Torreta de Gavila in Denia today.
Torreta de Gavila in Denia today, used as a children´s shelter during the Spanish Civil War.
Credit: Juan Oliver Lorente, Facebook
Scandinavian support of Spain during the Spanish Civil War was revealed by historic documents, depicting the international aid efforts to Spanish citizens during the years 1936 to 1939, as the nation severed between Nationalists and Republicans.
Scandinavian support of Spain during the War
The Spanish battle for freedom during the forceful Franco regime was almost disregarded by the neighbouring countries. Except for Italy and Germany who took it as a chance to promote Nationalist values, the rest of the now-European countries closed their eyes on the conflict. Spanish Republicans could only rely on the support of foreign volunteers, such as the International Brigades.
One year after the Spanish Civil War began, the Swedish government introduced a law preventing citizens from part-taking in the war. But that didn´t stop many Swedes who were willing to fight for Spain´s freedom and joined the International Brigades.
It has been calculated that 507 Swedes fought in the Spanish Civil War; 142 of whom were killed in action, two died from typhus, and one died at a prison camp. At the time the Spanish doctor and politician Juan Negrin announced that all foreign volunteers of the Republicans would be removed, at least 150 Swedes were fighting in Spain.
“The heat was indescribable. But the Spaniards had taught me how to control my thirst,” read reports from a Swedish volunteer Elis Frånberg revealing the intricate cultural differences the fighters faced at the time; “You were supposed to have oranges. They don´t eat oranges like we do, they suck out the juice. I heard of people who drank wine all the time,”
In Sweden and Norway, national committees for Aid to Spain were formed, and money, clothing, and food were sent to the war victims. Taking a step further, Scandinavian supporters began constructing hospitals and shelters for Spanish children, making 10 in France, two in Catalonia, and one in Oliva, Alcoy, and Denia.
Children´s home support to Spain
Hogar del Niño was founded in the capital of the Marina Alta, Denia, by the Swedish-Norwegian Committee for Aid for Spain, led by the director Magnhild Olsson, the physical education teacher Kerstin Palmer, and a third aid worker Eola Hansson from the Swedish Women´s Committee for the Children of Spain; an independent association endorsed by the International Red Cross.
After hearing the Committee´s proposal to build a children´s home, the Municipal Council of Denia rendered a large building known as Torreta Gavila into a war shelter. Until the very end of the war, children from the nearing towns and from as far as Madrid took solace in the shelters, with orphans and siblings trying to find some source of safety. At the end of the first year, the shelter already hosted 89 child refugees.
To provide even more support, the Committee then built the Nino Nanetti home, comforting and feeding at least 40 Spanish children who had fled from the War.
Hospital support to Spain
Meanwhile, in Alcoy, a field hospital was set up, as proposed by the Spanish Minister of Health in the Republican Government Federica Montseny. 100 beds were set up but the groups of Scandinavian volunteers, including at least 30 people, took care of 1, 224 patients, of whom only seven died.
As revealed by the book Escandinavos en Alcoi; Solidaridad International en Tiempo de Guerra, by Angel Beneito and Jon Olav Myklebust, the volunteers spent months in Spain, taking care of every person they had come across and making however large or small but life-saving contributions to the Spanish community.
