View source for Niños de Rusia (Children of Russia)

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[[File:Выставка плаката революционной Испании.jpg|right|thumb|361x361px|Announcement of an exhibition with posters supporting the Spanish Republic in the [[Hermitage Museum]] in [[Saint Petersburg]].]]
The '''Niños de Rusia''' (Children of Russia) were the 2,895 children evacuated to the [[Soviet Union]] by the authorities of the [[Second Spanish Republic]] during the [[Spanish Civil War]]. During 1937 and 1938, the children were sent from the Republican zone to the Soviet Union to avoid the rigours of war. Spanish children were sent to several other countries as well as Russia during this period and they are more widely referred to as Niños de la Guerra (Children of War).<ref>{{Cite book |last=Cuadriello |first=Jorge Domingo |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=DsmL2LyCXRgC&q=El+exilio+republicano+espa%C3%B1ol+en+Cub |title=El exilio republicano español en Cuba |date=2009 |publisher=Siglo XXI de España Editores |isbn=978-84-323-1508-4 |language=Spanish}} {{Blockquote|Poco tiempo después, también desde territorio soviético, se trasladaron a la [[Cuba|Isla]] con el fin de impartir clases en la [[Universidad de La Habana]] varios profesores de origen español e igualmente con nombres supuestos, pero que en realidad no eran exiliados, sino los llamados «Niños de la Guerra», que habían sido evacuados a la Unión Soviética durante la contienda y se habían formado en ese país.}}</ref>
At first, the Niños enjoyed a warm welcome and decent treatment from the Soviet authorities, as the Spanish Civil War raged on. However, when the Soviet Union entered into [[World War II]] and the Nazis invaded the areas where the Niños had been housed, they had to endure the harsh reality and deprivations of the war once more. The Niños were not able to leave the USSR during the war, and due to the political differences between the countries, the right-wing [[Francoist Spain|Francoist regime]] in Spain treated those who finally returned with suspicion.
The first of the Niños to be repatriated was Celestino Fernández-Miranda Tuñón, who arrived in Spain on 7 January 1942. He had fought in the Soviet army<ref name=":0">{{Cite news|last=Prados|first=Luis|date=21 April 2005|title=Los niños de Leningrado|language=es|work=El País|url=https://elpais.com/diario/2005/04/22/ultima/1114120801_850215.html|access-date=5 June 2020|issn=1134-6582}}</ref> and been taken prisoner by the [[Finns]] in [[Karelia]].<ref name=":0" />
Some of the Niños de Rusia returned to Spain between 1956 and 1959 and others moved to [[Cuba]] during the 1960s, but a significant number remained in the USSR.
According to the archives of the Centro Español de Moscú (Spanish Center in Moscow), 239 Niños de Rusia of Spanish origin were still resident in the territories of the former Soviet Union in February 2004.<ref>Colomina Limonero, Immaculada (2005). ''Breve historia de los niños de la guerra de España en Rusia.'' Biblioteca del Instituto Cervantes de Moscú.</ref>
== The evacuations ==
As the [[Spanish Civil War|Spanish civil war]] (1936–1939) progressed, conditions became very harsh in the Republican controlled areas, so children at risk from the conflict were evacuated to other countries. The evacuations were organised through the National Council for Evacuated Children, created for this purpose by the [[Popular Front (Spain)|Popular Front]] government. France took c. 20,000 children, Belgium 5,000. The United Kingdom took 4,000, Switzerland took 800, Mexico took 455 and Denmark took 100 evacuee children.<ref name="Alicia">[[Alicia Alted Vigil|Alted Vigil, Alicia]] (2005). [http://www.unive.it/media/allegato/dep/immagini/26-El_instante_congelado.rtf «El “instante congelado” del exilio de los niños de la guerra civil española»] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180603173142/http://www.unive.it/media/allegato/dep/immagini/26-El_instante_congelado.rtf|date=3 June 2018}}, revista ''Deportate, Esuli, Prófughe'', n.º&nbsp;3, págs.&nbsp;263–281.</ref>
Four transports of evacuees (Niños), totalling 2,895 children were sent to the Soviet Union between 1937 and 1938, 1,197 girls and 1,676 boys.<ref>Devillard, María José; Pazos, Álvaro; Castillo, Susana; y Medina, Nuria (2001). [http://www.primeravistalibros.com/capitulos/000345/cod345paginas11_35.pdf ''Los niños españoles en la URSS (1937–1977): narración y memoria''.] Barcelona: Ariel. {{ISBN|84-344-1229-2}}; pág.&nbsp;12.</ref> The evacuations from [[Valencia]] and [[Barcelona]] were made up of children or relatives of pilots or the military.<ref>Castillo Rodríguez, Susana (1999). [http://www.ucm.es/BUCM/tesis/19972000/S/1/S1026701.pdf ''Memoria, educación e historia: el caso de los niños españoles evacuados a la Unión Soviética durante la Guerra Civil Española''.] Tesis doctoral. Madrid, pág.&nbsp;43.</ref> The evacuations were organised through the government of the Spanish Republic, the Soviet Union and the [[International Committee of the Red Cross|International Red Cross]], with the selection of the children and their adult companions made through calls to the public. The evacuations were sometimes undertaken with great urgency because of the proximity of [[Francisco Franco|Francoist]] Nationalist troops. This led to a number of cases of confusion and loss of children (lost on the journey from one province to another, or where parents who thought that their children were going to France and not to the Soviet Union).
