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Digital History Seminar: 20th Century Spain

Sacred Heart Wide Shot

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Contents of this tag:
2. Tragedy of Civil War (1937)
3. Asistencia social: pro inválidos
4. Ajut als mutilats de guerra
5. Bombardement Guernica - Cinémathèque de Bretagne
6. Messerschmitt BF 109B1
7. Madge Addy March 2nd, 1939 Letters In another one of her letters from March 1939 she would describe their need for certain donations from the Spanish Medical Aid Committee. In one she specifically talks about how they had received 600 men that were wounded and most needed clothing. Because of the supplies sent by the Committee they were not in such a dire need for supplies that they would have been in previously had they not received the supplies. In another section of her letter from March 2nd, 1939 she describes a surgery for a man who was suffering from hemorrhages in his stomach. The doctor had to perform a three hour long surgery due to the fact that this was one of the first times that the doctor had attempted this kind of surgery and lack of better materials. The only had three needles available for the operation. The problem occured when three quarters of the way through the surgery the spinal anesthetic wore off because it was “rotten.” The result of this was that the doctor had to finish the surgery while he was awake. Later on she mentions that she hopes he will recover and that the odd tins of milk and soups they received would help his exhaustion and shock sustained after the surgery. Addy speaks very fondly of those that she was able to help during her time in Spain. She feels better knowing that the people whose lives she impacted will never forget their English nurse.
9. ¡MUJER...! Tu felicidad conyugal está en tus manos.
10. Obrero! Trabaja Y Venceremos
11. Repatriation of Basque Children
12. Bombing of Ares del Maestrat
13. Bolchevismo, injusticia social, politicastros, masones, separatismo, F.A.I.
14. Revista Vientos del Pozo: número extraordinario homenaje al Padre Llanos
15. Que Tu Familia No Viva el Drama de la Guerra: Evacuar Madrid es Ayudar a la Victoria Final
18. Ruins of Belchite The ruins of the town of Belchite mark the location of a brutal battle in which Nationalist forces were defeated by the Republic in 1937. Franco declared the site to be memorialized, while also allowing a new Belchite to be built by Republican prisoner labor. Allowing the town to stand in ruins as a memorial where his forces had been defeated could have been a tactic to compare a Republican victory with scenes of destruction and loss.
21. Monument in Tortosa
23. Wolfram Freiherr von Richthofen
24. Pro-conferencia nacional de la dona jove
25. Repatriation Committee pt 1
26. Letter from Juan F. de Cardenas
28. Congreso nacional de la solidaridad, 1938- Ana Pauker
30. Guernica The bombing of Guernica (26 April 1937) was an aerial bombing of the Basque town of Guernica during the Spanish Civil War. It was carried out, at the behest of Francisco Franco's nationalist government, by its allies, the Nazi German Luftwaffe's Condor Legion and the Fascist Italian Aviazione Legionaria, under the code name Operation Rügen. The town was being used as a communications center behind the frontline. The operation opened the way to Franco's capture of Bilbao and his victory in northern Spain.
32. Hugo Sperrle
33. Arroyo del Abroñigal
34. Madge Addy March 14th, 1939 Page 1 On March 14th, 1939 Addy talks about how she almost had to leave due to an order from England to return. Addy describes how depressed the idea of leaving would have made her. She had worked very hard and would have felt terrible to leave at that time. She had to pack her things and gave most of what she could away to those who still needed it. Fortunately she was able to stay and explain through rare telecommunication that she would feel much better in Ucles. Her duty to the hospital and to Ucles kept her from wanting to be anywhere else. Many people were overjoyed that she could remain with them. At the end of the letter she describes how Juan, the man who had to undergo the horrible surgery mentioned previously, was doing much better.
35. C.N.T. Comité Nacional A.I.T., Oficina de Información y Propaganda
37. Troops loading aircraft for Spain
39. Walter Warlimont Photo of Walter Warilmont. Between August and November 1936, following the outbreak of the Spanish Civil War, Warlimont served as the Reich War Minister Wehrmacht Plenipotentiary Delegate to the government of Spanish General Francisco Franco in Spain. Reich War Minister Werner von Blomberg directed Warlimont to coordinate German aid in support of Franco's battle against the Spanish government forces.
