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Seventy five years ago, Basque president Jose Antonio Agirre arrived in Berlin, which at that time was fully under Nazi control. It was during a dangerous scape to exile that took him to the wolf’s mouth, before being able to leave for America.  In June, a series of activities, organized by the Berlin Euskal Etxea and the Etxepare Basque Institute will commemorate the anniversary, while analyzing the political legacy of Agirre and its validity in today’s world from historical, political and artistic points of view. 

Berlin, Germany.   In 1941 Lehendakri Jose Antonio Agirre ran the streets of Berlin, at the height of Hitler’s power, while waiting for a visa that would allow him to flee to America.  He did it, of course, under a false identity and putting his life at risk.  The story of this haphazard flight was told by Agirre himself in his book From Guernica to New York, Passing through Berlin (read an extract here). 

Now, Agirre’s spirit comes back to the streets of Berlin thanks to a series of activities that will commemorate his passage through the German capital.  Apart from the story, these events, organized by the Gernika Deutsch-Baskischer Kulturverein e.V. (Berlin Euskal Etxea) with the collaboration of the Secretary General of Foreign Action of the Basque Government, will analyze the legacy of Jose Antonio Agirre at the political level, in the historical context of the time and the impact of the war in the worlds of art and culture.

The Berlin Basque Club has created a website dedicated to the conference, Agirre in Berlin, where you can see the complete program of all the activities that will take place.  In addition, the website has also published some of the maps where you can follow Agirre’s travels through Berlin during his time in the city.  The website is in Basque, Spanish and German.

The Basque Club is also supporting the translation into German of the work From Gernika to New York passing through Berlin, as well as his diary.

Thanks to the Etxepare Basque Institute, the second portion of the conference "The International Legacy of José Antonio Agirre’s Government,” co-organized by the Lehendakari Agirre Center and the Center for Basque Studies (CBS) in Reno will take place on June 1.  This conference that is taking place in three different venues at three different times began in March at the University of Nevada, Reno, and will conclude on June 9 with a symposium at Columbia University in New York.

PROGRAM SUMMARY (complete information Agirre in Berlin)

May 31

The Basque Government in Exile and the Construction of Europe

-Presentation: "The Basque Contribution to European Christian Democracy and the Creation of the European Union after WWII: José Antonio Agirre and Alberto Onaindia,” Iñaki Goiogana (Historian Sabino Arana Foundation)
Place: Cervantes Institute Berlín
Organizer: Euskal Etxea Berlin

June 1

Conference: "The International Legacy of José Antonio Agirre’s Government"

Place: Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin. Fritz-Reuter-Saal

Organizers: Etxepare Basque Institute, CBS Reno, Universität Leipzig

-9:30: Presentation: Mari Jose Olaziregi (Etxepare Euskal Institutua/ EHU-UPV), Carsten Sinner (Universität Leipzig) & Xabier Irujo (Center for Basque Studies, University of Nevada, Reno)

-9:40 Mikel Anton (Director of European Affairs, Basque Government / Eurobask): "Lehendakari Agirre and his Government: The Precursors of Europeism"
-10:00 Carlos Collado Seidel (Philipps-Universität Marburg), "British and American Plans for Tackling Franco During World War II and the OSS Proposal of Bringing to Power an Opposition Movement Led by Jose Antonio Agirre"
-11:30 Joan Villarroya (Universitat de Barcelona, "The Repression of Loyal Military in Euskadi"
-12:30 Nicholas Rankin (Journalist, BBC World), "Seventeen Months in Disguise. J. A. de Agirre’s Clandestine Life, 10 May 1940 - 9 October 1941"
-15:00 Hilari Raguer i Suñer (Historian, Montserrat Abbey), "The Vatican and the Basque Country (1931-1939)"
-16:00 Xabier Irujo (CBS, University of Nevada, Reno), "Genocide in the Basque Country (1936-1945)"

June 2

Conference:  "Agirre in the Arts: The Spanish Civil War and the Basque Exile in the Arts"

Place: Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin. Senatsaal

Organizer: Euskal Etxea Berlin

-9:30. Mari Jose Olaziregi (Etxepare Euskal Institutua /EHU-UPV), "In the Name of the Fallen: Basque Fiction on the Civil War"
-11:00 Miren Arzalluz (University of Deusto – London School of Economics), "Fashion in Exile. Creativity and Innovation, from Balenciaga to Rabanne"
-12:00 "Elegy of a Basque Woman":
Daniela Bister (Philipps-Universität Marburg, Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung), "Historical Memory in Iberian Literature. The Novel by Kirmen Uribe"
Kirmen Uribe, Work in progress/preview of his new novel: “Elegy of a Basque Woman”
-14:00 Benjamin Inal (Philipps-Universität Marburg), "The Bombardment of Gernika. The Crossing of the Arts and Politics"
-15:00 Iker Sánchez Silva (Orchestra Director), Joana Otxoa de Alaiza (piano), Paula Iragorri (mezzosoprano), "Berlin: Music without Borders. The Contemporary Music of the Interwar Time"

June 2

"Zaldiak eta beren itzalak – Horses and their Shadows - Die Pferde und ihre Schatten"

Poetry reading and live music by Kirmen Uribe & Mikel Urdangarin
Place: Gorki Theater Studio Я
Organizer: Euskal Etxea Berlin

June 3

Memoirs of a Basque Secret Agent: Nazi Concentration Camps and the Mechanics of Death

-Xabier Irujo (CBS University of Nevada, Reno), "Memoirs of a Basque Secret Agent: Nazi Concentration Camps and the Mechanics of Death"
Place: MedienGalerie ver.di / Euskal Etxea Berlin
Organizer: Euskal Etxea Berlin