{|  style="text-align:center;width:650px; height:50px" cellpadding="5" border="1" align="center"
|+'''Spanish children evacuated to the USSR between 1937 and 1939 *'''<br /><br />Sources: <span style="color:orange">Russian Red Cross</span> / <span style="color:green">Fundación Francisco Largo Caballero</span>
|Number of children
|Departure date
|Origin
|Port of departure
|- style="background:MintCream"
|72
|<span style="color:orange">March 1937</span> / <span style="color:green">21/03/37</span>
|<span style="color:orange">Madrid and Valencia</span>
|Valencia
|- style="background:MintCream"
|<span style="color:orange">1765</span> / <span style="color:green">1495</span>
|<span style="color:orange">12/06/37</span> / <span style="color:green">13/06/37</span>
|<span style="color:orange">País Vasco (Basque Country)</span>
|Bilbao (Santurce).
|- style="background:MintCream"
|<span style="color:orange">800</span> / <span style="color:green">1100</span>
|<span style="color:orange">23/09/37</span> / <span style="color:green">24/09/37</span>
|<span style="color:orange">Asturias</span>
|Gijón (El Musel).
|- style="background:MintCream"
|<span style="color:orange">76</span> / <span style="color:green">approx. 300</span>
|<span style="color:orange">October 1938</span> / <span style="color:green">end of 1938</span>
|<span style="color:orange">Barcelona</span>
|Barcelona
|- style="background:MintCream"
|<span style="color:orange">130</span>
|<span style="color:orange">1939</span>
|<small>''n/a''</small>
|<small>''n/a''</small>
|- style="background:MintCream"
|<span style="color:orange">52</span>
|<span style="color:orange">Post war</span>
|<small>''n/a''</small>
|<small>''n/a''</small>
|}
<small>* The data in black is confirmed by both sources, otherwise they differ or only appear in the source in which they are coloured. The total number of 2895 children is that given by the Red Cross, endorsed by historians Alted Vigil, Nicolás Marín and González Martell</small><ref>Alted Vigil, A. Nicolás Marín, E. González Martell, R. (1999): ''Los Niños de España en la Unión Soviética; De la evacuación al retorno, 1937–1999. [http://www.ugt.es/fflc/ Fundación Francisco Largo Caballero] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080613204840/http://www.ugt.es/fflc/}}'', Madrid, 1999.<br /><br />La diferencia en las cifras podría deberse a la confusión reinante los días previos al embarque en los diferentes transportes. Así, en Castillo Rodríguez, Susana. [http://www.ucm.es/BUCM/tesis/19972000/S/1/S1026701.pdf Memoria, Educación e Historia: el caso de los niños españoles evacuados a la Unión Soviética durante la Guerra Civil Española.] Tesis doctoral. Madrid, 1999. Página 85, se lee: {{Blockquote|A la confusión generalizada, se unió el retraso de la salida que provocó alteraciones en las listas de evacuados, ya que los padres, familiares, miembros de la organización y expedición, anotaban y desapuntaban a sus hijos y a los niños; una educadora comenta al respecto, refiriéndose a la expedición que partía de Gijón:<br>''...en Asturias se tomó como norma sacar a los niños que estaban en el orfanato minero (...) nosotros llegamos organizados en grupos, con las listas, parte de los que se recogieron, parte de occidental de Asturias y Galicia que venían huyendo, también se recogieron y vinieron, a última hora como tardamos mucho en salir porque teníamos bloqueado el puerto de Gijón por un guardacostas... el crucero ‘España” de los franquistas, y no podía entrar el barco de la Cruz Roja Francesa que nos sacaba hasta Francia, pues estuvimos concentrados 15 días y Odón bombardeándose, entonces muchos los padres los recogieron y al contrario, otros los metieron y ésos son los que no teníamos nosotros controlados, que nos faltaban datos...''}}</ref>
