There is complete silence in the Guernica Cemetery (Bizkaia) as the bell rings. Complete seriousness. The German head of state, Frank-Walter Steinmeier, remains standing with his head bowed as a sign of respect. It is a sincere and deliberate gesture that symbolizes the tolerance that Germany wants to convey to all the victims of the bombing of the town that occurred on April 26, 1937, a sad memorial day in which Nazi aviation participated in support of Franco’s forces, causing the death of more than a hundred people and the complete destruction of the town of Biscay. Steinmeier accompanied King Felipe VI and Lihindakary Emmanuel Pradales in front of the shrine where the remains of the victims rest, in an act that symbolizes the embrace of Guernica and involves an acknowledgment of the pain caused. This is the greatest honor the victims of that barbarism have received in 88 years.
Friday’s concert, unprecedented with this level of institutional representation, represents a step forward in favor of coexistence and memory in the face of the massacre at Guernica in 1937. The musical score was played Guernicawritten by Pablo Sorozbal, before the ringing of the bell that was on top of the Church of San Juan de Ibarra during the bombing, and which was destroyed during the air attack. Two officials from the German embassy placed a wreath of white carnations with the German flag on the steps of the cemetery’s temple. A minute of silence was observed to end this tribute to the victims. Among those present were survivors of the massacre, such as Crocita Etxabe and Marie Carmen Aguirre, who were received by the main authorities.
In recent years, Germany’s highest institutional authority has demonstrated the need to repair the damage inflicted on Guernica by Nazi forces. In 1997, the President of the Federal Republic, Roman Herzog, wrote a letter to the city council in which he “explicitly acknowledged the guilt of the aircraft involved” in the bombing. He conveyed to the victims the following: “For you, what is past for most of us is still present, even though we should all feel saddened by the suffering that befell Guernica.”
Germany on Friday wanted to reiterate its condolences and accompany the victims of Guernica in their mourning. It was something historic. The “open hand of prayer for reconciliation” that Herzog expressed then was extended on Friday by Steinmeier, who concluded a state visit to Spain in the town of Biscayan that led him to Guernica Picasso at the Reina Sofia Museum and meeting in Madrid with the highest Spanish authorities, including Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez.
The presence of Philip VI also highlighted the act of reparation with Guernica. Never before has a Spanish head of state attended an event of this kind to commemorate those killed and survivors of the bombing. The Saudi king did not make any kind of statement, but his presence has a high symbolic value. In 2023, the Spanish government agreed to declare the entire urban area of Guernica Lomu (16,855 inhabitants) as a Place of Memory, the first area to receive this recognition at the national level.
From the cemetery, the procession moved to the Guernica Peace Museum, which was established in 1998 and is the first of its kind in Spain. With 50 thousand visits annually, this memorial center displays the living room of a typical house in Guernica during the events of the national conflict and the so-called Reconciliation Room, where memories of the twinning with Pfzorheim are kept, as well as the official letter sent by the German President in 1997 to the people of Guernica.
Guernica has been recognized as “one of the first indiscriminate bombing operations against a civilian population in the world, and became a testing ground for what would later be applied in World War II.” The destruction of the city became a symbol of the brutality of all wars.
Steinmeier’s visit to the Basque Country began on Friday with a reception at the headquarters of Lindakaritza, the presidency of the Basque government led by Pradales, who served as a guide through the palace and presented him with a gift. Makelatraditional Basque driving stick. Before the German and Spanish heads of state arrived in Guernica, a group of young people was convened by Gazte Koordinadora Sozialista (GKS), a left-wing dissident youth organization abertzaleThey gathered, holding banners against the visit of Felipe VI and the German President and “against the whitewashing of fascists and imperialists.” A mural simulating Guernica in this municipality was vandalized with graffiti asking in Basque to “Exit the King,” “Ask us for forgiveness,” and “We want freedom.”
Bildou did not attend the ceremony because, as MP Oscar Mattotti denounced, the King, the People’s Party and Vox are “the heirs of those responsible for the bombing of Guernica, and there is no room for them to equidistance or cover up.” Aitor Esteban, president of the PNV, took the opportunity to declare to informants that the Spanish state and Felipe VI should have “the same gesture of requesting pardon” as Germany for the attack during the Civil War.
The honor was attended by the main institutional representatives of the Basque Parliament, the government delegation, the EU Foreign Minister on behalf of the central government, as well as the Mayor of Guernica, José María Goronio.