speak, Mariano Gracia, his partner and wife Pilar and their children Bamala Antonio, Alice and Grace Bamala Amadeo.
All thanks to its appearance - and its absence in the case of Pilar - the most iconic photograph of the English republican exiles of war and postwar period, are portraying the quintessential image with of defeat, despondency and depression deeper analysis of the Civil War in recent years by traditional historiography, by the media and also by those who write from an accomplice equidistance Mariano and his family on passing them for innocent victims of war "fratricide" and political struggles and partisan.
Pilar Mariano and began to share their fate in the mid 20's. They were a young family, left and progressive Monzon lived in a small but populous city of workers, laborers and laborers from the province of Huesca nestled in the valley of the river Cinca. He worked in the factory of the "English Sugar" and she was a seamstress. In Monsoon were the first of his sons, Antonio, who was born in 1926, and second, Alicia, who came into the world in 1931. Amadeo was born there too, the youngest of three brothers, 29 December 1934.
Like millions of other English families, thanks Bamala were immersed in the turbulent 30's, attended the proclamation of the Republic and the flight of the King after the triumph of anti-monarchists in the municipal elections of 1931 and saw it coming and go to progressive governments, the new Constitution, land reform and the seizure of farms, secularization of education, "sanjurjada" Casas Viejas, women voters, the electoral triumph of the right, the reverse land reform, revolutionary strikes, Asturias in that October, the black market, the reaction CEDA and finally, the victory of Popular Front in February 1936. Expectant and hopeful, but cautious, and Pilar Mariano participated in the spring of 36 of the general optimism, until it abruptly broke them off on 17 July by the tragic eruption of armed officers traitors to the Government and the State, which imposed, which won a regime of terror and murder.
However, in many villages and cities, the coup failed to be stifled his coup by leftists and anarchists grouped into unorganized militia willful, which took advantage of their remarkable victory to take lots of power to the vacuum caused by inefficient authorities, municipalities and conducting since civilian rule and assuming the management socialized factories and other production centers. This happened in the "English Sugar" Monsoon, which Mariano Gracia continued to work normally after the seizure and collectivization of the factory by a committee syndicalist, which could make me think that might have been some ideological affinity between Mariano and the new group manager, which probably could have been a part. Panoramic
Monzón (Huesca), with the English Sugar chimney in the foreground and behind his renowned Templar castle, an image taken from the pages of a copy of the "ABC" of Seville of June 22, 1935.
But the failure of the putsch and the steadfastness of the resistance became Monzon frequent bombing target for Franco, as the Grace Bamala agreed that in case of being surprised by enemy aircraft while Mariano was in the Sugar, he - after activating the siren bombing was responsible - should qualify the shelter of the factory and the mother and children would flee like hundreds of neighbors in the open, where would Pilar time applied to the seam. This was, once again, on the morning of November 20, 1937, when Franco chopped planes on civilians, highlighting visibly grouped among the fallow in the suburbs. Feeling pumps, Pilar covered with your child's body and a neighbor Amadeo, that of Alicia. The criminal explosion killed the friend of solidarity, the mother badly wounded grievously, traumatically torn from one leg to Alice, who was then six years, and so brutal amputated foot to Amadeo, who was only three years.
Bamala Pilar's agony was prolonged for two weeks in terrible pain and regrets, constantly begging to see her children again before he died in hospital in Lleida in which it was entered. Mariano Gracia, now widowed, was terribly lonely and three children, the youngest two were seriously wounded slowly healing the wounds caused by the terrible mutilations. But let me assume that the murder of his wife and the attack suffered by their children undermined the determination of Mariano and broke the strength of their ideological convictions. Loose
published Wednesday November 24, 1937 in "La Vanguardia" of Barcelona, on a heavy bombing by Francoist aviation Monsoon on 23, three jorndas after the attack that claimed the life of Pilar Bamala.