Most of the child evacuees came from the [[Basque Country (autonomous community)|Basque Country]], [[Asturias]] and [[Cantabria]], areas that had been isolated from the rest of the Republic by the [[Francisco Franco|Francoist]] advance.<ref name="Largo Caballero">Exposición: [https://web.archive.org/web/20081220235706/http://www.ugt.es/fflc/exposiciones/ninosguerra/ng_cap06.htm El exilio español de la Guerra Civil: Los niños de la guerra.] Fundación Francisco Largo Caballero.</ref> Several of the transfers were made on merchant ships, in which the children travelled crowded in the holds. According to the agreement with the Soviet Union, the children were to be between five and twelve years old, although there is evidence of cases of concealment or falsification of some of the Niños children's real ages, with some sources indicating that the actual ages ranged from 3 to 14 years.<ref>Colomina Molinero, Inmaculada. [http://www.secc.es/media/docs/32_3_COLOMINA.pdf El Rusiñol. Adaptación cultural y lingüística de los exiliados españoles en la antigua Unión Soviética.] En Congreso Internacional "La Guerra Civil Española". [http://www.secc.es/ficha_actividades.cfm?id=1716&CFID=6673676&CFTOKEN=24091240&jsessionid=b630a51faa102254191d Sociedad Estatal de Conmemoraciones Culturales].</ref><ref name="Ministerio">[https://web.archive.org/web/20091214015044/http://www.ciudadaniaexterior.mtin.es/es/pdf/informe-ninos-guerra.pdf Informe de la Dirección General de Inmigración] de 11/05/06. Ministerio de Trabajo e Inmigración, Gobierno de España.</ref> A small group of adults (aged between 19 and 50) accompanied them to take care of them and to continue their education.
== Las Casas de Niños (The Children's Houses) ==
[[File:Испанские_дети_в_школе.jpg|thumb|Niños de Rusia in a classroom late 1930s. Photograph by Soviet photographer Sergey Strunnikov ]]
The reception given to some of the evacuees in [[Leningrad]] was akin to a party. The Niños children were seen as demonstrating Soviet support for the fight against [[fascism]] in Spain. The Soviet authorities were concerned with children's hygiene, food and health. They were distributed to different reception centers, the "Casas de Niños" (Children's Houses) or "Casas Infantiles para Niños Españoles" (Children's Houses for Spanish Children), some of which were small palaces that had been expropriated during the [[October Revolution]]. In these houses, the Niños were cared for and educated, taught mostly in Spanish, and by Spanish teachers (mostly women), but following the Soviet educational model. Communist propaganda portrayed them as the future political elite in a Spanish socialist republic which would emerge from victory in the Civil War. The children and their families believed that their time in Russia would be short, and in their later testimonies they confirm that they were happy with the adventure of travelling to a foreign country.
At the end of 1938 there were a total of sixteen Niños houses in the [[Soviet Union]]. Eleven of them were located in the current [[Russian Federation]]: one in the center of [[Moscow]] (known as Pirogóvskaya),<ref>Castillo Rodríguez, Susana. [http://www.ucm.es/BUCM/tesis/19972000/S/1/S1026701.pdf Memoria, Educación e Historia: el caso de los niños españoles evacuados a la Unión Soviética durante la Guerra Civil Española.] Tesis doctoral. Madrid, 1999. Página 40.</ref> two in the Leningrad area (one in [[Pushkin]], current [[Tsarskoye Selo|Tsárskoye Seló]], 24 kilometers south of the city; one in [[Obninsk|Óbninsk]]) and 5 in [[Ukraine]] (including one in [[Odessa]], one in [[Kiev]] and one in [[Yevpatoria]]). Life in the Children's Houses is generally remembered by the surviving Niños as a happy interlude during which they received a decent education.
