-Breve contestualizzazione periodo storico (Guerra civile spagnola)

-Bombardamento Guernica (ruolo citt durante la guerra, operazioni militari)

-Impatto sullopinione pubblica e su Picasso
Historical context[edit]
See also: Spanish Civil War and Spanish Civil War, 1937
Guernica is a town in the province of Biscay in Basque Country. During the Spanish Civil War, it was
regarded as the northern bastion of the Republican resistance movement and the center of Basque culture,
adding to its significance as a target.[11]
The Republican forces were made up of assorted factions (Communists, Socialists, Anarchists, to name a
few) with wildly differing approaches to government and eventual aims, but a common opposition to the
Nationalists. The Nationalists, led by General Francisco Franco, were also factionalized but to a lesser
extent. They sought a return to the golden days of Spain, based on law, order, and traditional Catholic family
values.[12]
At about 16:30 on Monday, 26 April 1937, warplanes of the German Condor Legion, commanded by
Colonel Wolfram von Richthofen, bombed Guernica for about two hours. Germany, at this time led by Hitler,
had lent material support to the Nationalists and allowed for the evolution of German fighter and bomber
doctrines. Later, intense aerial bombardment became a crucial preliminary step in the Blitzkrieg tactic.[8][11]
In his journal for 30 April 1937, von Richthofen wrote:
When the first Junkers squadron arrived, there was smoke already everywhere (from the VB [VB/88] which
had attacked with 3 aircraft); nobody would identify the targets of roads, bridge, and suburb, and so they just
dropped everything right into the center. The 250s toppled a number of houses and destroyed the water
mains. The incendiaries now could spread and become effective. The materials of the houses: tile roofs,
wooden porches, and half-timbering resulted in complete annihilation. Most inhabitants were away because
of a holiday; a majority of the rest left town immediately at the beginning [of the bombardment]. A small
number perished in shelters that were hit."[13]
This account contains striking discrepancies from other accounts that state that the town's inhabitants were in
fact congregated in the center of town, as it was market day, and when the bombardment commenced, were
unable to escape the inferno because the roads leading out of the center of the town were full of debris and
the bridges leading out of town had been destroyed.
Guernica's location was at a major crossroads 10 kilometers from the front lines and between the front lines
and Bilbao, the capital of Bizkaia. Any Republican retreat towards Bilbao and any Nationalist advance
towards Bilbao had to pass through Guernica. "During 25 April, many of the demoralized (Republican)
troops from Marquina fell back on Guernica, which lay 10 kilometers behind the lines." [14] Wolfram von
Richthofen's war diary entry for 26 April 1937 states, "K/88 [the Condor Legion bomber force] was targeted
at Guernica in order to halt and disrupt the Red withdrawal which has to pass through here." Under the
German concept of tactical bombing, areas that were routes of transportation and troop movement were
considered to be legitimate military targets, and tactical aircraft tended to operate just outside the range of
friendly artillery; in the German mindset, Guernica was thus a major target in support of the Republican
offensive. The following day, Richthofen wrote in his war diary, "Guernica burning." [15] The Republican
retreat towards Bilbao did pass through Guernica, before and after the bombing, and, as Beevor points out,
"At Guernica the communist Rosa Luxemburg Battalion under Major Cristobal held back the nationalists for
a time".[15]
Guernica was a quiet village. The nearest military target of any consequence was a factory on the outskirts of
the town, which manufactured various war products. The factory went through the attack unscathed. Thus,
the motivation of the bombing was clearly one of intimidation. Furthermore, a majority of the town's men

