The entire urban space of Gernika-Lumo, in Spain’s northern Basque region, will be considered a “place of memory.”
The Spanish government, which had originally meant to grant this status to one landmark building, has decided to expand it to the entire municipality, known worldwide for having been bombed in 1937 by the German Luftwaffe’s Condor Legion—the air force that Hitler sent his ally, Francisco Franco, to help the Nationalist rebels take power during the Spanish Civil War.
The move had been requested by local and provincial leaders, the University of the Basque Country, and human rights groups.
In its decision, the government noted that “the town is known internationally” for being the target of “one of the first indiscriminate bombings against a civilian population in the world, configuring itself as a testing ground for what would later be put into practice in World War II.”
The regional government of the Basque Country estimated that 1,645 people died and another 889 were injured.
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