Anticipating that the advance of Franco's troops would finally break the Aragon front and take Monsoon in a few weeks - as happened on March 23, 1938 - Mariano, broken by the pain of the loss of Pilar and conscious that the Republic was living his last days, led Barcelona to their children as they began to heal from their wounds. They took refuge in a shelter in La Garriga, Mariano eventually found a temporary job as a gardener at the Foundation Negrin. But the Republican defeat in the Battle of the Ebro in November 1938 and the breakdown of the Catalan front one month later, they spur Mariano in his eagerness to put their young safely. Sometime in the last days of January and early February 1939, Mariano and her children - along with more than 100,000 people of all ages - they went on foot to the valley Catalan Camprodón to reach from there border crossing Coll d'Ares and cross towards Molló Prats in the French region of Vallespir.
was when, a few meters from the line, Mariano founded heard the rumor that upon reaching the border, the French officers separating children from adults, so The Bamala Grace stopped forward and his hard shot in the mountains, the snow and fear, hid in a hut of stone cold, abandoned by all, not daring to complete the trek terrible bringing them came from Barcelona and from Monsoon .
However, a French resident of Molló Prats, Thomas Coll, also physically disabled by the loss of a leg in World War I, was told by other refugees from the tragic circumstances of the presence of several children mutilated hiding among the rocks and pity came to rescue them, guiding them to the border.
was at that moment when Roger Violet Dutch photographer of the French magazine L'ilustration "that was covering informatively the massive exile of Grace Bamala immortalized capturing the group's image in so distressing trance and bequeathing to posterity the renowned portrait of the sad defeat republican. The snapshot was published in that journal on 19 February under the title "The Wanderer pitiful" and soon was reproduced in hundreds of pages of other European newspapers, becoming the icon of what later became known as "The Retreat." The collected papers and books and many of them even wrote that the girl was seen was driven primarily by the hand of his grandfather, covered with blankets.
page "L'Ilustration" which reproduced full-page photograph of Roger Violet.
Clearly, the identification of Mariano as the "grandfather" Alicia was wrong, and deal years later to deny Amadeo Bamala Gracia, the only survivor of the exiles photographed. Amadeo had the confusion of the authors of the captions would naturally induced by the effects of the ordeal suffered by his father, who had old-looking and remarkably sharp his features.
But it is precisely at this point in the story where I intend disclose which I believe can be a message, a code, which would have remained hidden for 70 years in the photography of Roger Violet, whose discovery would disrupt the concept of the Grace family Bamala as "limping up," and would correspond more precisely with the "strong Republican refugees." And that code that would change the defeatist approach that exegetes have this and other images from the Collection, lie on the blankets that would supposedly on the shoulders of Mariano. In particular, the apparent piece of light colored cloth that covers his right shoulder.
Intuition capricious forced to suspect layout design and not classified as casual, vaguely familiar are his lines despite being distorted by folds of fabric. To unravel the puzzle, I proceeded to expand in successive zooms the image area that motivated my interest, focusing exclusively on the sinuous black lines drawn on white background. I bring this stage of the process and the final result:
Following the enlargement of the image of the right shoulder of Mariano, the perception of being replicated and used contemplating something persisted, as the investigation stretched to various symbols and Republican icons frequent and typical of the time. And finally, after several tests and trials, I thought finding a possible similarity between the zoomed in image of Mariano and a very defined area of \u200b\u200bthe Republican banner. More specifically, a detail of his shield. To correlate between the two images, I proceeded to turn the shield of the tricolor in a rotation angle similar to the line drawing on the canvas shoulder Mariano, transformed to grayscale, and also widened the area chosen to match them sizes. And this was what I could find:
Although there are slight differences, the similarity between two images is striking. What we see expanded on the shoulder Mariano Gracia is nothing that the representative drawing of the Kingdom of Granada, who attended the Republican shield. Therefore confident that Mariano wrapped up with the Republican flag is undeniable (it would be unreasonable to think that carrying the rojigualda Franco, which also included the grenade in his coat.) After a march of tens of kilometers in hellish conditions, with two small children maimed in the arms or hands, Mariano-so proud winner of the highest military award - covering her chest with taught as a flashy tricolor banner surely the purpose of declaring his Republican status and Franco and with the intention of proclaiming his disagreement with offenders and perhaps its purpose of resisting, even passively once had put their children safe on French soil.
Thus, Mariano Gracia, widower of Pilar Bamala-murdered by the Franco-and father of Anthony, Alicia and Amadeo-traumatized children, maimed and wounded by the Aviation fascist - progressive, left, arrived in France and History entered waving the flag of the English Republic with the same attitude and the same wounded pride with which officers and soldiers of the Republican People's Army in the neighboring country came aboard their armored vehicles and tanks and carrying in their hands pistols, muskets and orange trees that were thought to be usable from France to start winning back the lost ground.
