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Bombardeo de Gernika

Gernika-Lumo, Gernika-Bermeo, Bizkaia

1 Villages · 4 Monuments · 5 Historical milestones

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Bombardeo de Gernika

Historical milestone · Gernika-Lumo, Gernika-Bermeo, Bizkaia

On April 26, 1937, during the Civil War, the town was bombed for several hours by the German Condor Legion and the Italian Aviazione Legionaria, in support of the insurgent side; more than 85% of the town was destroyed. The death toll is the subject of intense historiographical debate: the Basque Government initially gave a figure of 1,654 dead, later revised to 592; later research (Cástor de Uriarte, and studies cited by historians such as Beevor or Payne) puts the figure between 150 and 300 dead, while historian Xabier Irujo has argued in recent works for figures close to 2,000. The discrepancy is explained in part by the propagandistic use of the event by both sides. The bombing inspired Pablo Picasso's painting "Guernica", painted for the 1937 Paris International Exposition.

26 de abril de 1937

Photo: Unknown author (CC BY-SA 3.0 de)

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