 Exhibition Literaturas del Exilio,[a] designed by architectural firm Mizien Arquitectura at the Palacio de La Moneda Cultural Center, Santiago, Chile (June–July 2007). When the civil war ended, thousands of Spaniards—who were being persecuted by the Francoist dictatorship—arrived in Chile. Many of them did so on board the SS Winnipeg, which landed in Valparaíso in 1939. | |
| Date | 1939–1975 |
|---|---|
| Location | Spain |
| Type | Exile |
| Cause | Persecution and repression by the dictatorship of Francisco Franco |
| Part of a series on the |
| Spanish people |
|---|
_alternate_colours.svg) Rojigualda (historical Spanish flag) |
| Regional groups |
Other groups
|
| Significant Spanish diaspora |
 Category •  Spain portal |
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The phrase Spanish Republican exiles refers to all the citizens of the Second Spanish Republic who, during the Spanish Civil War from 1936 to 1939 and the immediate post-war period, were forced to leave their homeland and move to other countries. This was either for political and ideological reasons or for fear of retaliation by the winning side and the authoritarian political regime established in Spain. Thus, they remained abroad until circumstances had changed in the country, which allowed them to return gradually. However, many became integrated into the societies that had given them refuge and thus they contributed to their development in some cases.
A large proportion of the first wave of refugees—up to 440,000 in France according to an official report dated March 1939 [1]—initially faced harsh living conditions, which worsened because of the outbreak of World War II. Although many of them managed to return in the 1940s, the "permanent" Republican exile consisted of around 220,000 people, many of whom were former combatants, politicians, or civil servants directly committed to the Republican cause. Also among them were thousands of relatives and civilians, along with a significant number of children, intellectuals, artists, scientists, teachers, and skilled professionals, which was a further determining factor in the process of rebuilding the country as a consequence of the conflict.[2]
The main destination countries were, in particular, France, Mexico, Argentina, and the Soviet Union, but large groups were also granted asylum in other countries such as Uruguay, Chile, Colombia, Venezuela, Cuba, Peru, the Dominican Republic, the United States, and the United Kingdom.[2][3]
Over the years, the internal political evolution in Spain and the gradual process of reconciliation, which culminated in the period of the Spanish Transition and the establishment of democracy, slowly allowed for the return of the exiles. However, there were also many who, due to their degree of integration, decided to remain in the countries that had granted them asylum and where they later met other Spaniards who had arrived either as emigrants for economic reasons since the 1950s or who were part of a new wave of exiles: those persecuted by the dictatorship until 1975.
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- ^ Pérez Rodríguez 2022, pp. 116–118.
- ^ a b "Ley de Memoria Democrática 2022". Stratego Abogados (in Spanish). Retrieved 6 August 2024.
- ^ Aunión, J.A. (31 March 2019). "Una geografía del exilio republicano español". El País (in Spanish). Retrieved 6 August 2024.