were away as they were fighting on behalf of the Republicans. Thus, the town at the time of the bombing
was populated mostly by women and children.[16]
These demographics are reflected in the painting because, as Rudolf Arnheim writes, for Picasso: "The
women and children make Guernica the image of innocent, defenseless humanity victimized. Also, women
and children have often been presented by Picasso as the very perfection of mankind. An assault on women
and children is, in Picasso's view, directed at the core of mankind." Clearly, the Nationalists sought to
demoralize the Republicans and the civilian population as a whole by demonstrating their military might on a
town that stood for traditional Basque culture and innocent civilians. [11]
After the bombing, it was through the work of the Basque and Republican sympathizer and The
Times journalist George Steer that propelled this event onto the international scene and brought it to Pablo
Picasso's attention. Steer, who rushed to town, compiled his observations into an article that was published
on 28 April in both The Times and The New York Times, and which on the 29th, appeared in L'Humanit, a
French Communist daily. Steer wrote:
Guernica, the most ancient town of the Basques and the centre of their cultural tradition, was completely
destroyed yesterday afternoon by insurgent air raiders. The bombardment of this open town far behind the
lines occupied precisely three hours and a quarter, during which a powerful fleet of aeroplanes consisting of
three types of German types, Junkers and Heinkel bombers, did not cease unloading on the town bombs
weighing from 1,000 lbs. downwards and, it is calculated, more than 3,000 two-pounder aluminium
incendiary projectiles. The fighters, meanwhile, plunged low from above the centre of the town to
machinegun those of the civilian population who had taken refuge in the fields." [16]
It was through this article that Picasso was made aware of what had gone on in his country of origin. At the
time, he was working on a mural for the Paris Exhibition to be held in the summer of 1937, commissioned by
the Spanish Republican government. He deserted his original idea and on 1 May 1937, began on Guernica.
This captivated his imagination unlike his previous idea, on which he had been working somewhat
dispassionately, for a couple of months. At its unveiling at the Paris Exhibition that summer it garnered little
attention. It would later attain its power as such a potent symbol of the destruction of war on innocent lives. [8]
[16]

Exhibition[edit]
Guernica was painted and first exhibited in Paris before being placed in the care of the Museum of Modern
Art (MoMA) in New York, as it was Picasso's expressed desire that the painting should not be delivered to
Spain until liberty and democracy had been established in the country. [1] Upon its arrival in Spain in
September 1981,[17] it was first displayed behind bomb-and bullet-proof glass screens [18] at the Casn del
Buen Retiro in Madrid in time to celebrate the centenary of Picasso's birth, October 25. [17] The exhibition was
visited by almost a million people in the first year. [19] Guernica was moved to its current permanent location
in a purpose-built gallery at the Museo Reina Sofa in 1992.[20]
1937 Paris International Exhibition[edit]
Guernica was initially exhibited in July 1937 at the Spanish Pavilion at the Paris International Exposition.
[21]
The Pavilion, which was financed by the Spanish Republican government at the time of civil war, was
built to exhibit the Spanish government's struggle for existence contrary to the Exposition's technology
theme. The Pavilion's entrance presented an enormous photographic mural of Republican soldiers
accompanied by the slogan:
We are fighting for the essential unity of Spain.
We are fighting for the integrity of Spanish soil.
We are fighting for the independence of our country and for
the right of the Spanish people to determine their own destiny.

