The Bombing of Gernika: The Mark of Man

This is a clip from "The Bombing of Gernika: The Mark of Men" Survivors' Memories of the bombing of Gernika. Produced by Gernika Gogoratuz in colaboration with The Heinrich Böll Stiftung

On 26 April 1937, at the height of the Spanish Civil War, the Basque people's sacred town of Gernika, the symbolic home of their ancestral democracy, was bombed by the German Condor Legion, acting as auxiliaries to the rebel army fighting against the Spanish Republic. This devasting attack paved the way for a rapid conquest of the autonomous region of the Basque Country (Euskadi) and to the triumph of Franco´s Regime over democracy. Gernika was flattened and hundreds died in a hail of bombs, shrapnel and fire. The bombing of Gernika was the first indiscriminate attack against a helpless town and its civil population. As such, it was also an announcement of future tragedies that culminated in the destruction of Pforzheim, Dresden and Hiroshima. Gernika became the symbol of the horrors of war of our age, portrayed in Pablo Picasso´s famous painting.

The horror of that day marked the survivors for ever, and what is more, they were forced to conceal the truth about the crime committed against them during the four decades that General Franco's dictatorship held power. Now, 60 years on, survivors don´t want that the remembrance of this horror could fall into oblivion. Instead, they want the coming generations and all the visitors of the village to have it present looking at a reconciliation horizon embedded in a culture of peace. With this purpose, they have asked Gernika Gogoratuz to make this documentary in which they tell how they recall that fateful 26 April in 1937, from the very place they were on that day.

In this documentary, for once it is not the historians o journalists that give their interpretation of the facts, but the actual survivors of the bombing of Gernika as they reveal their lasting memories of what really happened. The reconstruction of Gernika covered all the physical traces of the bombing. This documentary collects the stories of the survivors; it´s the "human trace".

Category:

News & Politics

Tags:

• Gernika
• Guernica
• spanish
• civil
• war
• picasso

[angeles37]

Franco was a truly criminal,RIP people from Guernica..

[AmodioaEtaGorrotoa]

Franco-Mussolini-Hitler they were the same kind of people, but Franco is the only one who has not yet been criminalized by Spanish Right-Wing PP (Popular Party). PP is a neo fascist spanish party and actually is the second most powerful party in Spain.

[trollolololololo]

finally a documentary focusing on the actual event rather than just the damn picasso...

[kpowel]

Excellent réalisation et riche documentation...

Très bon travail!

Avec mes félicitations au réalisateur et au designer-3D.

[AmaliaMentado]

@astridbirgit81 Lo curioso es que en su momento enviaran a soldados cascos azules españoles a ayudar en las tareas de desenterrar a las víctimas del genecidio en la ex-yugoslavia y que aún no se hayan molestado en desenterrar a cientos de miles que aún yacen en las cunetas de las carreteras y los pozos. Tanto que hablan de dignidad humana, cuánta hipocresía, y luego tantas familias que no le han podido dar sepultura digna a los suyos. Me dan ganas de vomitar del asco que me dan estos políticos

[CINEMAFRIGHT]

Oso ona benetan! esaten duzuen guztia egia da. Jestepario horrek eztaki ze esaten daun bez!

[CINEMAFRIGHT]

Oso ona benetan!

[miguelmouta]

The mark of German man, you wanted to say.

[astridbirgit81]

@AmodioaEtaGorrotoa Qué razón tienes! Lo q pasa en este estado llamado España es una puta vergüenza. Intenta explicarle al resto de europa q un partido político supuestamente democrático se opone a que miles de familias recuperen los restos de sus seres queridos, asesinados vilmente y tirados como escombros en cunetas, o q se juzga a un juez por querer investigar los crímenes del franquismo...Q asco de país!

[astridbirgit81]

Alguna idea de dónde se puede conseguir el documental completo?

[simonerieck]

@bulked Guernica is basque is Gernika.