Guernica

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On April 26, 1937, in the name of Spanish Nationalism, German bombers attacked the País Vasco city of Guernica, aiding Generalissimo Franco in his fascist goals. It was the middle of a Market Day in the epitome city of Basque culture when 1,650 Basque citizens were killed. Merely a test run for the Nazis, the attack helped German aerial chief Hermann Goering determine what it would take to blow up a whole city. Because fascist Germany and Italy were backing Generalissimo Franco, Goering was happy to give Condor Legion some hands on experience. The bombers entered the air space above the defenseless town of Guernica and opened fire. Dropping bombs on buildings and firing bullets into streets and squares, the Condor Legion left Guernica in ruin. The disaster is forever captured in Pablo Picasso's //Guernica.// Held in high regard among other Spanish art, it became a representative of the Civil War to the world and a universal symbol for the atrocities of war.



//Guernica// by Pablo Picasso
-Nicholas Ekblad HOME Sources: "The Bombing of Guernica, 1937," EyeWitness to History, [|www.eyewitnesstohistory.com] (2005)