The display of Guernica was accompanied by a poem by Paul luard, and the pavilion displayed The
Reaper by Joan Mir and Mercury Fountain by Alexander Calder, both of whom were sympathetic to the
Republican cause.
The public's reaction to Guernica was mixed.[22] Some Marxist groups criticized the work as lacking in
political commitment and faulted it for not offering a vision of a better future. [23] The art critic Clement
Greenberg was also critical, but for different reasons. [24] In a later essay, Greenberg termed Guernica "jerky"
and "too compressed for its size", and compared it unfavorably to the "magnificently lyrical" The Charnel
House (194448), a later antiwar painting by Picasso.[25]
Among the painting's admirers were the art critic Jean Cassou and the poet Jos Bergamn, both of whom
praised the painting as quintessentially Spanish. [26] Michel Leiris perceived in the painting a foreshadowing:
"On a black and white canvas that depicts ancient tragedy ... Picasso also writes our letter of doom: all that
we love is going to be lost..."[27]
European tour[edit]
Guernica, for which Picasso was paid Fr200,000 for his costs by the Spanish Republican government, was
one of the few major paintings which were not sold direct from artist to his exclusive contracted art
dealer and friend, Paul Rosenberg.[28]
However, after its exhibition Rosenberg organised a four-man extravaganza Scandinavian tour of 118 works
by Picasso, Matisse, Braque and Henri Laurens. The main attraction wasGuernica, and from January to April
1938 the tour visited Oslo, Copenhagen, Stockholm and Gtenborg. In September 1938 the painting travelled
to England, exhibited in London'sWhitechapel Art Gallery organized by Roland Penrose with Clement
Attlee, where it arrived on 30 September 1938, the same day the Munich Agreement was signed by the
leaders of the United Kingdom, France, Italy, and Germany. It then travelled onwards
to Leeds, Liverpool and in early 1939 Manchester. There, Manchester Foodship For Spain, a group of artists
and activists engaged in sending aid to the people of Spain, exhibited the painting in the HE Nunn & Co Ford
automobile showroom for two weeks.[29] It then returned briefly to France.
After the victory of Francisco Franco in Spain, the painting was sent to the United States to raise funds and
support for Spanish refugees. At Picasso's request the safekeeping of the piece was entrusted to the Museum
of Modern Art (MoMA) in New York City. It formed the centerpiece of a Picasso retrospective at MoMA
which opened six weeks after the Nazi invasion of Poland in 1939.[1][30]
Between 1939 and 1952, the painting traveled extensively in the United States; between 1953 and 1956 it
was shown in Brazil, at the first-ever Picasso retrospective in Milan, Italy, and then in numerous other major
European cities, before returning to MoMA for a retrospective celebrating Picasso's seventy-fifth birthday. It
then went on to Chicago and Philadelphia. By this time, concern for the state of the painting resulted in a
decision to keep it in one place: a room on MoMA's third floor, where it was accompanied by several of
Picasso's preliminary studies and some of Dora Maar's photos. The studies and photos were often loaned for
other exhibitions, but until 1981, Guernica itself remained at MoMA.[1]
While living in Nazi-occupied Paris during World War II, one German officer allegedly asked him, upon
seeing a photo of Guernica in his apartment, "Did you do that?" Picasso responded, "No, you did." [31]
During the Vietnam War, the room containing the painting became the site of occasional anti-war vigils.
These were usually peaceful and uneventful, but on 28 February 1974, Tony Shafrazi ostensibly protesting
Second Lieutenant William Calley's petition for habeas corpus following his indictment and sentencing for
the murder of 109 Vietnamese civilians during the My Lai massacre defaced the painting with red spray
paint, painting the words "KILL LIES ALL"; the paint was removed with relative ease from the varnished
surface.[30]
As early as 1968, Franco had expressed an interest in having Guernica return to Spain.[1] However, Picasso
refused to allow this until the Spanish people again enjoyed a republic. He later added other conditions, such
as the restoration of "public liberties and democratic institutions". Picasso died in 1973. Franco, ten years

