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On Friday, February 8, will be the discovery of the monolith designed by the sculptor Natividad Serrano Jiménez with which it wants to pay tribute to the at least 57 Cartagena victims of the Nazi concentration camps.

The monument that includes the names of the people who were imprisoned and spent special hardships, even paying with their lives, has been erected by the City of Cartagena at the request of the Association of the Historical Memory of Cartagena at the confluence of Ronda and Carlos III.

In a simple act that will begin at 6:30 p.m., the mayor, Ana Belén Castejón, will explain the reasons that led the City Council to pay this tribute.

Then the chronicler of the city, Francisco José Franco Hernández, will explain the historical situation that led these Republican Cartagena to exile and end up deported in these concentration camps.

After the discovery of the monolith that will include the interpretation by a string quartet of the melody of the film "Schindler's List" and the reading of the list of the 57 honorees;

will speak the president of the Association of the Historical Memory of Cartagena, Pepa Hernández and José Andújar on behalf of the honorees and their families, some of which will be present at the event.

THE CARTAGENERO HOLOCAUST

According to the official chronicler of the city, Luis Miguel Pérez Adán, "The total figures of the greatest crime of humanity, are chilling, the result, to date, is a map of 42,500 concentration camps, ghettos, work factories forced and other places of detention extended throughout much of Europe, from France to Russia. "

In total, between 15 and 20 million people died or were interned in these centers, mostly Jews, but also members of the other groups persecuted by Nazism, such as gypsies, homosexuals and prisoners of different nationalities. "

"Focusing on our country, according to the data that appear on the website of the Ministry of Justice, the official number of Spanish deaths in registered Nazi concentration camps, reaches the number of 4,440, of which 3,959 were in Mauthausen and Gusen in where they were grouped. "

"But who were these Spaniards? The majority in number greater than 10,000, came from the republican army, those who crossed the border in the last months of the civil war, after the fall of Catalonia." In France they were interned in concentration camps distributed in the south of the country, the Campo de Argelès-sur-Mer, the Field of Le Vernet d'Ariège, Barcarès and Septfonds. "

At the beginning of the Second World War, many of them were sent to the front in French uniform -in the ranks of the Foreign Legion or in shock squads-, or integrated in Foreign Workers Companies.

Most of these ended up captured by the Germans in the first moments of the invasion and concentrated in two camps of Mauthausen and Gusen. "

"At this time is the most unfortunate event for these Spaniards, given the number of prisoners who arrived, the Reichführer Heinrich Himmler, responsible for the extermination camps, consulted with the Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Franco government, the Cartagena Ramón Serrano Súñer, what "status" these exiles had, the response of Franco's brother-in-law was that having been stripped of Spanish nationality, in no case would the Francoist government make any claim about its destiny. "

This declaration was decisive so that the republicans of Mauthausen were imposed the blue triangle of the stateless, with an S-of Spanier- in the center.

Mauthausen soon began to be known among the deportees as "The field of the Spaniards," for they were the first to arrive and those who built it. "

"There they worked and died until the liberation, when the American Army entered Mauthausen on May 5, 1945. Republican flags had replaced the Nazis and the country gate was covered by a large banner that read:" The Spanish anti-fascists salute the liberating forces ».

"The liberation of the countryside, however, did not mean for the republicans the end of the war begun in 1936. Many could not return to Spain and would find asylum in other countries, especially in France."

Of the investigations carried out, at least 57 Cartagena were part of this group of compatriots and remain forgotten in the memory of the holocaust.

Of these, 34 died, 22 were freed and one managed to escape.

Surely not all, but they are those who know their names, thanks to the efforts of people and associations that have investigated to remove them from their anonymity so that their memory serves in prevention of crimes against humanity.

Source: Ayuntamiento de Cartagena