40. Evacuación
41. Battle of Brunete
42. Bombing of Benassai
43. Homecoming of the Legion Condor
44. Women! Keep War From Britain: Support Spanish Democrats
46. El Generalisimo Francisco Franco Todavía esta Muerto
47. Pro monumento Pablo Iglesias
48. One Hundred Years of Solitude
49. February 1939 - Spain - Barcelona - Associated Press of Great Britain Ltd
50. Hermann Göring
52. Battle of Jarama The Battle of Jarama (February 6–27, 1937) was an attempt by General Francisco Franco's Nationalists to dislodge the Republican lines along the river Jarama, just east of Madrid, during the Spanish Civil War. Elite Spanish Legionnaires and Moroccan Regulares from the Army of Africa forced back the Republican Army of the Centre, including the International Brigades, but after days of fierce fighting no breakthrough was achieved. Republican counterattacks along the captured ground likewise failed, resulting in heavy casualties to both sides.
54. Spanish Republican News
56. Albocàsser
57. Battle of Madrid The Siege of Madrid was a two and a half year siege of the Spanish capital city of Madrid, during the Spanish Civil War of 1936 to 1939. The city, besieged from October 1936, eventually fell to the Francoist armies on 28 March 1939. Madrid was held by various forces loyal to the Spanish Republic and was besieged and subject to aerial bombardment by the rebel faction under General Francisco Franco. The Battle of Madrid in November 1936 saw the most intense fighting in and around the city when the Nationalists made their most determined attempt to take the Republican capital.
58. Bombing of La Garriga
59. Madrid Food Line
61. Felicia Browne's Anti-Fascism poster for Italy.
63. Battle of Santander
65. Battle of Badajoz
66. Episode 16- Food Scarcity and Women's Daily Lives in the Early Franco Years Audio Podcast by Historias on SoundCloud discussing the Franco Dictatorship. Immediately following the Spanish Civil War, Spain faced a terrible food crisis. Suzanne Dunai examines how the policies of the early Franco dictatorship brought on this crisis and how ordinary Spaniards, particularly women, dealt with it on a day-to-day basis. From ration cards to bartering, from canning to buying on the black market, Spanish women showed a remarkable resilience as they sought to feed their families in this time of devastating scarcity.
68. Ruins of Belchite
72. Photo of Four People in Front of Supplies or Medical Van Including Felicia Browne
73. Battle of Bilbao Bilbao was the capital of the autonomous Basque area established by the Republic after the war began. The Battle of Bilbao was part of the War in the North, during the Spanish Civil War where the Nationalist Army captured the city of Bilbao and the remaining parts of the Basque Country still held by the Republic. By 11 June 1937 the Basque forces had fallen back to the city of Bilbao, which was defended by a series of rushed fortifications called the "Bilbao's Iron Ring." The Iron Ring was poorly designed for defense.
74. Bombing of Barcelona
75. Poema 17
76. The Habana arrives at Southampton
77. Letter from Felicia Browne
78. Heart of Humanity Camp
83. Evelyn Hutchins leaning against her truck.
84. Hermann Goering
85. Federació de Cooperatives de Producció Treball de Catalunya
87. Battle of Ebro The Battle of the Ebro (Spanish: Batalla del Ebro, Catalan: Batalla de l'Ebre) was the longest and largest battle of the Spanish Civil War. It took place between July and November 1938, with fighting mainly concentrated in two areas on the lower course of the Ebro River, the Terra Alta comarca of Catalonia, and the Auts area close to Fayón (Faió) in the lower Matarranya, Eastern Lower Aragon. These sparsely populated areas saw the largest array of armies in the war. The results of the battle were disastrous for the Second Spanish Republic, with tens of thousands of dead and wounded and little effect on the advance of the Nationalists.
