The Reus Archive has located 35 people from Reus who were deported to the Nazi camps after the Civil War and is now beginning a process to recover the memory of all of them. The result of the investigation, which began two years ago, can now be seen in the “Feixime, mai més” exhibition, installed in the Museu Salvador Vilaseca.
“We have arrived late,” acknowledges the municipal archivist, Elisenda Cristià, recalling that many of the survivors or family members have already died. They are “very diverse” profiles, according to Cristià.
From an advertiser to a cabinetmaker, through farmers or a photographer. Most were imprisoned in Mauthausen (Germany). In the exhibition, you can also follow the stories of other Baix Camp cases thanks to the work of historian Axel Baiget.
A couple of years ago the research project led by the Arxiu de Reus began. So, the starting point was about twenty deportees, a citron that has increased to the 35 that they have found to this day, and the promoters believe that it could still be more extensive. “It is an act of social justice,” remarks the person in charge of the archive.
To carry out this investigation, they have consulted the civil registry, the registration with the padrones or the documentation of the same Mauthausen complex with the file of each one of the deportees. “The Germans documented everything, there are files with all the information on each person”, underlines Crsitià.
In addition, they have collected the oral testimony of the relatives of the deportees or letters that have been provided by close people. All documentation that will be digitalized in the future and will be consultable.
The curator of the exhibition, Joan Navais, shows how little light there is in the museum room: “we have to try to make the space distressing, for the theme”. “It’s an unpleasant topic,” but Navais is convinced that it has to be discussed. The sample that can be seen until April 15 is divided into four areas: exile, internment in concentration camps, the start of World War II and the analysis of extermination.
Whoever has to take charge of the museumization highlights that the objective of the exhibition was “double”. On the one hand, “disclose and recover the memory” of the athletes of Reus. And, on the other, delve into “anti-fascist pedagogy”. The deportees ended up in the Nazi camps “for their anti-fascist ideas,” recalls the historian.
Navais explains that the sample is also a “bait” so that if anyone has documents or “new clues” about possible deportees, they can go to the archive to provide the information and continue investigating.
Both Cristià and Navais claim the “social” function of museums. “We live in difficult times and with hate speech. There are people who deny the existence of concentration camps”, explains the commissioner. With this exhibition they hope to “awaken people’s critical awareness”, that society sees that “hate speech” such as racism, homophobia or machismo “can lead” to situations like those experienced in Mauthausen or Aushwitz, assures Navais.
Gerard Prats is the grandson of Pere Isern, one of the 35 deportees that the archive is documenting. Isern fought on the side and when the Civil War ended, he went to France where he fought with the French in World War II until he was imprisoned in Mauthausen. When he was released, he settled in France and only weighed 36 kilos, recalls his grandson.
Prats met his uncle when he was seven years old and comments that the experiences inside the concentration camp were a “taboo” subject.
The relative explains that Pere Isern never slept again after leaving the Nazi camp. “How come you don’t sleep?”, He asked him. “I go to the room, I stretch out on the bed to rest, but always with my eyes open,” he replied. “It is very hard, but historical memory should not be lost”, sums up Pere Isern’s relative. Prats visited the field as an adult and assures that “you have to see it, there are no words for how beast it is.”
On March 29, the Reus City Council will place the first Stolperstenie paving stone at Pere Isern’s house. A historical memory project promoted by the Berliner Gunter Demnig, which consists of putting a square paving stone in front of the last address where the deported person lived with his name and date of birth.
The consistory has planned to place 12 paving stones this year, twelve more in 2024 and the rest in 2025. A tribute that will be done in parallel with the most exhaustive investigation of each of the deportees.