== Second World War ==
The Niños's fate changed with the start of the [[World War II|Second World War]]. Soviet interest in the Niños decreased after the end of the [[Spanish Civil War]], and with the signing of the [[Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact|Ribbentrop-Molotov Pact]] in August 1939, which assured non aggression between the Soviet Union and Nazi Germany. Soon after Germany, and then the Soviet Union invaded Poland, creating a new boundary between the two powers. The pact was fully terminated in June 1941. The Niños houses were dismantled due to the dangers of Nazi invasion. When the German army besieged Leningrad, and moved towards Moscow, and into Ukraine in the south, all the areas where the Spanish children had been placed were compromised. The Niños children in the two houses of Leningrad endured the blockade of the city by the German army during the harsh winter of 1941 to 1942.<ref name="Largo Caballero"/> 300 Niños children were evacuated once the fence could be opened, crossing the frozen lake Ladoga in trucks.<ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20131004231428/http://dpz.es/turismo/multimedia/no_editados_patronato/varios/cazarabet/elsuenoigualitario13.pdf Testimonio de dos 'niñas de Rusia' en Jaca] El sueño igualitario. Boletín del Coloquio "El republicanismo en la historia de Teruel n.º 13. Grupo de Estudios Masinos. Ayuntamiento de Mas de las Matas. Ed. Cuadernos de Cazarabet, pág 21 (Fuente: Diario del Altoaragón).</ref> Gradually, and with the agreement of the [[Communist Party of Spain]], the different Niños houses were evacuated to areas considered safer, in some cases quite remote, near the Ural Mountains and Central Asia.
Living conditions in the "second exile" worsened markedly. Many children died or fell ill. [[Tuberculosis]] and [[typhus]], together with the extreme temperatures of the Soviet winter and a poor diet, claimed numerous victims. Many of the older boys enlisted in the [[Red Army]]. Many chose to fight against fascism in Russia just as their parents did in Spain, and to repay the people who had received them and cared for them until the arrival of war. However, there were also cases of retaliation by the Soviet Union itself when there were challenges to communism. Dr. Juan Bote García, who had accompanied the children as a teacher, was arrested and was interned in the [[Karaganda|Karagandá]] concentration camp for refusing to educate the children in a Soviet way, wanting "less Marxism and more mathematics".<ref>[http://libcom.org/library/the-tragedy-karaganda The tragedy or Karaganda] De [http://libcom.org/ libcom.org] (en inglés).</ref>
[[File:Eastern_Front_1942-05_to_1942-11-es.svg|thumb|200x200px|Nazi incursion on the Eastern Front.]]
130 Niños enlisted in the Red Army and served in the defense of the main cities of the country, especially in the battles for the defense of [[Moscow]], [[Leningrad]] and [[Stalingrad]], some were decorated for their military service. Seventy Spaniards died in the [[Siege of Leningrad]], 46 were children or teenagers.
The rest of the Niños were no luckier. The transfers across the Soviet Union took them to remote places such as [[Samarkand]] or [[Kokand]] (present-day [[Uzbekistan]]), [[Tbilisi]] (present-day [[Georgia (country)|Georgia]]), or [[Krasnoarmeysk, Saratov Oblast|Krasnoarmeysk]] (in present-day [[Saratov Oblast]], Russia).
[[File:Dolores002.jpg|left|thumb|198x198px|[[Dolores Ibárruri]], Known as ''"La Pasionaria''" (Passionflower) originator of the famous slogan ''¡No Pasarán!'' and a leader in the PCE in Russia (1895–1989).]]
