil War, about half a million Spanish Republican fighters fled Spain. Some 300.000 went to France where most of them were interned by the French authorities in camps in the South. Some of them managed to go on to other countries; for example thousands of communists were taken in by the Soviet Union, while others went to Latin America. Those who stayed in France would either work in the fields or in factories, but many joined the Foreign Legion or French army battalions made up of foreign volunteers. When France capitulated in the early summer of 1940 and Northern France was occupied by the German Wehrmacht, Spanish members of the French armed forces were – unlike their French comrades – denied recognition as prisoners of war. All of these men were deported to the concentration camp Mauthausen. Many other Spaniards joined the Résistance, the French underground movement. If they were caught by the German authorities, they were also deported to concentration camps as political prisoners. One of them was was Jorge Semprún (1923–2011), who was deported to Buchenwald and would later become world famous after writing about these experiences in his book »The Long Voyage«.

Mauthausen, 1945, A group of Spanish Repbublicans on the »Appellplatz« on the camp shortly after liberation, MHC – Fons Amical de Mauthausen


Barcelona, 2015, Memorial to the victims of Nazism from Barcelona, Yeagov C.

7,300 Spanish soldiers who were captured after having fought in the French Army were deported to the concentration camp Mauthausen where about 5,000 of them perished due to the murderous conditions. Later, many Spaniards who were held as political prisoners in camps in France were deported to Nazi concentration camps as well. Their exact number is unknown, but it is estimated that about 10,000 Spaniards were deported to concentration camps, of whom only about 3,000 survived.

Mauthausen, 1945, Francesc Boix (1920-1951) from Barcelona shortly after his liberation from the camp, MHC – Fons Amical de Mauthausen


Barcelona, 2015, Memorial stone with Catalonian inscription, Yeagov C.

Before and during the Spanish Civil War, Barcelona was one of the strongholds of the Republican side. Thousands of volunteers came here to fight against Fascism. At the same time, Barcelona has also seen heavy factional fighting, especially between Anarchists and Communists. In January 1939, the city fell in the hands of Franco's Nationalists.
After the end of Franco's regime, Barcelona developed into a modern and cosmopolitan city. At the same time, the Catalonian independence movement has been steadily gaining strength, with strong references to the oppression of Catalonia during the time of dictatorship.
The memorial to the victims of Nazism was inaugurated in 1987. It was initiated by the organisation »Amical de Mauthausen«, an association of former concentration camp prisoners. According to the Catalonian inscription, it is dedicated to citizens of Barcelona who perished in Nazi death camps. The sculpture has the form of a wheel and was designed by the Canadian artist André Fauteux. It is situated in the well-known »Parc de la Ciutadella« near the Catalonian Parliament.

Barcelona, 2015, View of the memorial, Yeagov C.


Barcelona, 2015, View of the memorial and its surroundings in the Parc de la Ciutadella , Yeagov C.

Name

Monumento a las victimas del Nacismo / Als barcelonins morts als camps d'exterminació nazi

Address

Parc de la Ciutadella, Passeig de Picasso 21
08003 Barcelona

Open

The memorial is accessible during the opening hours of the Park