Snippets from Spain

Stumbling over a stone wakes me up

On one of my constitutionals this week, I nearly tripped over a stumble stone in front of the Instituto Lope de Vega. Long-time Snippets readers will remember I’ve had this problem before. When I regained my composure, I knelt to photograph the brass plaque embedded in the sidewalk. City governments and citizens have placed these piedras de memoria (memory stones) in front of the home of Spaniards who opposed Franco, fled to France to join the Resistance, were arrested by the Nazis or the Vichy government sympathetic to Hitler, and were deported to concentration camps.

People strolling along the sidewalk almost bumped into me. They peered down questioning why I was photographing the pavement. I wonder how many people had stepped right over these plaques without seeing them. Without recognizing what they meant. I’ve considered buying brass polish to buff them until they glisten.

The plaque that tripped me up honored Juan Bonet Bonnell. He, with a doctorate in Philosophy and Law, was a former professor and director of the Instituto Lope de Vega. Lope de Vega (1562-1635), the creator of Spanish theater, composed over 1,800 plays and hundreds of shorter works and poems during Spain’s Golden Age.

Juan Bonet Bonnell's piedra de memoria in front of the Instituto Lope de Vega

Bonet took on his position at the institute in 1933. He was a member of the Republican left, one of the political parties opposing General Franco. In 1936, at the beginning of the Civil War, he became the civil governor of Castellón, a province on the east coast. He held this position for only three months, a role that exacerbated his problems with the Germans.

As Spain fell to Franco, Bonet fled to France to join the resistance to fight against Hitler’s regime. Hitler and Franco enjoyed a cozy relationship. Hitler had sent soldiers and munitions to Spain during the Civil War to bolster Franco and his Nationalists. In exchange, the Spanish government supplied Germany with iron, copper, and sulfur to make weapons. It also sent troops to Africa to support Germany’s expansion.

In France, Bonet, fifty-three years old, entered a hospital for treatment of prostate problems. It didn’t take long for the French Vichy police to yank him from his bed and arrest him. Supposedly, the French officer was taking revenge on Bonet for the killing of a cousin in Castellón. The cousin died before Bonet became governor. In 1943, under the Gestapo’s supervision, he boarded a train headed to the Sachsenhausen concentration camp, north of Berlin. In 1945, they transferred him to the Mauthausen camp. Of 9,300 Spanish political prisoners, over 7,000 went to Mauthausen. Five thousand of these were executed or died in the inhumane conditions.

Bonet was one of the lucky survivors. American soldiers freed him and the other prisoners on May 5, 1945. Historians believe the Germans ensured Bonet didn’t die because his intellect and teaching skills could benefit them.

After the war, Bonet returned to France. In 1947, he left for Mexico as an exile. For over twenty years, he served as the director of the Instituto de Luis Vives, an organization created by Spanish refugees. He died at eighty years old in a notary’s office signing papers related to his position.

Madrid’s municipal government made an exception in laying Bonet’s stumble stone. Usually, it’s placed in front of the deported person’s home. In this case, they laid it at the door of the institute. In October 2022, over fifty people gathered, including city officials, former students and the Mexican head of the Instituto Luis Vives, and the director of Madrid’s Sefarad-Israel Center.

Bonet’s former students praised him for teaching them to think independently and critically. He had stressed the importance of not succumbing to political campaigns. They applauded him for using some of the institute’s earnings to offer free education to women who didn’t have a husband.

Juan Bonet Bonnell inspiring his students in Mexico

An eighty-nine year old man, Eufemio Garcia, also spoke a few quiet words. He was a boy when the Vichy police rounded up him, his parents, sister, and aunt and marched them into a cattle train. He and his family were part of the convoy of 927, the first Spanish Republicans deported to a concentration camp. He was the last living member of the 927 deportees.

Stumbling over the piedra de memoria jostled me into remembering how closely we’re connected to the past and how the violent words and actions, inflamed politics, and wars we experience today are not so different from Bonet’s time.

I have a lot more stumbling to do….