The most shocking testimonies come from this period: hunger, disease, crime, rape and prostitution.<ref>Vidal, César. ''Los juguetes rotos de Stalin'' [http://hemeroteca-paginas.lavanguardia.es/LVE01/PUB/1998/06/14/REV19980614-010.pdf &#91;1&#93;] y [http://hemeroteca-paginas.lavanguardia.es/LVE01/PUB/1998/06/14/REV19980614-011.pdf &#91;2&#93;]. Artículo en la "Revista del Domingo" del [[La Vanguardia|Diario La Vanguardia]]. 14/06/98:<br /><br />{{Blockquote|''Enfrentados al hambre y los malos tratos, no pocos se vieron obligados a someterse o delinquir. En Tashkent constituyeron bandas dedicadas a perpetrar hurtos. En Samarcanda y Tiflis, las niñas prostitutas españolas – de las que no pocas se quedaron embarazadas – llegaron a hacerse célebres entre los jerarcas del partido.''}}</ref> Various sources refer to the existence of Niños gangs dedicated to stealing. The [[Second Spanish Republic|Republican]] military commander [[Valentín González|Valentín González ''El Campesino'']] refers to the existence of a gang of Spanish children in [[Kokand]], who refused to mix with Russian children, and who used the [[Flag of the Second Spanish Republic|flag of the Spanish Republic]] as an emblem. González said that when one of those children was captured and executed, it was not in his role as a bandit, but as a supposed "[[Falangist Spain|Falangist]]".<ref name="Campesino">González González, Valentín. ''Vida y muerte en la URSS (1939–1949)''. [http://www.archive.org/stream/elcampesinolifea007506mbp/elcampesinolifea007506mbp_djvu.txt Texto completo (en inglés)] de la edición de International Press Alliance Corporation. Nueva York, 1952. Páginas 95–96.</ref>
The children's settlements where the Niños had been transferred began to suffer the rigours of war. Although the Niños were still, at least nominally, under the protection of the [[Communist Party of Spain]] (PCE), the [[Red Cross]] and other Soviet institutions and unions, the then leader of the PCE [[Jesús Hernández Tomás|Jesús Hernández]], himself exiled in the Soviet Union, often had to pressure the authorities to provide the most basic items for the Niños's survival: food, medicine, heating.<ref>Hernández Sánchez, Fernando (1950). [http://www.sbhac.net/Republica/Personajes/Biografias/JHernandezH16.htm#_ftn5 ''Pistolero, ministro, espía y renegado''], citando desde Vanni, E: ''Yo, comunista en Rusia''. Barcelona: Destino, págs.&nbsp;206–207.</ref> Those who did survive managed to do so by enduring harsh living conditions, living in peasant houses and working the fields to secure a livelihood.
When Hernández left the Soviet Union in 1943 on his way to [[Mexico]], nearly 40% of the Niños had died. In 1947, on the tenth anniversary of their arrival in Russia, an event was organised where fewer than 2000 of the children were present.<ref>Hernández Tomás, Jesús (1974). [http://www.justbooks.co.uk/dir/i/En_El_Pais_De_La_Gran_Mentira/8431201886/ ''En el país de la gran mentira''.] Madrid: G. del Toro. {{ISBN|84-312-0188-6}}</ref> There was significant criticism of the PCE, for not returning the children to Spain. Hernández claimed that [[Dolores Ibárruri]] stated that: "''No podemos devolverlos a sus padres convertidos en golfos y prostitutas, ni permitir que salgan de aquí como furibundos antisoviéticos."'' (''We cannot return them to their parents turned gullies and prostitutes, nor allow them to leave here as angry anti-Soviets.'') The memories the Niños had of the behavior of the PCE, and particularly that of [[Dolores Ibárruri|Ibárruri]], was often negative.
The deprivation suffered by the Niños was reflected by the similar experiences of the wider Soviet population during the Second World War.
== Attempts to retrieve the Niños children by the Spanish state ==
The return of the Niños evacuees, especially those in the Soviet Union, was something which the [[Francoist Spain|Franco regime]] in Spain continued to pursue. Even before the end of the Second World War, the [[FET y de las JONS|Falange]] took control of the repatriation project. [[Manuel Hedilla]], head of the organisation, sent a letter to [[The Times]] in 1937 asking for help in reversing what he described as "inhumane export of children" to the Soviet Union,<ref name="Falange">Blanco Moral, Francisco A. [http://www.rumbos.net/rastroria/rastroria02/ninos_guerra.htm «Los "niños de la guerra": expatriación y repatriación»], revista [http://www.rumbos.net/rastroria/ ''El Rastro de la Historia''], n.º&nbsp;2.</ref> offering to defray the costs of maintaining the children. The [[Servicio Exterior de Falange]] (the Falange Foreign Service) was placed in charge of the project. The records are held in the [[Alcalá de Henares]] archives, including a 1949 document describing some of the methods used.<ref name="Artículo">[http://www.elcomerciodigital.com/gijon/20071007/gijon/noche-olvido-dejabas-padres-20071007.html Artículo], en [http://www.elcomerciodigital.com ''El Comercio Digital''], 7 de octubre de 2007.</ref>
"''Nuestros delegados en el extranjero solicitan su devolución a España; en un 99 por ciento de los casos esa solicitud es denegada. Se recurre entonces sin miramientos a los medios extraordinarios, con los que, de una forma u otra, casi siempre se logra al fin obtener al menor.''" (''Our delegates abroad request their return to Spain; but in 99 percent of cases that request is denied. Extraordinary means are then used without regard, with which, in one way or another, it is almost always possible to finally obtain the minor.'')
