The cross-border route by which Azaña and Negrín fled in 1939

GironaFrom cross-border routes of the Republican exile, which follow the same paths that thousands of people took clandestinely on foot during the Civil War, from Portbou to Maçanet de CabrenysThere are a lot of them. Over the last few years, the Democratic Memorial of the Generalitat of Catalonia, in collaboration with the municipalities of Alt Empordà, has worked to study and properly mark them. However, a new one has now been added to the list, which, for the first time, has also been marked in collaboration with the Occitan administrations. The first democratic memory route carried out jointly with Northern Catalonia.

This is the route that connects the village of La Vajol (Alt Empordà) with Morellàs and the Islands, in the Vallespir. It passes along two steep paths through forests: to the right, through the Manrella pass and, to the left, through the Lli pass. This forms a circular route of about 14 km, with eight information signs, texts in Catalan and French, and QR codes that allow access to translations in Spanish and English.

The path to the left, which climbs the Lli pass, is particularly significant, as it was along this route, from La Vajol, that the Republican authorities fled during the 1939 retreat: in a joint expedition, the President of the Republic, Manuel Azaña, and the President of the Cortes, Juan Negrín, crossed the administrative border, later returning to Spanish territory.

Paths of knowledge, reflection, and international fraternity

That the Catalan government and the administrations of the French Pyrénées-Orientales region are joining forces to highlight the importance of these routes is significant news. While it's rather inexplicable that this didn't happen sooner, it's entirely consistent with and justified by the legacy and the sense of mutual support associated with exile. This collaboration falls within the Exilis 1936-1946 project, a cross-border cooperation initiative between Catalonia and southern France that aims to promote joint projects in the fields of culture and memory. "That we are aligned and willing to work together is important and useful in serving the main cause of democratic memory," explained the Catalan Minister of Justice, Ramon Espadaler, on the day of the inauguration. He added: "The route has a clear educational purpose and also represents a commitment to memory tourism as a cultural and territorial driver. Our goal is for these paths, which for so long were marked by pain and uncertainty, to become paths of knowledge, reflection, and international fraternity. May the memory of those men, women, and children remind us every day of the collective democracy we must defend in service of 'never again'."

"History unites us"

On the other side of the border with France, in the small municipality of Morellàs i les Illes, with about 3,000 inhabitants, they are also extremely pleased. "It's news of hope, for us, but above all for the younger generations. Beyond our differences, history in the Islands and in La Vajol unites us," explains Mayor Joan Vila. He continues: "The inauguration was an important day because it definitively inscribes historical memory in our territories. It certifies that, from La Vajol to here in the Islands, there is now a route that will never be forgotten." Walking these paths, almost 90 years later, is a highly recommended experience. Hiking along these trails, surrounded by plaques and information panels, is a very powerful way—although, of course, the conditions of the journey have nothing to do with those of the exile of '39—to imagine and honor on the ground the footsteps of the generations of grandparents ruined by the war. Some are still alive, like Joan Pacheco, a 95-year-old from Girona, who, at just 8 years old, walked that same path with his parents and, on February 7th, the day of the inauguration, was present at the event with great emotion.