Gernika (Bizkaia) (EE).- Gernika will be the first “place of memory” that the Government will declare in accordance with the Democratic Memory law for the “indiscriminate bombardment” against the civilian population suffered 86 years ago today, Minister Félix highlighted Bolanos.
Bolaños, head of the Presidency, Relations with the Parliament and Democratic Memory, has attended the commemorative acts of the 86th anniversary of the bombing of Gernika.
It was the first time that a minister of the Government of Spain participated in these events.
Despite his presence this Wednesday in Gernika, the lehendakari, Iñigo Urkullu, has once again demanded a “gesture of restorative justice” for the victims of the bombing before the minister’s visit.
Together with the minister and the Lehendakari, other members of the Basque Government have attended the remembrance events; the president of the PNV, Andoni Ortuzar, and the general secretary of the PSE-EE, Eneko Andueza, among others.
Bolaños has participated in the traditional four minutes of silence that take place at the same time, 3:45 p.m., when the German and Italian aircraft, allies of Franco, began to bomb the town.
The Minister of the Presidency, Félix Bolaños (r), has participated in Gernika (Bizkaia) in the commemorative acts of the 86th anniversary of the bombing of the Basque city, together with the lehendakari, Iñigo Urkullu (i). EFE/ Miguel Toña.
Together with the lehendakari, the mayor of Gernika, José María Gorroño; the president of the Basque Parliament, Bakartxo Tejeria, and a representative of the German Government, Bolaños then participated in the floral offering to the victims of this bombing.
Gernika, first place of memory
After the President of the Government, Pedro Sánchez, announced yesterday that Gernika will be declared a “place of memory” due to the “horror” of the fascist bombing that its town suffered in 1937, during the Civil War, Bolaños explained that the Executive has decided that the first place of this type according to the law of Democratic Memory is the Biscayan town.
The minister has not alluded in his statements to the media to the reflections of the Lehendakari, Iñigo Urkullu, who pointed out that, 86 years after the bombing, “a gesture of restorative justice is still pending” by the State.
Bolaños, who has not admitted questions about current political issues, has highlighted that in the bombing “hundreds of innocent people died at the hands of the Nazis.”
He has said that the Government wants to reflect that his memory “is still present” and that democracy is also the fruit of the recognition and memory of those victims.
The Minister of the Presidency, Félix Bolaños (d), has participated in the commemorative acts of the 86th anniversary of the bombing of Gernika together with the lehendakari, Iñigo Urkullu (c), and the mayor of the town, José Mari Gorroño (i). EFE/Miguel Toña
“The coup plotters against the legitimate government in 1937 indiscriminately bombed the defenseless civilian population of Gernika, just as they bombed Durango, Eibar, Otxandio and places in the Basque Country and the rest of Spain,” he recalled.
“Today you still get goosebumps when you hear the sirens that warned the population of the bombing,” he said.
The Government, with the victims
Bolaños has underlined, “86 years after that massacre that Picasso immortalized” in his world-famous painting “Guernica”, which as a member of the Spanish Government he wishes to convey to the victims: “we do not forget them, and their memory is what also inspires our democracy.”
The minister has considered “very symbolic” that, despite the “atrocious bombardment carried out by the Nazis, coup plotters and fascists”, the Gernika tree, “under which the lehendakaris swear and symbol of the freedom of Euskadi”, will remain ” standing” after the air strike.
“The brutal bombardment did not achieve its objective”, that of preventing Spain “from being what it is, an advanced, European democracy, of values and rights”, added Bolaños.
request for forgiveness
In the morning, the mayor of Gernika, José María Gorroño, has reiterated his appeal to the central government to recognize “Franco’s responsibility” in the bombing and ask for “pardon”.
The mayor has said that Bolaños’s presence this afternoon in Gernika represents “one more step” in the Government’s gestures towards the municipality, but has indicated that it is necessary for “officially to say who ordered the bombing.”
Before the formal acts of remembrance, in the morning, the Gernika City Council paid tribute to the British journalist George Steer, who made the devastation caused by the air attack known to the world.
His son, John Steer, has participated, insisting that, despite technological advances, “honest and courageous” journalists are still needed to learn “the truth of the facts.”
In addition, the City Council has offered a meal in recognition of the survivors of the bombing and has presented the XVII Gernika Prizes for Peace and Reconciliation.
They have fallen on the Truth Commissions of Argentina, South Africa, Timor-Leste and Colombia, as well as on the platform formed by Basque associations that work with minors in conflict zones. EFE