The first returnee under this policy was one of the Niños who became a soldier in the Red Army, and was taken prisoner during the [[Winter War]] between the Soviet Union and Finland in 1939–40. Information obtained from him convinced the Falange that the Niños were being trained as communist activists. This was enhanced by the Nazi capture of a group of Niños in 1942, allegedly members of an "activist cell". The regime was always suspicious that the repatriated Niños could be communist agents. In 1952, the Falangist writer and poet Federico de Urrutia railled against  "the minor expatriates of 1937" sent to the Soviet Union, who he claimed "''dada la infrahumana educación recibida [...] ya habrían dejado de ser criaturas humanas, para convertirse en desalmados entes sovietizados.''"<ref name="Falange"/> (''Given the subhuman education they received, [...] they would have ceased to be human creatures, to become soulless Soviet entities''.)
Under this policy, once the child was repatriated, they were not returned to their family, "''por no ofrecer [...] ninguna garantía sobre su educación''" (for not being able to offer [...] any guarantee on their education), but were handed over to the Auxilio Social (a Francoist era humanitarian relief organisation much used for state propaganda).
== After the war: Spain, Mexico, Cuba, the Soviet Union ==
After the end of the Second World War, most of the surviving Niños returned to the original area they had been settled in within the Soviet Union. Many ended up settling in Moscow, although some did settle elsewhere.<ref name="Ministerio"/> Eventually, holidays in Spain were permitted for those who had spent twenty years in the Soviet Union.<ref>Castillo Rodríguez, Susana. [http://www.ucm.es/BUCM/tesis/19972000/S/1/S1026701.pdf Memoria, Educación e Historia: el caso de los niños españoles evacuados a la Unión Soviética durante la Guerra Civil Española.] Tesis doctoral. Madrid, 1999. Página 22.</ref>
In 1946, a small group of about 150 of the original Niños had obtained permission to go to Mexico to be reunited with their relatives.<ref name="Alicia"/>
After [[Joseph Stalin|Stalin]]'s death in 1953, a period of slow diplomatic thaw began between Spain and the Soviet Union. Spain joined the [[United Nations|UN]] in 1955 and in 1957 an agreement was reached for the return of the Niños who wished to go back to Spain. The transfer was organised quietly, although the Spanish government was keen to paint the exercise as rescuing the former child evacuees from the dangers of the Soviets. On 21 January, as part of an agreement between both countries and with the assistance of the Red Cross, the Soviet ship ''Crimea'' arrived at the port of [[Castellón de la Plana]] with 412 Spaniards on board.<ref>Diversos calendarios de efemérides: p. ej. [http://www.eldia.es/2005-01-21/agenda/agenda0.htm Eldia.es] o [http://hispanopolis.com/bin/efemerides.cgi?Year=1957 Hispanópolis.com].</ref> Between that year and the next, nearly half of the Niños sent to the Soviet Union would arrive in Spain.<ref name="Largo Caballero"/>
The Niños encountered hostility on their return. Some authorities mistrusted them, suspecting that they now held communist beliefs. For many families the reunion was difficult. They had sent children away for their safety, but were now being reunited with adults after almost twenty years, some now parents themselves, and with very different life experiences. A significant number of the Niños ultimately decided to return to the Soviet Union.
