Gernika


There was very little of that around on Monday, April 26, 1937, when between 40 and 50 German and Italian planes screamed overhead dropping blast bombs, incendiary bombs and then machine gunning surviving residents as they fled for cover. It began at 4.30pm and continued uninterrupted for three hours leaving hundreds dead and all but one per cent of the village destroyed completely (71%) seriously (7%) or slightly (22%)*.

The Germans carried out the systematic destruction of the town to test the psychological effects on the retreating population by destroying civilian objectives. The Italians were supposed to take out the bridge to hinder the enemy’s retreat. They missed, the bridge survived.

My poorly translated book on the atrocity revealed the philosophy behind it according to Grundsätze der Wehrpolitik of Hamburg in 1935: “If the cities are destroyed by flames, if women and children are victims of the suffocating poison gases, if the population ... perishes due to the bombs and torpedoes dropped from planes, it would be impossible to continue the war. The people would ask for an immediate end.”

Picasso furthered his fame with Guernica but little other good came out of it. Franco won the war and tried bullshit the population with propaganda blaming the destruction of Gernika on “the Reds” or the Gernikans themselves.
The village was reconstructed, my book from the tourist office tells me, “built and shaped” by private enterprises, especially “banks and savings banks”.
Bombs, banks, destruction. Plus ça change.
*I’m aware that the maths doesn’t quite add up here, but these are the figures given by my poorly translated guide book, which quotes the “official pro-Franco report” for the 71%, 7% and 22% while saying one per cent survived undamaged. We should assume the village (as they call it) was at 101 per cent before the bombing raid.
This short post brought me up with a gasp. I'd never known about the history of Guernica, and a quick bit of Google has revealed a number of uncomfortable facts. Many thanks for pointing this out.
ReplyDeleteGreatly appreciate the small German-language pun in the title. Some of your audience will get it!
People in the berliner Heimat are asking for your return ASAP. Just sayin'...
ReplyDeleteThey´ll have to wait I´m afraid, though I´m sorry to say not for long.
ReplyDeleteHonourable Husband - You´re welcome! But only a wordsmith like yourself will have seen the pun in "gern" for I have to confess no pun was intended.
Gernika is what the Basques call the town, though they call it a village, and its official name is Gernika-Luma to take account of the other rival village beside it which ceased to be a rival when the two were joined. It only became uncomfortable a good deal after that and for reasons I´m sure neither foresaw.