🎬 No Passport for Spain: The images of anti-fascist solidarity

In April 1961, the Spanish and Dutch governments signed an agreement for the recruitment of Spanish guest workers. Ten years later, around thirty thousand Spanish migrants were living in the Netherlands. Although little is known about them today, many of these migrants were actively involved in the fight against Franco's fascist dictatorship in Spain. Collaborating with Dutch audiovisual producers, they activated a network of counter-propaganda that would impact the Dutch government's relationships with the Spanish dictatorial government. Where are the images of these Spanish migrants today? To whom do they belong? 

In this special session, Fidel Enciso Durán, film archivist at the International Institute of Social History, will recount his journey across diverse film archives trying to find the images of Spanish anti-Francoist migration in the Netherlands. During the session, footage from diverse media productions will be screened. After an introductory lecture, the film No Passport for Spain about the repression of Spanish activists will be screened.
 

No Passport for Spain
VARA, International Confederation of Free Trade Unions | 1969 | NL, Spain | 25’ | EN subtitles

This film was produced in 1969 by the Dutch broadcaster VARA in collaboration with Spanish exiles and migrants as part of a campaign organized by the International Confederation of Free Trade Unions.

Today, these images shed light on the emergence of an international anti-Francoist movement on the verge of 1960s activism, an aspect rarely acknowledged by Spanish or Dutch historians. It also raises questions about the reparation of the victims of Francoism, an issue still unresolved in contemporary Spain. Moreover, the session will highlight the role of film archives in keeping alive the memory of social struggles.