Knowledge of the Spanish language led another group of about 200 Niños to move to [[Fidel Castro|Castro]]'s [[Cuba]] from 1961 to the mid-1970s, as Soviet specialists sent by the [[Communist Party of Spain]]. They worked as translators, teachers, in construction or even for Cuban intelligence.<ref name="Ministerio"/><ref name="Alberto">[http://www.elpais.com/articulo/reportajes/65/anos/nino/guerra/Rusia/elpepusocdmg/20030209elpdmgrep_9/Tes/ «65 años como “niño de la guerra” en Rusia»], article in ''[[El País]]''on "65 years as a "war child" in Russia", on the life of Alberto Fernández, president of the Spanish Centre in Moscow. (in Spanish)</ref><ref name="Artículo"/><ref>En Cuadriello, Juan Domingo (2009). ''El exilio republicano español en Cuba''. España: Siglo XXI de España. {{ISBN|978-84-323-1387-5}}, pg.45, reference is made to the arrival of a group of "niños de Rusia" to teach at the University, and the fact that they used "nombres supuestos" (assumed names) like other agents sent by Moscow,<br />{{Blockquote|para no poner al descubierto la colaboración que ya entonces le brindaba el régimen de Moscú al Gobierno revolucionario cubano. (so as not to expose the collaboration which the regime in Moscow was already giving to the Cuban revolutionary government.)}}</ref><ref>[http://www.elcorreodigital.com/vizcaya/20080615/pvasco-espana/desde-santurce-leningrado-20080615.html «Desde Santurce a Leningrado»], [http://www.elcorreodigital.com ''El Correo Digital''] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081101160406/http://www.elcorreodigital.com/}}, 15 de junio de 2008.</ref> In Cuba they received the nickname of "''hispano-soviéticos''" (Hispano-Soviets).<ref name="Largo Caballero"/>
Since the 1960s, some individuals have chosen to return to Spain, and after the fall of the [[Berlin Wall]] and the dissolution of the Soviet Union, a considerable number returned. Those who stayed permanently in the Soviet Union, specifically in Moscow, used to meet in the halls of a factory, in the Chkálov Club or in the Spanish Center itself (also known as the House of Spain).<ref>Castillo Rodríguez, Susana. [http://www.ucm.es/BUCM/tesis/19972000/S/1/S1026701.pdf Memoria, Educación e Historia: el caso de los niños españoles evacuados a la Unión Soviética durante la Guerra Civil Española.] Tesis doctoral. Madrid, 1999. Páginas 38–39.</ref>
Diplomatic relations were not revived between Spain and the Soviet Union until the last months of the Francoist dictatorship in 1977. With the crumbling of the Soviet regime in the late 1980s and early 1990s, the Niños remained in legal limbo until 1990, when the Spanish courts made it possible for them to recover their "lost" nationality.<ref>Ley 18/1990, de 17 de diciembre (BOE 18 de diciembre), sobre reforma del Código Civil en materia de nacionalidad.</ref> In 1994, the Niños were granted the right to receive retirement, disability and survival pensions from Spain and in 2005, the rights to economic benefits was recognised for Niños still living abroad and for returnees who had spent most of their lives outside of Spain.<ref>por Ley 3/2005, de 18 de marzo (BOE 21 de marzo), cumpliendo lo establecido en la [http://noticias.juridicas.com/base_datos/Fiscal/l2-2004.t8.html#da55 disposición adicional quincuagésima quinta] de la Ley 2/2004, de 27 de diciembre (BOE 28 de diciembre), de Presupuestos Generales del Estado para 2005.</ref>
In December 2003, the surviving Niños received the gold Medalla de Honor a la Emigración (the Emigration Medal of Honour).
== Notable Niños ==
*[[Araceli Sánchez Urquijo]], the first woman to work as a civil engineer in Spain.<ref>{{Cite book |last1=CLIMENT VIGUER |first1=Susana |title=Araceli Sánchez Urquijo, la "niña de la guerra" (in Spanish) |last2=CALVÉ MASCARELL |first2=Óscar |publisher=Conselleria d'Habitatge, Obres Públiques i Vertebració del Territori |year=2021 |isbn=978-84-482-6531-1}}</ref>
*Ángel Gutierrez, (in Russian, [[Гутьеррес, Анхель|Анхель Гутьеррес]]), former student of the [[Russian Institute of Theatre Arts]] (GITIS), theater director and actor, founder of Chekhov Chambre Theatre in Madrid, specialist of Chekhov, who personally knew [[Andrei Tarkovsky]], Peter Fomenko, Andrei Lobanov, Oleg Efremov, Vladimir Vysotsky….<ref name="all-andorra.com">{{cite web | url=https://all-andorra.com/the-russian-spectator-is-smart-and-educated-the-spanish-spectator-is-superficial-but-learns-quickly-said-the-russian-spaniard-angel-gutierrez/ | title=Angel Gutierrez | date=2 April 2017 | accessdate=6 August 2020}}</ref><ref name="tandfonline.com">{{cite journal | title=Chekhov and Angel Gutierrez | doi=10.1080/14753820.2016.1248354 | s2cid=193657586 }}</ref>
*[[Laura Irasuegi Otal]], [[civil engineer]], first woman civil engineer in the [[Basque Country (autonomous community)|Basque Country]]'s Colegio de Ingenieros de Caminos, Canales y Puertos del País Vasco.<ref>{{Cite web |title="Bide-ingeniaritzako euskal emakume aitzindariak" erakusketa gaur arratsaldean irekiko da Bilbon, Bide Ingenieritzako Elkargoaren egoitzan |url=https://egoibarra.eus/eu/albisteak/201cbide-ingeniaritzako-euskal-emakume-aitzindariak201d-erakusketa-gaur-arratsaldean-irekiko-da-bilbon-bide-ingenieritzako-elkargoaren-egoitzan |access-date=2024-06-23 |website=Egoibarra.eus |language=eu}}</ref>
*Carmen Orive-Abad, the mother of the legendary Soviet hockey player [[Valeri Kharlamov]].<ref>{{cite news |title=Film brings Soviet hockey legend to life |url=https://www.rbth.com/arts/sport/2013/05/11/legend_no_17_soviet_ice_hockey_icon_valeri_kharlamov_25871.html |work=Russia Beyond |date=11 May 2013}}</ref>
*[[Agustín Gómez (footballer, born 1922)|Agustín Gómez]], footballer and captain of [[Torpedo Moscow]].