Picasso's junior, died two years later, in 1975. After Franco's death, Spain was transformed into a
democratic constitutional monarchy, ratified by a new constitution in 1978. However, MoMA was reluctant
to give up one of their greatest treasures and argued that a monarchy did not represent the republic that had
been stipulated in Picasso's will as a condition for the painting's return. Under great pressure from a number
of observers, MoMA finally ceded the painting to Spain in 1981. The Spanish historian Javier Tusell was one
of the negotiators.
During the 1970s, it was a symbol for Spaniards of both the end of the Franco regime and of Basque
nationalism. The Basque left has repeatedly used imagery from the picture. An example is the
organization Etxerat which uses a reversed image of the lamp as its symbol. [32]
In 1992, the painting was moved from the Museo del Prado to the Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina
Sofa, both in Madrid, along with about two dozen preparatory works. This action was controversial in
Spain, since Picasso's will stated that the painting should be displayed at the Prado.
However, the move was part of a transfer of all of the Prado's collections of art after the early 19th century to
other nearby buildings in the city for reasons of space; the Reina Sofa, which houses the capital's national
collection of 20th-century art, was the natural place to move it to. A special gallery was built at the Reina
Sofa to display Picasso's masterpiece to best advantage.
When first displayed in Spain, the painting was placed at the Casn del Buen Retiro, an annex to the Prado
that housed early 19th-century paintings and had a large enough wall for the huge canvas. It was kept behind
bullet-proof glass and guarded with machine guns. However, since that time there has never been any
attempted vandalism or other security threat to the painting. At its present gallery, the painting has roughly
the same protection as any other work at the Reina Sofa. [33]
Basque nationalists have advocated that the picture should be brought to the Basque country, [34] especially
after the building of the Guggenheim Bilbao Museum. Officials at the Reina Sofa claim[35] that the canvas is
now thought to be too fragile to move. Even the staff of the Guggenheim do not see a permanent transfer of
the painting as possible, although the Basque government continues to support the possibility of a temporary
exhibition in Bilbao.[33]
At the United Nations[edit]
A tapestry copy of Picasso's Guernica was displayed on the wall of the United Nations Building in New York
City at the entrance to the Security Council room from 1985 to 2009. It was commissioned in 1955
by Nelson Rockefeller, since Picasso refused to sell him the original. [36] The tapestry was placed on loan to
the United Nations by the Rockefeller estate in 1985. [37]The tapestry is less monochromatic than the original
and uses several shades of brown.
On 5 February 2003 a large blue curtain was placed to cover this work at the UN, so that it would not be
visible in the background when Colin Powell and John Negroponte gave press conferences at the United
Nations.[38] On the following day, it was claimed that the curtain was placed there at the request of television
news crews, who had complained that the wild lines and screaming figures made for a bad backdrop, and
that a horse's hindquarters appeared just above the faces of any speakers. Some diplomats, however, in talks
with journalists claimed that the Bush Administration pressured UN officials to cover the tapestry, rather than
have it in the background while Powell or other US diplomats argued for war on Iraq. [39] In a critique of the
covering, columnist Alejandro Escalona hypothesized that Guernica's "unappealing mnage of mutilated
bodies and distorted faces proved to be too strong for articulating to the world why the US was going to war
in Iraq", while referring to the work as "an inconvenient masterpiece." [5]
On 17 March 2009, Deputy Spokesperson for the Secretary-General Marie Okabe announced that
the Guernica tapestry had been moved to a gallery in London in advance of extensive renovations at UN
Headquarters. The Guernica tapestry was the showcase piece for the grand reopening of the Whitechapel
Gallery. It was located in the 'Guernica room' which was originally part of the old Whitechapel Library. [40] As
of 2012 the tapestry is on temporary loan to the San Antonio Museum of Art in San Antonio, Texas for an

indefinite period from the Rockefeller family.[41] The tapestry is now back in the UN. It was clearly visible on
CNN on March 10, 2015 when Hillary Clinton gave a press conference regarding her emails during her term
of office as Secretary of State in the Obama Administration.

