Mission, values, history and activities
Amical of Mauthausen and other camps and of all the victims of Nazism from Spain.
The ‘Amical of Mauthausen and other camps and of all the victims of Nazism in Spain’ is the association that brings together the former republican deportees from the Nazi concentration camps, as well as the relatives and friends of both the survivors and the deportees murdered in the camps.
The Amical of Mauthausen and other camps represents the deportees of that Austrian camp and all camps of the Third Reich, even though the association takes the name of Mauthausen, because it is the camp where the most Spaniards were deported.
Amical groups and represents deportees from all over Spain, has its headquarters in Barcelona and diverse delegations in the autonomous communities of Andalusia, Aragon, Castilla-La Mancha, Catalonia, Euskadi, Extremadura, Madrid, Navarra, Murcia, Rioja and Valencia.
The objective of this association is to work for the memory of all those people who lived and fought during the Spanish civil war before crossing the French border on their way to exile and who later suffered deportation to Nazi camps. Amical collaborates and promotes actions throughout Spain, with collaborating partners throughout the territory.
Amical also maintains links and collaborates with institutions and entities abroad and in our country that have a similar history and purpose, especially associations of victims of concentration camps and memorial societies.
FOUNDATION
Amical was founded in 1962 by former deportees and relatives to bring together widows and orphans and support all deportees who had returned from exile since in Spain they did not have an association of this type, although they had found associations in France , where many exiled Spaniards had joined the Amicale des Déportés, Familles et Amis de Mauthausen or the Spanish Federation of deportees and Political Internees founded in Toulouse in 1947. Currently many of our members are also part of the French Amicale, an entity with which we regularly collaborate.
With two frustrated attempts at legalization in 1963 and 1967, Amical was forced to work underground until the end of the Franco dictatorship, so its activities were very limited. In this period, the main task of the association was to locate survivors and relatives of the victims, advise them on compensation provided by Germany, organize trips to Mauthausen and, as far as possible, carry out informative activities.
LEGALIZATION
After legalization, which did not arrive until 1978, a new stage of strong informative activity began. This stage coincided with the publication of Montserrat Roig’s important work Els catalans als camps nazis, which made it possible to learn about a story that until then was practically ignored: that of the approximately 10,000 Spanish republicans, exiled in France, who were sent by the Nazis to the concentration camps and forced to perform forced labor within the Todt organization.
It was then that the first tentative acts of institutional recognition also began, especially from the meeting of the International Mauthausen Committee held in Barcelona in 1979 with representatives of 18 nations, in which it was decided to promote the erection of monuments to the deportation in some towns throughout Spain. The promotion or participation in acts of tribute to deportees throughout the State in municipalities and autonomous communities, whether individual or collective tributes, continues to be one of the basic activities of the association today.
In 2018, a commemorative video was released to mark the 40th anniversary of legalization.
MAIN ACTIVITIES
The main activities of Amical are focused on knowledge, dissemination and memory, as well as to prevention.
Knowledge
- Research activities based on databases (maintenance and updating) and collaborations with researchers and local, regional and State institutions.
- A network of municipalities, educational centres and historical memory entities called “Never again”.
Dissemination and Memory
- Education actions through presentations at schools and associations (about 167 in 2024).
- Commemorative events y exhibitions to municipalities and civil society associations (about 140 per year).
- Dissemination actions by means of Newsletters, production of books, brochures and newsletters, videos and interviews in the media.
- Preserving the memory of Spanish refugees, who suffered deportation into Nazi concentration camps, and support and guidance to relatives of deportees.
Prevention
- Supportive activities for public awareness to counter denialism and discrimination.
- Annual visits by students and schools to the Mauthausen concentration camp on its liberation date, as well as to other nazi concentration camps.