Instituto Cervantes Manchester, in collaboration with the Basque Children Association in the UK, presents a monographic exhibition: Basque children. English exile.
The project explores the history of the 4,000 children who were evacuated from Bilbao to the United Kingdom in 1937, on-board the SS Habana.
There are significant parallels with the plight of refugee children today and the solidarity that can, and should, be shown to them. This year, it seems especially important to highlight the history that changed the fate of many young people and influenced local culture.
The Basque Children Association in the United Kingdom is a unique organisation that records, investigates and tells the story of the evacuation, and there are currently several exhibitions across Spain and England exploring this history.
In the exhibition, old images and trilingual gallery panels (in English, Basque and Spanish) tell the story of the evacuation of the children from Bilbao on 21st May 1937, their initial accommodation in a camp in North Stoneham, and the British fundraising effort to finance the children’s stay. It also features individual stories about most of the communities that the children stayed in between 1937 and 1938, as well as various books, CDs and DVDs, and personal objects that belonged to the children.
The exhibition will be opened by Simon Martínez, the son of one of the evacuees from 1937 and General Secretary of the Basque Children Association in the UK, and we are extremely privileged to welcome one of the evacuees to the opening, who will speak about her experience.
The exhibition will be on show at Instituto Cervantes Manchester until 12th November 2018.