== References ==
{{Reflist|2}}
== Bibliography ==
* Qualls, Karl. "Stalin's Niños: Educating Spanish Civil War Refugee Children in the Soviet Union, 1937-1951. Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 2020. [https://utorontopress.com/9781487522759/stalins-ninyos/]
* Heredia, Carmen; Zafra, Enrique; Crego, Rosalía. "[http://www.edicionesdelatorre.com/index.php/biblioteca-de-nuestro-mundo/cronos/256-nmc04 "Los niños españoles evacuados a la URSS (1937)"]" Madrid. Ediciones La Torre. 1989.
* Castillo Rodríguez, Susana (1999). [http://www.ucm.es/BUCM/tesis/19972000/S/1/S1026701.pdf «Memoria, Educación e Historia: el caso de los niños españoles evacuados a la Unión Soviética durante la Guerra Civil Española».] Tesis doctoral. [[Complutense University of Madrid|Universidad Complutense de Madrid]]. Facultad de Ciencias Políticas y Sociología. Departamento de Antropología Social. Madrid, 1999.
* Sierra Blas, Verónica. ''Palabras huérfanas, los niños y la Guerra Civil''. Madrid: Taurus, 2009.
* Pablo Fernández-Miranda "Pisaré sus calles nuevamente" Ediciones GPS, 2019
== External links ==
* [http://centroespanolmoscu.ru/ Centro Español de Moscú]
* [https://ninosdelaguerra.ru/es Los niños de la guerra: en sus propiаs palabras]
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20081214170532/http://www.ugt.es/fflc/exposiciones/ninosguerra/ninos00.htm Exposición: El exilio español de la Guerra Civil: los niños de la guerra]. Fundación Francisco Largo Caballero.
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20081220235706/http://www.ugt.es/fflc/exposiciones/ninosguerra/ng_cap06.htm Capítulo VI – Evacuaciones de niños al extranjero durante la guerra. Unión Soviética]. Con abundante material fotográfico.
* [http://www.rtve.es/alacarta/audios/documentos-rne/documentos-rne-ninos-rusia-historia-del-desarraigo-20-10-12/1556422/ «Los niños de Rusia, historia del desarraigo»], audio en Documentos RNE.
* Lista de los españoles caídos combatiendo en las filas del Ejército Rojo en la Segunda Guerra Mundial. Centro Español de Moscú.
* [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=29LTxh_w5VE Imágenes del retorno de uno de los barcos.] [[No-Do|NO-DO]].
* ''Los niños españoles evacuados a la Unión Soviética (1937)''. España: Ediciones de la Torre, 1989.
[[Category:Spanish emigrants]]
[[Category:Exiles of the Spanish Civil War in the Soviet Union]]
[[Category:Evacuations during the Spanish Civil War]]
[[Category:Refugees in the Soviet Union]]
[[Category:Soviet Union–Spain relations]]
[[Category:Child refugees]]
[[Category:Adoption, fostering, orphan care and displacement]]
[[Category:Child welfare in Spain]]
[[Category:Adoption history]]
[[Category:Adoption in Spain]]
[[Category:Adoption in Russia]]