The bombing is the subject of a famous anti-war painting by Pablo Picasso. It was also depicted in
a woodcut by the German artist Heinz Kiwitz,[7] who was later killed fighting in the International Brigades.
[8]
The bombing shocked and inspired many other artists, including a sculpture by Ren Ich, one of the first
electroacoustic music pieces by Patrick Ascione, a musical composition by Ren-Louis Baron and poems
by Paul Eluard (Victory of Guernica), and Uys Krige (Nag van die Fascistiese Bomwerpers) (English
translation from the Afrikaans:Night of the Fascist Bombers). There is also a short film from 1950 by Alain
Resnais entitled Guernica.
Picasso, relativamente apolitico nel suo lavoro, inizialmente interessato soprattutto alla logica interna delle
suo innovazioni artistiche, dopo il bombardamento di Guernica, fu costretto ad affrontare le questioni
politiche. Per confutare voci di simpatie per Franco fece una dichiarazione pubblica mentre lavorava su
Guernica:
"La guerra in Spagna la reazione contro la gente e contro la libert. Tutta la mia vita di artista non
stata niente di pi che una lotta continua contro la reazione e la morte dell'arte. Come si potrebbe pensare,
anche solo per un momento, che io possa essere d'accordo con la reazione e la morte? Quando iniziata la
rivolta, il governo repubblicano di Spagna, legalmente eletto e democratico, mi ha nominato direttore
del Museo del Prado, carica che ho subito accettato. Nel pannello su cui sto lavorando che chiamer
Guernica, e in tutti i miei recenti lavori di arte, ho chiaramente espresso il mia orrore per la casta militare
che ha sprofondato la Spagna in un oceano di dolore e morte ... "
Bombing of Guernica
The bombing of Guernica (26 April 1937) was an aerial attack on the Basque town of Guernica during
the Spanish Civil War. It was carried out at the behest of the Spanish nationalist government by its allies,
the German air force's Condor Legion and the ItalianAviazione Legionaria, under the code name Operation
Rgen.
The bombing is considered one of the first raids on a defenceless civilian population by a modern air force.[1]
The number of victims of the attack is still disputed; the Basque government reported 1,654 people killed,
although modern figures suggest between 126[2] (later revised by the authors of the study to 153 [3]) and 400
civilians died.[4][5] Russian archives reveal 800 deaths on 1 May 1937, but this number may not include
victims who later died of their injuries in hospitals or whose bodies were discovered buried in the rubble. [6]
The bombing is the subject of a famous anti-war painting by Pablo Picasso. It was also depicted in
a woodcut by the German artist Heinz Kiwitz,[7] who was later killed fighting in the International Brigades.
[8]
The bombing shocked and inspired many other artists, including a sculpture by Ren Ich, one of the first
electroacoustic music pieces by Patrick Ascione, a musical composition by Ren-Louis Baron and poems
by Paul Eluard (Victory of Guernica), and Uys Krige (Nag van die Fascistiese Bomwerpers) (English
translation from the Afrikaans: Night of the Fascist Bombers). There is also a short film from 1950 by Alain
Resnais entitled Guernica.
Guernica[edit]

Autonomous Basque Country

Guernica (Gernika in Basque; officially Gernika-Lumo), in the Basque province of Biscay, and
30 kilometres east of Bilbao, has long been a centre of great significance to the Basque people. Its Gernikako
Arbola ("the tree of Gernika" in Basque) is an oak tree that symbolizes traditional freedoms for the Biscayan
people and, by extension, for the Basque people as a whole.
Not only was Guernica considered the identity of Basque, but it was also considered the spiritual capital of
Basque people.[9] Guernica has always been celebrated as the home of Basque liberties. [10]
Guernica was also the location of the Spanish weapons manufacturer Astra-Unceta y Ca, which had been a
supplier of firearms to the Spanish military and police forces since 1912.
At the time of the bombing, the population of Guernica was 7,000 people, and the battlefront was
30 kilometres away.
Military situation[edit]
Advances by Nationalist troops led by Generalsimo Francisco Franco had eaten into the territory controlled
by the Republican Government. The Basque Government, an autonomous regional administrative body
formed by Basque nationalists, sought to defendBiscay and parts of Guipuzcoa with its own light Basque
Army. At the time of the raid, Guernica represented a focal strategic point for the Republican forces. It stood
between the Nationalists and capture of Bilbao. Bilbao was seen as key to bringing the war to a conclusion in
the north of Spain. Guernica also was the path of retreat for the Republicans from the northeast of Biscay.
Prior to the Condor Legion raid, the town had not been directly involved in the fighting, although Republican
forces were in the area; 23 battalions of Basque army troops were at the front east of Guernica. The town
also housed two Basque army battalions, although it had no static air defenses, and it was thought that no air
cover could be expected due to recent losses of the Republican Air Force.[11]
The first wave arrived over Guernica around 16:30. A Dornier Do 17, coming from the south, dropped
approximately twelve 50 kg (110 lb) bombs.
The three Italian SM.79s had taken off from Soria at 15:30 with orders to "bomb the road and bridge to the
east of Guernica, in order to block the enemy retreat" during the second wave. Their orders explicitly stated
not to bomb the town itself. [23] During a single 60-second pass over the town, from north to south, the
SM.79s dropped thirty-six 50 kg (110 lb) light explosive bombs. Vidal says that at this point, the damage to
the town was "relatively limited... confined to a few buildings", including the church of San Juan and
headquarters of the Izquierda Republicana ("Republican Left") political party.
The next three waves of the first attack then occurred, ending around 18:00. The third wave consisted of a
Heinkel He 111 escorted by five Aviazione Legionaria Fiat fighters led by CapitanoCorrado Ricci. The
fourth and fifth waves were carried out by German twin-engined planes. Vidal notes:
"If the aerial attacks had stopped at that moment, for a town that until then had maintained its distance from
the convulsions of war, it would have been a totally disproportionate and insufferable punishment. However,
the biggest operation was yet to come."[23]

