Figure 1.--This February 17, 1939 press photo was headed, "Children's hour in Catalan ecodus". The caption read, "Tragic little figures of war, these Spanish children, each carrying a few prized possessions, were poytographed as they filed past frointier guards at the Franco-Spanish border in Le Perthus. They are but a few of the thousands like them whjo flred their native ;and in the great exodus from Catalonia before the triumphant drive of Genrtal Franco's insurgent forces."

Many Spaniards fleeing their country assumed that the French would treat them as valiant, but defeated fighters for liberty. France was a democratic republic. And the Spanish erefugees asumed the French would see them as fighters with shared beliefs. The French were, however, concerned with the turn of the Republic to the Communists. Many French were concerned about all he Communists and Anarchists entering the country. Banner newspaper headlines appeared like "Close our Borders to the Armed Bands of the FAI and POUM". The French rushed troops to the south to control the influx of refugees which included both the Republican Army and civilians. The French decided to let the refugees enter, but were not going to allow them to freely enter the country. The solution was concentratioin camps.

Created: 7:22 PM 7/12/2008
Last updated: 7:22 PM 7/12/2008