Evacuation of children in the Spanish Civil War



As the Spanish Civil War proceeded on the Northern front (from 1937 onwards), the Spanish Republican authorities arranged the evacuation of children.

Evacuations
These Spanish War children were shipped to Britain, Belgium, the Soviet Union, other European countries and Mexico. These children were referred to as "Basque refugees", but included also non-Basques. They were embarked in Bilbao (Santurtzi) on boats chartered by the Basque government, loyal to the Republic. Those in Western European countries were able to return to their families after the war, but those in the Soviet Union, from Communist families, were forbidden to return – by Stalin and by Franco. The first opportunity for most of them to do so came in 1956, three years after Stalin's death. They lived in Soviet orphanages and were regularly transferred from one orphanage to another according to the progress of the Second World War. Thus they experienced the War and its effects on the Soviet Union at first hand.

Stoneham Camp in England
One example of a large refugee camp was located in Great Britain. Over 4,000 children arrived at the Southampton Docks on 23 May 1937. They travelled to Britain on the steamship Habana. The ship had been equipped to accommodate 800 passengers, but this voyage consisted of 3,840 children, 80 teachers, 120 assistants, 15 Catholic priests, and 2 doctors. These refugees were moved to a camp at North Stoneham that been constructed only two days prior to their arrival. Building had begun two weeks before, but the estimated numbers had been only 2,000. The camps were overcrowded with dozens of children staying in the same tent. Sanitation was also a problem in the beginning as the children had been living through war and their hygienic habits had been disrupted by their turbulent lives. Even with the cramped conditions illness was not a large problem within the camp.

The plan was to move the refugees out of the camps and disperse them into villages throughout Britain. By September all of the children were actually moved into these villages, mostly into residential homes. A few were taken in by The Salvation Army, the Catholic Church, and other volunteers. After the war was over the displaced children were allowed to return to Spain. Those age 16 and above were allowed to decide whether or not they wanted to leave the country. Some were forced to stay because their parents had been killed or imprisoned, others stayed by choice.