Subsequent raids[edit]
Earlier, around noon that day, the Junkers Ju 52s of the Condor Legion had carried out a mission around
Gerrikaraiz. Following this they landed to re-arm and then took off to complete the raid on Guernica. The
attack would run from north to south, coming from the Bay of Biscay and up the course of the Urdaibai
estuary.
The 1st and 2nd Squadrons of the Condor Legion took off at about 16:30, with the 3rd Squadron taking off
from Burgos a few minutes later. They were escorted from Vitoria-Gazteiz by a squadron of Fiat fighters and
Messerschmitt Bf 109Bs of Gnther Ltzow's 2. Staffel (2nd Squadron) of Jagdgruppe 88 (J/88), for a total
of twenty-nine planes. Ltzow himself did not participate in the attack, he was on home leave from 829
April 1937.[24]
From 18:30 to 18:45, each of the three bomber squadrons attacked in a formation of three Ju 52s abreastan
attack front of about 150 m (490 ft). At the same time, and continuing for around 15 minutes after the
bombing wave, the Bf 109Bs and Heinkel He 51 biplanes[citation needed] strafed the roads leading out of town,
adding to civilian casualties.
Outcome[edit]
The bombing shattered the city's defenders' will to resist, allowing the rebel Nationalists to overrun it. This
indirectly supported Douhet's theory, which expected this result. The rebels faced little resistance and took
complete control of the town by 29 April.[dubious discuss] The attacks destroyed the majority of Guernica. Three
quarters of the city's buildings were reported completely destroyed, and most others sustained damage.
Among infrastructure spared were the arms factories Unceta and Company and Talleres de Guernica along
with the Assembly House Casa de Juntas and the Gernikako Arbola. Since the Luftwaffe was then operating
on Wever's theory of bombing as a military action, the mission was considered a failure as a result. However,
the rubble and chaos that the raid created severely restricted the movement of Republican forces.
Since his appointment on the northern front, the Soviet aviation advisor Arjnoukhine had insistently called
for air reinforcements, motivating his demands by high losses inflicted by nationalist aviation over
Republican troops as well as civilian population. [25] On 8, 9 May I-15 and 6 R-Zet were sent by air from
central Spain through Toulouse, in France. Planes were immediately immobilized by non-intervention
committee, and later sent back unarmed to central Spain.
The attack has entered the lexicon of war as an example of terror bombing. It is also remembered by the
surviving inhabitants and Basque people as such. Due to the lingering divisions from the conflict, the event
remains a source of emotion and public recrimination.
Military intentions[edit]
A commonly held viewpoint is that the involvement of the Luftwaffe in the Civil War occurred because of
shared anti-communism and to form a proving ground for troops employed later during World War II. This
view is supported by the comments of then Reichsmarschall Hermann Gring at the Nuremberg Trials:
"I urged him (Adolf Hitler) to give support [to Franco] under all circumstances, firstly, in order to prevent the
further spread of communism in that theater and, secondly, to test my young Luftwaffe at this opportunity in
this or that technical respect."[47]
Guernica may have been considered as a military target, being a communication centre not too far from the
battle line. The Germans bombed Guernica in a deliberate attempt to destroy the entire town. [48]