88. Bombing of Durango The Bombing of Durango took place on 31 March 1937, during the Spanish Civil War. On 31 March 1937 the Nationalists started their offensive against the Republican held province of Biscay. As part of the offensive the Aviazione Legionaria and the Legion Condor bombed Durango, a town of 10,000 inhabitants that was also a key road and railway junction behind the frontline. Around 250 people are believed to have died in the bombing.
89. Experimento Stuka- Trailer Oficial
92. Memorial in Rues
94. Bombing of Jaén
95. Vilar de Canes
96. Hacia El Ejercito Popular
98. Franco Statue Removal
99. Evacuad Madrid
100. The Ultraleftist / El Izquierdista
101. Franco (1930-1939)
102. Monument in Gandesa
104. Felicia Browne holding a child
106. Women, Work for Comrades!
107. Children's Drawing of Bombing
108. Frederica Montseny speaking at CNT in 1977
110. Francisco Franco's Funeral
111. Mujeres Antifacistas Espanioles
114. Book Jacket created by Felicia Browne for Anatole France's "The Revolt of the Angels."
115. Madge Addy Featured in the Daily Worker
117. ¡Esto es el fascismo! miseria... destrucción... persecución... y muerte
118. January 1937 - Spain - Madrid - Associated Press of Great Britain Ltd.
119. Battle of Teruel
120. María Pilar Landa
122. Repatriation of Basque Children
123. Sketch of Men's faces from 1936.
124. Monument in Portbou
125. Madge Addy March 14th, 1939 Page 2 These are the last paragraphs of Addy’s letter from March 14th, 1939. She talks again about how she hopes the people she has helped will never forget their English nurse. When thinking about her time in Spain she feels she has accomplished so much and saved many lives. She has made her doctor’s actions effective with her hard work. Even the villagers who she describes as a bad lot now respect her and talk to her sometimes.
128. Por la conquista de Euskadi y sus riquezas, el invasor siembra el terror haciendo qur sus pacíficos habitants abandonen sus hogares.
129. Sisters of Mercy Arrive to Help Feed Hungry Residents of Madrid
130. Repatriation Committee pt 3
132. Fighting Our Battle This is a news article that was written by a Spanish author in 1938. Throughout this article it is talking about how the Spanish people had been fighting for their own freedoms for the last few years. Not only did it talk about the Spanish people fighting for their freedoms it also talked about how they were receiving no support from the allies. However, Franko's rebellion was receiving support from Germany and Italy to aid overthrow the democracy government of the Spanish people.
135. Siege of the Alcázar The Siege of the Alcázar was a highly symbolic Nationalist victory in Toledo in the opening stages of the Spanish Civil War. The Alcázar of Toledo was held by a variety of military forces in favor of the Nationalist uprising. Militias of the parties in the Popular Front began their siege on July 21, 1936. The siege ended on September 27 with the arrival of the Army of Africa under Francisco Franco.
138. Children's Drawing, Spanish Civil War
139. Fascist Salute
140. Monument in Arenys de Mar
141. Repatriation Committee pt 4
143. Kion vi feras por eviti tion? Geesperantistoj el la tuta mondo agu energie kontrau la internacia fasismo!
144. Escaping to France
147. Monument in Girona
148. North Stoneham Camp
151. The Republican Left Thank the Russian People for Help (1937)
153. Monument in Terrassa This monument was erected to mark the five year anniversary since the take over of the town of Terrassa by the Nationalists. Like many others, it is in memory to those who died for that cause. However, this monument also feature two soldiers. One of them is a common soldier as would have been present in Franco's army. The other is a knight from the era in which Spain was involved in the Reconquista. The intent of the monument is to equate the two types of warrior while also equating the Spanish Civil War as a "holy" conflict against a corrupting force, as was the case among crusading knights some centuries earlier when they fought the Moors.
155. Monument in Banyoles
157. Monument in Vegueria de Girona
158. Repatriation Committee pt 1
159. Monument in Valls This monument was commissioned to pay tribute to those nationalists who had given their lives during the war. As with the monument in Cambrils, it was announced as a holiday event. Balconies were to be adorned with the national flag with black ribbons tied to them and service members were to be in uniform. Such shows of force served the double role of projecting unity among the victors and reminding Loyalists of the new status quo.
