Celebrating the School Day of Non-Violence and Peace

Monday, January 27, 2025

The History Museum of Girona wants to spread the values of democracy and peace, on the School Day of Non-Violence and Peace, with an activity on historical memory for the students of year 4 of the Institute Vicens Vives, from Girona. Thus, on January 30th, the school will participate in the route “Clandestine letters from a man sentenced to death” adapted to secondary education students. This is a tour to the post-war Girona and the setting of the victims of the Franco's repression.

Today is the International Holocaust Remembrance Day: 80 years ago the Soviet troops liberated the Nazi concentration and extermination camp Auschwitz-Birkenau. It was also 86 years ago when the last days of the Civil War and the last bloody bombings in the city happened, on January 27th, 28th and 29th, and February 1st. With the entrance of the Francoist army, on February 4th, a huge repressive apparatus started operating through purges, courts of political responsibilities, confiscations and summary court-martials. This was the case, among many others, of Josep Turon Mir, local leader of the agricultural union Unió of Rabassaires (people who pull up stumps) in 1934 and major of Santa Coloma de Farners from September 9th to October 21st of 1937, who was sentenced to death by an Urgent Summary Court-Martial.

To remember these facts and recover and spread the values of democracy and peace, on the School Day of Non-Violence and Peace, the History Museum of Girona has prepared an activity for the students of year 4 from the Institute Jaume Vicens Vives, from Girona, on next Thursday, January 30th. In particular, they will do the route “Clandestine letters from a man sentenced to death”, which will take them to the post-war Girona and the setting of the victims of Francoist repression.

“Clandestine letters to a man sentenced to death” is a tour based on the 35 texts that Josep Turon Mir wrote during his 291 days of captivity in the prison of Girona, from February 25th to November 14th of 1940. It is a very valuable account of the post-war in our land, with the shocking experience of court-martials and the harshness of being sentenced to death and waiting for one’s own execution. These texts were letters that Turon wrote, once he was sentenced to death, to his friend Josep Alsina, who was also in the prison of Girona. They narrate his days at “the fridge” (name that the cell received due its coldness), the executions of the prisoners, or the shared moments of humour and the life with his cellmates. Probably the families of those who were executed were never able to know about these experiences due to the censorship of the official correspondence.

This tour started the past year and continues this 2025 with this version adapted to students of middle and high school on demand, along with the sessions already scheduled on Saturdays May 31st, at 11 a.m.