DS022 History of Spanish prisoners at Sachsenhausen

Описание: Descendant’s Stuff co-producers Kelsey and Nicole discuss the little-known history of Spanish prisoners at Sachsenhausen, and share clips from a May 2025 interview with Spanish Ambassador to Germany, Pascual Navarro, conducted during the Sachsenhausen Memorial’s 80th Anniversary of Liberation commemoration. Special thanks to Ambassador to Germany, Pascual Navarro for taking the time for the interview, and Francisco G. Gómez for voice recording the English translation of Ambassador Navarro’s interview.

Links and sources for this episode:

• Listen to episode 21 (https://sachsenhausen-stuff.com/ds021...) for the full interview, in Spanish, with Spanish Ambassador to Germany, Pascual Navarro.
• Transcript of the interview (https://sachsenhausen-stuff.com/trans...) with Spanish Ambassador to Germany, Pascual Navarro, during the Memorial ceremony commemorating the 80th anniversary of the liberation of the Sachsenhausen concentration camp.
• Transcript of the speech (https://sachsenhausen-stuff.com/trans...) given by Spanish Ambassador to Germany, Pascual Navarro, during the Memorial ceremony commemorating the 80th anniversary of the liberation of the Sachsenhausen concentration camp.
• The website of the ‘Amical of Mauthausen and other camps and of all the victims of Nazism in Spain’ (https://amical-mauthausen.org/) . They have a lot of great resources for anyone who wants to know more about this topic. For this episode we learned a lot from the fantastic publication called, “Spanish Republicans in Sachsenhausen” (https://amical-mauthausen.org/wp-cont...) – downloadable in Spanish both the German language versions.
• 2023 article by the Guardian (https://www.theguardian.com/world/202...) on a relatively new exhibition at Mathousen Memorial and camp (https://www.mauthausen-memorial.org/en) that did some deep research to create an exhibit telling the story of the roughly 7,500 Spanish prisoners and how they got there. If you are a descendant of a Spanish prisoner from Sachsenhausen, it’s worth a visit to Mathausen to see the information there and maybe even contact those historians.
• 2022 El Pais article (https://english.elpais.com/spain/2022...) describing Spain’s Democratic Memory Law, that allows those born outside of Spain with a parent or grandparent who lost Spanish nationality due to exile between 1936 and 1975 to apply for Spanish citizenship, even if their parents haven’t. Applications are made through Spanish consulates with proper documentation.


Full transcript of Ambassador Pascual Navarro’s interview translated from Spanish to English. Recorded at the Sachsenhausen Memorial’s Klinkererk site on May 5, 2025:

“Okay. Thank you very much. We’re at the ‘Klinkerwerk’, an outpost of Sachsenhausen. The Sachsenhausen administration has invited me as the Spanish ambassador to commemorate all the Spaniards who were in Sachsenhausen and who suffered National Socialist persecution there. It’s a little-known story because perhaps better known is the story of Franco’s regime. He was an ally of Hitler, but there were actually many Spaniards who, after the Second Republic fought against the Nazis in France, and from there they were deported to various concentration camps. They were persecuted and deported to various concentration camps in Germany, and very importantly, to Sachsenhausen. Among them were such notable figures as Francisco Largo Caballero, who was President of the Government of Spain [During the Second Republic, before Franco’s regime]. There were many Spaniards who suffered here, who collaborated with other prisoners here, who worked together, supported each other, and many of whom died, but some of them, after the liberation of the camps, were unable to return to Spain.

So, the memory of all of them is sad, but it must be remembered. Governments of recent times, the government of Spain, are preserving their memory, their descendants, like those I am addressing now, who are fully remembered by not only the government, but also by Spanish society, but also who can regain Spanish nationality—There is a law that allows it [The Democratic Memory Law that began in October 2022]. And it is a job not only to remember, but also to learn to ensure that these events never happen again. That a similar war never happens again in Europe. It is a reminder...

More at: https://sachsenhausen-stuff.com/ds022...