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German Occupation of the Basque Territories in France

Three years after Gernika was bombed by Hitler's Condor Legion warplanes to aid Franco's fascist forces in the Spanish Civil War, Germany occupied France and the northern Basque territories (1940-1944) in the French state. During the occupation of Behe-Nafarroa (northern Navarre), Lapurdi and Zuberoa, more than 12,000 people were deported and put into concentration camps; used for slave labor. Entire families died in deportation. Many homes in Zuberoa were burned by the occupying forces. The brutal suppression of all opposition to the German occupation was not confined to severe measures against suspected members of the resistance themselves, but was also extended to their familes.

A network of Basque students in Paris, Bordeaux and Baiona, Gazteen Batasuna, joined the Organization of Armed Resistance (ORA). They also helped refugees from the Basque territories in Spain with food and clothing. In Zuberoa, 300 residents organized a guerrilla against the 800 German soldiers who burned houses and killed three people. In Maule, the people in the resistance arrested 44 Germans. In Atarratze, 165 German soldiers were detained by 200 members of the resistance. In Hazparne, German soldiers killed 17 people and arrested 200 suspected members of the resistance.

Some historians think that the German occupation of the northern Basque territories in France was crucial in injecting Basque self-awareness. Vichy France, a regime serving German interests, sought a "Revolution nationale" to transform France into a stable authoritarian order based on "work, family, fatherland". Because Basques saw their way of life and their culture threatened, the nationalist ideology made sense.

It is known that the bishop of Baiona supported the Allies, and that the clergy was divided. Some priests sided with Germany, others like the Benedictines of Bellocq were in the resistance. The conservative magazine Eskualduna, which supported Basque fiscal autonomy within the centralized French system, defended Petain. If and when France opens the secret files about the German occupation we will know more.

Sources: Eusko Ikaskuntza, Congress on the German occupation of the northen Basque territories, Baiona 1995; Photographs, press clippings and books about the German occupation of Baiona and Miarritze, Fotomuseum of Zarautz, January 1996.