6533b835fe1ef96bd129ea48
RESEARCH PRODUCT
Fugitives in transit. The Spanish Republican exile through Portugal (1936-1950)
Aurelio Velázquez Hernándezsubject
HistoryRefugeemedia_common.quotation_subjectSocial SciencesOrganismos de ayudaHSalazarismPolitical scienceExilio republicanoSalazarismoRepublican exilemedia_common060201 languages & linguisticsPortugalHistoriographyGuerra Civil06 humanities and the artsGuerra Civil; exilio republicano; Portugal; Salazarismo; organismos de ayuda; Unitarian Service Committeelanguage.human_languageUnitarian Service CommitteeSpanish Civil War; republican exile; Portugal; Salazarism; aid agencies; Unitarian Service CommitteeIntervention (law)Spanish Civil WarSpanish Civil WarAid agenciesService (economics)0602 languages and literaturelanguageEthnologyPortugueseIllegal immigrantsdescription
Despite scant attention from historiography, Portugal played an important role as a way station on the road to exile for many Republicans during and after the Spanish Civil War. The situation in the neighbouring country was not easy for these people, as Antonio Oliveira de Salazar’s regime —officially allied with Franco’s Spain— did not recognize them as political refugees, but as illegal immigrants to be returned to Spain, which would have catastrophic consequences for many of them. Through the analysis of abundant primary sources in archives from Spain, Portugal, Mexico and the United States, we seek to understand the details of this Portuguese stage of the exile. We discover how, despite the official position of the Portuguese authorities, there were certain margins of ambiguity that allowed the departure of several thousand Spaniards to Mexico and other countries. Finally we study the fundamental intervention of international aid agencies like the Unitarian Service Committee.
| year | journal | country | edition | language |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2017-01-01 |