160. Political Prisors Freed After Amnesty
163. Criminales!
164. In England Still
167. Monument in Viladecans
168. Franco Equestrian Statue
169. Monument in Cambrils
170. Basque Children pt 1
171. Monument in Tarragona
172. Help the Children of Spain
177. ITALIAN INVASION OF ETHIOPIA 1935
178. The Pyrenees Mountain Range in France The Pyrenees (Les Pyrénées) is one of the seven great mountain ranges of France. They mark the division between France and Spain and stretch from the Atlantic to the Mediterranean coasts in the south of France, with tiny Andorra lying in the middle of the mountains. The range is 430 km (270 miles) long with its widest point of 129 km (80 miles). The highest point is Aneto Peak at 3,404 meters (11,169 ft) in the Maladeta (‘Accursed’) central Pyrenees massif, while there are many other peaks over 3,000 meters (8,842 ft).
181. Basque Children pt 2
182. Monument at Prat de Comte This is yet another monument commemorating the losses and actions of the 4th Division of Navarra. The division had been instrumental in the fighting leading up to the Battle of the Ebro, in which they suffered heavy casualties while fighting for the Nationalist army. The amount of monuments to this unit paints them as heroes to the cause, while also ignoring the losses of those they fought against.
183. Carteles Murales
184. Spanish Civil War - 1936 (1936)
186. La marina de guerra inglesa y francesa protegen la evacuación de la población no combatiente.
188. Traces of the bombing of Durango
190. Monument in Fatarella
191. January 1940 - England - Middlesex
193. North Stoneham Camp in Eastleigh
194. Ochandiano
195. Aid for Spain
196. Speakers' notes. No. 29 : International Women's Day, March 8
201. Spanish Republican News
202. Repatriation Committee pt 2
203. Hogar Español newsletter, 1944

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Sacred Heart
The final example of staged photographs from the Spanish Civil War is the image of communist soldiers aiming at the Sacred Heart of Getafe. The giant statue of Jesus Christ, built in 1919 near a 14th century monastery, is being pointed at by young soldiers of the Republican army. The statue was destroyed during the war, but not entirely demolished as it was later relocated and used as a decoration of a massive underground church that is well traveled by Catholics even today.

The reason this image is believed to be staged is because although the monument had bullet marks dating from the war, they were not from guns fired at the angle of the guns in this picture, which likely couldn't have reached the statue any way. The actual figure of Jesus Christ had no bullet marks, and in the photo the soldiers are aiming directly at Him. The bullet markings were all lower on the monument and it can be inferred that they were made after the monument was being demolished, which was after the nearby monastery was ransacked. Accompanying the famous image of this event is a photo that was also publicized when denouncing the "savage communists", which is a wide shot of the event. There are more people in this image, and a more casual feel to the atmosphere as the girl in the foreground behind the shooters has her hands on her waist in a care-free manner. It looks less like the men to the right of the photo are ordering anyone to shoot and more that they are trying to get a better look at the monument. [1]

The image could have been some young communist soldiers joking around in a morbid manner, or possibly even faked by the Francoist propaganda offices. It would have served to offend Francoist soldiers, who held onto their religion tightly and used it to strengthen their beliefs in the war effort and desire for Franco to take control of Spain. Displaying someone acting violently towards their God, Catholics would be enraged and ready to join the fight to bring down any sign of communism. [2]

In conclusion, these images show us that the documentation of war is rarely ever black and white. It is a gray space that is filled with bias, finger pointing, and sometimes blurring lines to make someone out to be the enemy and someone else to be the victim. All the images discussed in this exhibit are important, influential, and served a purpose whether staged or not. They were still used to sway people to believe one way or another, but that phenomenon is not contained to the Spanish Civil War, or war in general. It is important to not take images at face value and to instead use them to learn about the beliefs that were trying to be displayed when the photos were taken.