Records

Records

Irulegi Irratia

II-110b

  • Recording date: 1998-02-02
  • Owner: Euskarabidea-mediateka
  • Informant: Jokin Erbisoinekoa
  • Researcher:
  • Main theme: Childhood at war.
  • View allowed: Free
  • Publication allowed: Limited
  • Sound quality: Good
Town Dialects Maps
Piece Length Temas Sumario
A01 00:00:00
00:21:12		 civil war, Second World War Introduction.(02:00”) He was born near to Bilbao in 1931 but at the age of five he had to leave that place. First, the went to Bilbao and leaving his mother there, they went on to Santander. From there they took a coal ship and arrived to Bordel. They went from there to Euskal Herria, to Donibane Garazi. They three brothers went together. His mother went from Bilbao to Santander and from there to Normandy.The Moroccans were the first to enter Bilbao. Later the Germans were also there, precisely those ones who had bombed Gernika and that area.When they entered his house in Franco’s time, perhaps because there was a Basque flag (the ikurriña) over the entrance, they threw everything into the street. The same thing happened in the house of his grandparents. They arrived in Donibane Garazi on the day of San Juan. Six children arrived to the Ciudadela (The Citadel). There were some five hundred children already there. To look after them there were doctors and nurses and teachers and so on. The youngest were like him, about five years old and the oldest about seventeen. When Franco came into the city, Aguirre, who was the president of Euskadi, organized a mass evacuation of children and adults from Euskal Herria. He and his brother were two and a half years in the Ciudadela. Those who had spent time there, now met once a year for a meal together.(14:30”) During the period of the war some 34,000 people left Euskal Herria for Europe and even some children were sent to Russia.(15:45”) The Ciudadela was not a comfortable place, there was neither light nor water. In the time of the Germans it was a prison. The small children could study in Basque and in Spanish. He was later in Getaria and there he studied in the first Basque language school. In the Ciudadela there was no cruel treatment and he had a big brother there too.The Gernika bombing took place on the 26th of April, 1937 and they arrived to Donibane in June of 1937 so that he was still in the town. Those scenes remain in the memory of a child and even now, when he hears a siren, he remembers that day.
A02 00:21:12
00:26:00		 Second World War (22:11") In 1939 the War against the Germans began. They were in the casino in Getaria. When the police entered he was with a relation. He does not know where the family went nor does he know who brought him to Miarritz where his mother was. That is the only thing he remembers about the War with the Germans.In his childhood he saw very little of his mother. His father was already dead. But he had his grandparents as his parents. He returned to Bilbao with his brother. The years 1940 and 1941 were very hard. But thanks to his grandparents they never lacked for something to eat.
A03 00:26:00
00:30:37		 school: studies, work He went to school and he was in the School of Commerce in Bilbao. After working for five years there he went across to Iparralde. In Hegoalde he earned very little and in Iparralde there was a much better atmosphere. Since then he moves from one side to the other. (29:05") He was twenty-four years old and he was involved with the boat business. As an administrative worker and with the pelota and the Basque culture he has never lacked work. He has always worked for the good of Euskal Herria.
A04 00:30:37
00:35:15		 war: war children In 1997 the Society for the War Children was created. Every year they have a meal together with those people who had to leave Euskal Herria.Those kids later all went their own way. There were also those who threw themselves from the windows after searching for their parents. But most of them came out of it all. The Government that was in the Basque Country at that time also had to go into exile.
A05 00:35:15
00:47:14		 anecdote, jail: prisoner (36:55") His sister was detained when she was nineteen. First he was in Bilbao and later in Zornotza. At that time it was necessary to take part in politics and they have always been nationalists. They charged him with having torn up a Spanish flag. He was eleven years old when he used to visit his sister in prison. They would have half an hour to talk at a distance of a meter and a half between them and then go home again. It was tough. After two years in prison there was a military court hearing and she was sentenced to four years. Later, she had to spend time in a house in Bilbao and she had to ask permission to be able to visit her family at Xmas.(43:05") Music and goodbye.
Pista Hear file Length
II-110b-B 47:15