Guernica: The History and Its Artistic Depiction

The circumstances leading to the Spanish Civil War had been brewing for years but in July 1936, the war officially began. It quickly became one of the most savage conflicts in twentieth-century Europe with an estimated 200,000 killed between 1936-39. The underlying cause was ultimately the failure of the key political parties in Spain to compromise and respect democratic norms. The resulting military coup was the spark that ignited the chaos and devastation that would create divisions for years to come. The failure of democracy drew in Europe’s communist and fascist nations into Spanish affairs with the Allies supporting the Republicans while the Axis backed the Nationalists. This external involvement offered a glimpse of the brutal tactics used by the Germans that would follow in World War II.

Fascism, a unique model of the government system, emerged in Europe in the early twentieth century following World War I. It is characterized by an extreme right-wing, nationalist state controlled by a powerful figure known as a dictator. The term comes fasci, an Italian or Latinate term meaning “bundle” and representing in political terms unity, or a closely-knit band, as opposed to a bureaucratized party. 2 Hungary was one of the birthplaces of fascism, but Germany under Hitler and Spain under Franco are considered the more dominant examples in Europe in the 1920s and ’30s. The pair were highly charismatic but heinous and corrupt. They both enforced a constraining and repressive reign on their states leading to the deaths of millions of people. Although they had a similar perspective on political policies and outlook on capitalism and communism, the pair did not meet until October 23rd, 1940 in Hendaye. Regardless of this, Nazi Germany played an active role in the Spanish Civil War.

When the war broke out on the 17th of July, 1936, it did not take long for Germany to get involved. On July 26th, Hitler informed Franco that he would have their support in the rebellion. As they shared a comparable viewpoint on policies, Hitler justified his intervention by insisting he was preventing the spread of communism to Western Europe. However, more importantly, this would give him the opportunity to experiment and perfect his use of military forces, while offering the possibility of economic expansion. Within weeks, 15,000 troops had been sent to Spain to undertake a bombing and terror campaign on behalf of Franco’s government. The bombing in Guernica was used as a training ground for pilots.

Guernica, a small town in northeast Spain, close to the French border and about 30 kilometers from Bilbao, was obliterated into a pile of burning rubble on April 26th, 1937. Operation Rugen was led by Lieutenant Colonel Wolfram von Richthofen who headed the Condor Legion aircraft. The bombing began at 16:30 when the main square was attacked on market-day. Approximately 20-25 Luftwaffe attacked the town in waves of twenty minutes with planes flying as low as 600 feet. The raid lasted until 19:00 and by the time they left, the city of Guernica was in ruins. For over three hours, one hundred thousand pounds of explosives and bombs were dumped onto the defenseless town.

While it was wildly agreed that the aftermath of the atrocities in Guernica was appalling, there are conflicting views on the number of casualties. Soviet archives reported on May 1st, 1937 that 800 had died. Local historians believed there were 126 victims which was later increased to 150. However, the Basque Government announced 1,650 were killed, approximately one-third of the town’s population were wounded and about 70% of the town was destroyed. These figures have been much debated but in recent times it has been generally accepted that the death rate was under 300. The number of casualties was greatly exaggerated for propaganda purposes when in fact, the total killed in Guernica was significantly lower than other cities besieged by the Luftwaffe during the Second World War.

Both the Nazis and Franco’s Nationalists at first renounced claims of their role in the attack, instead of blaming the republicans. Gonzalo Queipo de Llano issued a statement blaming the Basque population and the ‘reds’ of deliberately bulldozing Guernica to the ground in some form of scorched earth policy. Threats made earlier by General Emilio Mola to end the war in the north of Spain quickly foreshadowed the impending devastation.

According to sources, Hitler was elated with the aftermath of the bombing. It established Germany as an air force leader within Europe, and as an equal to other powerful countries such as England, Americans, and Russians. He considered it a huge victory. The town, packed with people for market day, was a perfect opportunity to practice the terror campaign that would be used in the following years, Goring himself describing involvement in Spain as an ‘opportunity to test under fire whether [war] material had been adequately developed’. Hitler was satisfied with Richthofen’s involvement so promoted him to a key position in the Polish invasion.

German air chief, Hermann Goering testified at trial ‘The Spanish civil war gave me an opportunity to put my young air force to the test, and a means for my men to gain experience’. These experiments led to ‘Guernica, a city with 5,000 residents, has been literally razed to the ground. Bomb craters can be seen in the streets. Simply wonderful’ as described as Richthofen. In 1942, Orwell wrote that ‘the Spanish civil war demonstrated that the Nazis knew what they were doing, and their opponents did not.’