In short, with his gesture and his flag, hidden somewhere in the collective memory for 70 years and now finally glimpsed, Mariano Gracia contradicted, denied, submission guess that others wanted him and claimed for himself and to his fellow exiles in the spirit of struggle, strife and rebellion that characterized the feelings, and actions of a generation Republican, committed to the struggle for equality.
But life continued to be ungrateful for Mariano Gracia after his heroic gesture. Indeed, he was separated of their children - who were admitted to a facility near Caussade castle in the area of \u200b\u200bBergerac - and admitted to a French concentration camp. There, alone, sick and died in late summer 1940. After being claimed by their grandparents, orphans were repatriated to Spain, arriving by train in a wearisome journey Monsoon in wooden wagons infested with parasites, always remember that as horrible. Antonio, with nearly 16 years, was put to work with their grandparents. And Alice and Amadeo, admitted to a hospice of Social Assistance in Huesca, where it did not come up that have passed twelve terrible, hungry, starving and miserable years in 1952.
All were marked for life by the immense tragedy that barely survive. Antonio, after the death of dictator Franco and the return of democracy, became a councilor of the consistory in the 80 montisonense. Generous and conciliatory man, died in 1994 without having been able to overcome even for a moment the traumatic memory of the suffering parents, his brothers and himself. Alice died in 1998. Never could get used to his prosthetic leg. Amadeo, the last survivor, found a job in Sugar Monzón, between the same walls and machinery where he walked his father when he worked there and when you activate the siren blamed the bombing. They retired and administrative, later moving to the city of Alcalá de Henares Madrid with his wife, Mari Paz Gallego. When, years later, the story which contained a photograph of the Grace family is especially important in the media, Amadeo sent a letter to the magazine "El Pais Semanal" reflecting the very bitter and very profound sadness that still nests on his heart. The letter, entitled "Forgive and forget. "Why?" Published in 2003, read:
"I have read repeatedly in the letter published on Sunday 10/13/2002 EPS under the title Neither forgive nor forget. I fully agree with her. I am the child. leaning on a crutch, appears in the center of the photograph (well known, by the way) that I attached. The only of those who appear in it remains alive. It is my family. First, my father, Mariano Gracia, visibly exhausted and depressed, leading by the hand of my sister Alice with her crutch. Behind me, the smallest, with my brother Antonio. one who was unhurt in the bombing carried out by fascists on Monzón (Huesca) on 20.11.1937, as a result of which my mother also died. I then was not yet three years (born on 12/29/1934) and my sister. six. Pictured, two years after the bombing, coming in France after crossing, I guess in 'real coach', the Pyrenees. My father died one and a half later, leaving us alone in France. The return to Spain was another ordeal. No. I can not, even if he wants, forgive, or forget, or ... Forgive, why? Have they ever asked them for forgiveness? No hate, although I hated, do not want revenge, but once the wanted. I do not wish, but unfortunately when a descendant of those Franco something irreparable happens, do not feel the slightest feeling of pity for him, I feel the same when trampling an ant, I am absolutely indifferent. I know These words seem to some people some exemplary, full of bitterness, but no, I do not care what they think, feel no rancor, no joy, nothing to them, just a deep and utter contempt. I was never a hypocrite, nor do I think so; them, by their actions and behaviors over the years, they have earned. It is my opinion. I do not think ever, despite the efforts of so many good people, you get to do the slightest justice to so much pain, ridicule and humiliation of millions of English made by the biggest crooks this country has ever had ( just look at the behaviors and skills cowards and accomplices of the PP government) ... Sincerely. "
The Grace feat Bamala family was immortalized in effigy by memorialists few years ago. A stone monument erected near the town of Gerona in the Vajol - work of sculptors and Joan García Reyes Lola - recreated forever the moment that Mariano and Alicia crossed the border against the hungry eyes of the purpose of Dutch photographer. He was raised by popular subscription from an association memoirs of former combatants and victims of Franco.
70 years after seized that moment in a frame, Amadeo still wonders why his father, without being guilty of any crime, decided to leave Spain during that terrible winter, leaving little that could be in the company of a youngster and two young children traumatized and maimed. Today, it is possible that the discovery of modest little picture of a Republican flag on the shoulder of his father to help her to understand.
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