Ruins and Propaganda during the Spanish Civil War: the Case of the Basque Antifascist Press (1936-1937)

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Published 12-04-2016
Severiano Rojo Hernández

Abstract

 Examining a corpus of 289 photos released on Wednesday in the main newspapers of the republican Basque Country, between the beginning of the Civil war (July 18, 1936) and the capture of Bilbao by the pro-Franco troops (June 19, 1937), the paper analyzes to what extent the press and the Basque authorities use the war ruins, and how the destruction images articulate a political and identity speech, which aim is to mobilize the combatants and the rearguard against the rebels. The study shows how the presence or the absence of ruins in the press allows «to say and to think» the war—the «spectral presence» of the ruins or their relative invisibility representing an essential ingredient of the propaganda used in Basque Country during the war.

 
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Keywords

Civil war, press, photography, propaganda, ruins of war, antifascism

Section
Miscellany