The Spanish Civil War (1936-39)
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Welcome dear visitor We are Cor and Ellen and together we live in the beautiful and quiet village of Vries in the north of The Netherlands. I, Cor, have always been interested in history, but in 2012 that gained momentum because of my grandfather's diary. We in our family knew something about his adventures, but not many details. So that changed with the finding of that diary. In the diary Grandpa had described how he, as a sailor, had smuggled weapons to Spain on the ship the Andra in 1937 during the Spanish Civil War (1936-39). I used the diary to write a historical novel entitled Journey to the Spanish Civil War. Press the button ‘Our novels’ to read more about it. Since a diary is not yet a complete story, it took me over two years of research. My interest in the Spanish Civil War was born and I continued to research and do all kinds of other activities, such as visiting Spain where my grandfather's adventure took place. I also give lectures about Grandpa's adventure and the Spanish Civil War. Done dozens of times throughout the Netherlands and for all kinds of organizations. We are now writing together and our latest novel has been published and is now available in various places in the Netherlands. Ellen and I really enjoyed working on it. The novel is titled Fernando. Read more about him and his story here . There is much to tell about the Spanish Civil War. It was the war that brought Franco to power in Spain as dictator. He remained that way until his death in 1975. Now you might think it was a local Spanish event. Nothing is less true. In fact, the whole world has had something to do with it. For example, Germany and Italy have already been fighting against Russia during that war. Certainly Germany regarded it as an exercise for the coming Second World War.
© Cor Faber en Ellen Bijma Last update website march 2024
Lecture march 22 2024 at the Dutch island of Ameland
On March 22, Ellen and I gave a lecture for the cultural-historical club De Ouwe Pôlle on the island of Ameland. The starting point was the stay of 35 Franco supporters on that island from 1938 to February 1939. The story behind that can be found here. We were invited to do this in October last year. We were received very warmly and more than 50 people attended the lecture. Afterwards, many people stayed around to chat, a good sign because everyone was very interested and very satisfied.