Poster in support of refugees

One of the most important contributions made by Catalonia during the Civil War was to welcome, support and show solidarity for the refugees who arrived there from other parts of Spain. 

The first refugees, from Extremadura and Madrid, began to arrive in late summer 1936.  It is estimated that by the end of the year there were some 300,000, and their number would grow following the fall of Málaga in February 1937. The Francoist occupation of Euzkadi and Asturias northern Spain would produce another wave of refugees between June and October 1937. By March 1938, the figure had reached 700,000. The collapse of the Aragon front that same month provoked another wave as Aragonese and Catalans fled the newly-occupied territory. By the end of 1938, one million people from other parts of Spain were living in Catalonia.

Official; Catalan institutions created a number of organizations to manage the reception of the refugees and tend to their needs: food, housing, clothing, schooling for the children, and dealing with medical issues. As time went on and the number of refugees increased, these were the priority concerns for the municipal authorities of Barcelona. This was the place most refugees went, although later, as the numbers grew, they were distributed across Catalonia.

The response of the Generalitat was to establish various refugee aid organizations. The first, the Central Committee for Refugee Aid, was created in August 1937. As the poster shows, its mission was to respond to problems that arose in the reception, transport, housing, supply and medical needs of the refugees. Then, at the end of 1937, it created the Commissariat to Aid Refugees which was charged with paying the municipalities and private individuals who took refugees in a subsidy of 2 pesetas per day per person.

Feeding the refugees was another great challenge that the authorities in Catalonia had to confront. This was especially the case for municipal authorities, who found themselves overwhelmed by a lack of resources and shortages of basic necessities. Whatever they tried: distributing ration cards, creating canteens, using foreign aid, were insufficient. Food shortages continued to get worse until the situation reached a breaking point at the end of 1938, which produced conflicts in some places between residents and refugees.