After the war a telegram sent from Francos headquarters was found revealing that he had asked for a Condor
Legion attack on Guernica. His goals were to discourage the Basque people and take over the Basque
Government.[9] Hermann Goering also confessed in 1946 that Germany had considered Guernica as a testing
ground.
Carpet bombing[edit]
Alongside the potential for gains in combat experience it is also thought that various strategic initiatives were
first tried as part of Luftwaffe involvement in the conflict. Theories on strategic bombing were first
developed by the Luftwaffe with the first exhibition of "carpet bombing" in the September 1937 Asturias
campaign. Comparisons between the raid on Guernica and the fate of other cities during the conflict are also
telling. As the fighting progressed into March 1938 Italian pilots flying as Aviazione Legionaria under Field
Marshal Hugo Sperrle were involved in thirteen raids against Barcelona involving fire and gas[citation
needed]
bombs.
The use of "carpet bombing" was becoming standard practice by Condor Legion personnel. To illustrate this
point, military historian James S. Corum cites an excerpt from a 1938 Condor Legion report on this use of
this tactic:
We have had notable results in hitting the targets near the front, especially in bombing villages which hold
enemy reserves and headquarters. We have had great success because these targets are easy to find and can
be thoroughly destroyed by carpet bombing."[4]
On the Spanish side, threats made prior to the raid by General Emilio Mola to "end the war in the North of
Spain quickly" and threats apparently made against Republicans in Bilbao afterward implied a blunting of
strategy and that air raids were effective and set to become an increasingly favorite instrument in the
Nationalist war effort.
Media reporting[edit]
The first English-language media reports of the destruction in Guernica appeared two days later. George
Steer, a reporter for The Times, who was covering the Spanish Civil War from inside the country, authored
the first full account of events. Steer's reporting set the tone for much of the subsequent reportage. Steer
pointed out the clear German complicity in the action. [53] The evidence of three small bomb cases stamped
with the German Imperial Eagle made clear that the official German position of neutrality in the Civil War
and the signing of a Non-Intervention Pact was a sham. Steer's report was syndicated to the New York
Times and then worldwide, generating widespread shock, outrage, and fear. There was coverage in other
national and international editions also:

The Times ran the story every day for over a week after the attack.

The New York Post ran a cartoon showing Hitler brandishing a bloody sword labelled "air raids" as
he towered over heaps of civilian dead littering "the Holy City of Guernica".

The US Congressional Record referred to poison gas having been dropped on Guernica. This did not
actually occur.[54]

During debates in the British Parliament Guernica was also inaccurately described as an "open city"
which contained no military targets.

Overall, the impression generated was one which fed the widely held public fear of air attack which had been
building throughout the 1930s, a fear which accurately anticipated that in the next war the aerial forces of
warring nations would be able to wipe whole cities off the map.
Reaction in Spain[edit]
The Nationalists claimed that Guernica had been deliberately burned and dynamited by fleeing Republican
forces,[55] which had been using the city to store ammunition and explosives. While Republican forces had
been involved in pursuing a scorched earth strategy in the past, (notably in Irun, which was dynamited),
Steer's reporting was supported by the reporting of other journalists who witnessed the same levels of
destruction.[56] The view that civilian casualties had been kept to a minimum was not widely accepted. The
delay in arrival of firemen fromBilbao and their supposed inaction in containing the fires was also reported.
[57]

Legacy[edit]
Steer's reports on the horrors of Guernica were greatly appreciated by the Basque people. Steer had made
their plight known. The Basque authorities later honored his memory by naming a street in Bilbao George
Steer Kalea, and commissioning a bronze bust with the dedication:
"George Steer, journalist, who told the world the story about Guernica." [58]
Despite Francoist efforts to play down the reports, they proliferated and led to widespread international
outrage at the time.