The paths of exile I: Elna + Cotlliure Swiss Maternity

• Past Excursions

DATE: October 9th at 8am

With the series of routes “The paths of exile” we will visit beautiful, peculiar and/or interesting places linked to the drama of the civil war and the exile of hundreds of thousands of people who were forced to cross the border to France in terrible conditions fleeing from Franco’s Spain.

On this occasion, Enjoy Catalonia offers a very complete historical, recreational and cultural visit to the Elna Maternity Hospital and the beautiful North Catalan village of Cotlliure (France), a town closely linked to the Republican exile and the resting place of the remains of Antonio Machado.

GUIDED VISIT TO THE ELNA MATERNITY WARD

The Elna Maternity Hospital was the scene of one of the most dramatic and unknown chapters of our post-war period. Between 1939 and 1944, the Swiss Elisabeth Eidenbenz saved the lives of 597 children. They were children of Catalan and Spanish exiles who survived in terrible conditions in the Republican refugee camps of Sant Cebrià de Rosselló, Argelers and Ribesaltes, and who were lucky enough to be welcomed in the maternity home created by Eidenbenz.

GUIDED VISIT TO COTLLIURE

To visit Cotlliure, a beautiful village, is to visit the tomb of the poet Antonio Machado. But beyond remembering the memory of the poet as a symbol of the Republican exile, the visit to Cotlliure will serve to remind us that during 1939 Cotlliure castle became the first disciplinary camp of the French state. Within its walls the defeated of the Spanish civil war were treated inhumanely.

The Plan

8h: We are in the Universitat square (main entrance of the UB)

11-12.30h: Arrival in Elna and guided visit to the Maternity

12.30-13.30h: Guided walk by Elna

13.30-14h: Coach to Cotlliure

14-15.30h: Free time to eat

15.30-17.30h: Guided tour, with a stop at the cemetery where the remains of Machado rest

17.30-20h: Coach back to Barcelona

DATE: October 9, 2021

GUIDE: Toni Bellido

LANGUAGE: Catalan

MINIMUM GROUP 25 PEOPLE AND MAXIMUM 40