Exposition "Les Républicains espagnols dans les Hautes Pyrénées"

The proclamation of the Spanish Republic on April 14, 1931, gave rise to great hopes but also to enormous fears. In the months and years that followed, Spanish society became divided, and its conflicts culminated in a full-scale civil war that broke out in July 1936. Despite the aid provided by the International Brigades, the Republican side suffered a heavy defeat, leading to its surrender on March 27, 1939. This defeat marked the beginning of the Retirada: thousands of Republicans fled the violence of the war and the repression. In this context, the Hautes-Pyrénées, a border department, saw numerous refugees cross the Pyrenean mountain range.