Gracia bomb shelters from la Guerra Civil
MONUMENT ON PLAÇA DIAMANTE TODAY
I am speaking enough Catalan to get by and read it fluently. I like to watch the TV3 Càtalan channel and I also read the local news. I noticed an article about ” Refugi Antiaeri de la Plaça del Diamant en Gracia” (aerial bomb shelters of Plaça Diamant in Gracia) with some poorly lit photos, much like these:
The article provided a number to call to make an appointment for a tour. It took all my courage, but I was intrigued enough to dial and converse with a lady who only speaks Catalan but understands Castiliano. It went well. She gave us a booking time and date on Saturday morning in three weeks. She warned me that the tour would be in Catalan, but I assured here this was fine, that we lived nearby and were curious to see these underground shelters, which were constructed during the Guerra Civil (Civil War).
We met at the designated spot at Plaça Diamant, along with a handful of Catalans who were equally curious. I learned a lot, even though the tour was in Catalan. Barcelona was the first city systematically bombed in battles and the first major city to be bombed by air. During the Spanish civil war when Germany and Italy were funding the Spanish facista rebels Hitler decided to use Barcelona to practice and develop what later became known as the blitzkrieg.
Barcelona was also the first city to develop bomb shelters and sent engineers to London during World War II to help design and build their bomb shelter systems. There are 1300 shelters such as the ones we were walking through, but in Gracia alone there were over 90 shelters.
The smell and temperature as we descended the 12 meters of steps was indescribable, like stepping through an energy field into times past. I tuned out our guide as the aroma and sensation of warm dampness, ancient bricks, vague quasi-memories triggered by following tactile sensations deeper, down another maze of steps, through another connecting tunnel. I could imagine having to hide there
as bombs blasted above, the ground quaking, people screaming, women and kids first …
The humidity and temperature of the shelters under Plaça Diamant makes it one of the best preserved. At the peak of the Guerra Civil about 200 people could descend the 12 meters to safety, however I was told many refused to used the shelters. “Life will never stop in this city, ” was their slogan. (“La vida no se paró nunca en esta ciudad”). One thing you can say of all Spaniards; they are passionate in their convictions.
I caught up with the group again at an intertwining corridor intersection which enabled me to follow the tour for a bit, imagining scenarios as the sound of our soft spoken Càtalan tour guide explained – this cave for girls, that cave for boys, this cave for fuel … and how ingenious they were in illuminating the passageways and getting water down to those hiding below. She pointed out some rust colored relics that we would have otherwise passed without noticing – gauze clothing, journals, cans. cooking utensils, miscellaneous objects of survival from time past.
What’s curious to me is how life goes on above on the Plaça, kids running around, old people sitting on benches, an outdoor cafe, no indication whatsoever of the caves directly below.
Comments
Comment from admin
Time July 1, 2008 at 4:28 pm
Hi Wayne-
Thank you for your comments. I do not deny that I may be naive when it comes to the Catalan culture, I am learning and writing about them in my blog, about the Catalans, Spain and all of the other cultures that live in Spain.
I am also reading objective (at least what I assume to be objective) accounts of the Spanish Civil War
The Spanish Civil War: A Very Short Introduction
This book is the one that stated that Barcelona was the first major European city to be systematically bombed by air. It also states this on this page from the BCN website:
But I do notice the wikipedia mentions Madrid as being the first so I guess there is room for debate.
In the wikipedia page and The Spanish Civil War: A Very Short Introduction it states that Germany provided the planes and Italy provided the troops to the rebels. I am almost positive that the order to bomb Spain by air with German planes was given by Hitler. To me that means the Germans bombed Barcelona.
No one disputes the fact that the Catalans were living in a dream world in BCN until the Facists were on their doorstep. The political in-fighting and horrible handling of foreign affairs were the end of them. They were arguing for weeks about who would get which office space with the best view while incredibly ill-equipped soldiers were fighting and dying everyday.
As I’ve said I am simply learning about a culture, I do not profess to know anything about them except that they are for the most part warm and accepting to us as foreigners and I will certainly not judge our Catalan friends on the way their ancestors may or may not have reacted during the Spanish Civil War.
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Comment from Wayne Woodrow
Time July 1, 2008 at 2:58 pm
Very nice article but more than a little naive. I seriously suggest you put some space between you and what you hear from the Catalans. If there was a group which let down the Republic in the Civil War, it surely was the Catalans. They literally never pulled their weight and yet today they consistently overstate their suffering and their contribution, In the end, they did not even defend Barcelona.
An additional small point is that Barcelona was not the first city to be thoroughly bombed in the Civil War…Madrid was. And the bombing of Barcelona was done by the Italians, not the Germans.
I could go on and on but you really should read some objective literature on the Spanish Civil War and learn to take what you hear from the Catalans with a grain of salt. Barcelona is a wonderful town but the whole Catalan myth is pretty fragile largely irrelevant … except to them.
Wayne Woodrow
Mommio Castello Italy