Evacuating children from the port of Santurtxi

The war in the Basque Country became more intense at the start of 1937. The Francoist advance and their conquest of Gipúzkoa and Álava provoked an unprecedented flow of refugees seeking safety in Vizcaya, the last of the Basque provinces under Republican control. Facing indiscriminate attacks on the civilian population, particularly the aerial bombing of Bilbao in January 1937, the Basque government called on families to consider registering their children between the ages of 5 and 12 for possible evacuation far from the fighting. 

The evacuation of the most vulnerable members of the population to France began in March. Most departed from the ports of Ondarroa and Bermeo. Folllowing the bombing of Durango and Gernika in April, the Basque government began urgent negotiations with Belgium, France, Mexico, the Soviet Union and the United Kingdom to evacuate Basque children there. One of the key figures in this process was the British nurse and politician Leah Manning, who was able to overcome the obstacles so that 3,840 children could be sent to the U.K. 

The largest evacuations of children, in seventeen expeditions, left from the port of Santurtxi. The first sailed for France on May 6, 1937. The refugees sailed on two of the most frequently used vessels, the steamer Habana and the yacht Goizeko Izarra, both of which belonged to the influential Sota family of businessmen.   

The evacuations were coordinated by the Social Services department of the Basque government and include the work of volunteers. On each voyage, the children were accompanied by male and female volunteers, usually teachers or women from the Association of Nationalist Women (Emakume Abertzale Batza). 

The last departures from the port of Santurtxi went to Santander. With the fall of Bilbao imminent, much of the population had gone to the neighbouring province to avoid the violence of the Francoist troops. The last refugee ship from Santurtxi departed on June 16, 1937. 

MJV/UB