Noel Monks, a correspondent covering the Civil War on behalf of the ‘London Daily Express’, and one of the first to reach Guernica described the horror. “We were still a good ten miles away when I saw the reflection of Guernica’s flames in the sky. As we drew nearer, on both sides of the road, men, women, and children were sitting, dazed”. The disorientation of the victims was clear as he described the sobbing of Basque soldiers ‘collecting charred bodies and the nauseating smell of ‘burning human flesh’. In the Plaza, ‘surrounded almost by a wall of fire, were about a hundred refugees. They were wailing and weeping and rock to and fro’ while a priest with “his face was blackened, his clothes in tatters. He couldn’t talk. He just pointed to the flames, still about four miles away, then whispered: ‘avionics... Bombas... mucho, mucho”.

Another eyewitness, Luis Iriondo, a 14-year-old boy at the time, described that he tried prying while incendiary bombs were dropped for over three hours. when he left the shelter and ran for the hills, he saw “everything was on fire”. The scene in New York 9/11 attack reminded him very much so of the Guernica bombardment. A haunting image was provided of the “charred bodies of several women and children huddled together in what had been the cellar of a house”.

The destruction of Guernica was interesting. It was evident that while Germany was practicing warfare, General Franco simply wanted to terrorize his people. The Basque County, in particular, a region that had strong resistance against the Civil War. For a town ultimately destroyed by hours of bombing, no military buildings were harmed; civilians seemed to be the only targets. George Steer wrote that ‘Guernica was not a military objective. A factory producing war material lay outside the town and was untouched’. He highlights the ultimate aim of the blitz was the ‘demoralization of the civil population’ and the ‘destruction of the cradle of the Basque race’. All that was left standing was a “church, a sacred tree, a symbol of the Basque people, and, just outside the town, a small munitions factory”. Ironically, Guernica continued to supply bombs and weapons for the war.

The sheer annihilation of the small town would give Pablo Picasso the inspiration to create a brash and captivating image of contemporary warfare, and its effect on the ordinary people. The ‘Cubist Apocalypse’, as described by art critic Jonathon Jones, is one of the 20th Century’s most acclaimed works of art. ‘Guernica’ was quickly adopted as a symbol of brutality during the Spanish transition to democracy. Picasso began his painting on May 11th, 1937, and finished on 4th June after 35 days of work. The canvas was so large that a ladder and long-handled brush was used18. The painting in its entirety is a desolate and bleak combination of white, black, and grey. This creates the illusion of a newspaper article while establishing a mood of gloom, expressing chaos and agony. The newspaper print also shows how he learned of the tragedy. This painting is difficult to decipher. At first glance, the image seems tumultuous and chaotic, surrounded by death. When adjusting to the frenzied shapes, figures begin to emerge from them; four women, a child, a man, a horse, and a bull.

These figures are distorted, overlap, and intersect, appearing as if all jumbled up together. At the time, men were away fighting in the war, so Guernica was mostly populated by women and children; this is reflected in the painting. According to Rudolf Arnheim “The women and children make Guernica the image of innocent, defenseless humanity victimized”. Although Picasso never explained the reasoning behind each figure in the painting, saying once that “it’s up to the public to see what it wants to see the majority of it can be understood easily. Most unambiguous are the pained expressions of women. Their sorrow and anguish are direct and clear, especially on the far left, a woman holding the lifeless body of her child, has her head back as if screeching with grief. The soldier is personified as a symbol of the republic, hands clutched around a broken sword. However, the bull and horse have conflicting interpretations. The most interesting analysis of the bull, which lacks the distinct expression of despair, is that it represents Franco or the fascist government. Contrastingly, the partial frame of the bull can also represent the future of Spain, unharmed, and calm amidst the chaos. According to sources, in the 1940s, when France was occupied by the Nazis, a German soldier visited Picasso’s studio. ‘Did you do that?’ he asked while admiring the painting, “No”, Picasso responded. “You did”. Picasso was uncompromising that Guernica would not be allowed to return to his homeland until Spain was free from dictatorship. In 1981, six years after Franco died and eight after Picasso passed away, the ‘Guernica’ arrived home in the Prado Museum, Madrid. Due to high tensions remaining from the war and four decades of dictatorship disintegrating, it was displayed under bulletproof glass. In 1992, the painting made its final journey to the ‘Reina Sofia Museum’ where it is admired by an average of 11,000 visitors a day. As noted by Jones, Picasso “was trying to show the truth so viscerally and permanently that it could outstare the daily lies of the age of dictators”.