Spanish Civil War Refugees in the U.S.

Corsino · Post by **Corsino** » Sun Feb 29, 2004 1:47 pm

Thanks Terechu..

I was wondering how to explain, in Spanish, that in the first photo I was standing in front of the man that has a white handkerchief in his coat pocket. ( I think jomaguca understands that, now).
In the second photo, I'm on the left, next to a boy that is wearing a tie.
I'm probably misunderstanding jomaguca, but they are not family photos. They are both photos of Spanish refugee children. The first one in Le Havre, France in 1938. The second one in New York in 1942.

Corsino.

Corsino · Post by **Corsino** » Mon Mar 01, 2004 8:28 pm

UPDATE TO LIST OF SPANISH REFUGEES:

I've received a little more information from the AFSC. Apparently, Spanish refugees came over in two groups. The first one, was called the "May" group. The second one , of which I was part of, was called the "June" group, although we actually made the trip in July 1942.
I think that most of the " May " group must have been housed at a different facility than the "June" group. However, I do remember the Izquierdo children, which are listed with the "May" group, being at the same facility that I was in the Bronx.
I have added the new names to the list, although I have no other information.
I must add that the two groups also consisted of German, Polish, and French, practically all Jewish. Most of the Spanish children are listed as Catholic, although a few were Protestants.

NAME..........................1942 AGE.......BIRTHPLACE................GROUP
-------..........................-----------.......--------------................--------

Abadie,Elvira....................12..............Barcelona....................June
Abadie, Luisa....................11..............Barcelona....................June

Fernandez, Benigno...........13..............Oviedo, Asturias...........June
Fernandez, Manuel.............11..............Oviedo, Asturias...........June

Fernandez Garcia, Corsino..12..............Castandiello, Asturias...June

Fernandez Groba, Jose.......12...............Bilbao, Vizcaya............June

Garcia, Juan......................10...............Benterique, Almeria......June
Garcia, Rosario..................15...............Almeria........................June

Giron, Eusebio.....................7................Renteria, Guipuzca.......June
Giron, Arsenio.........................................................................May

Llerandi, Maruja...................9................Llanes, Asturias............June
Llerandi, Felipe..........................................................................May
Llerandi, Julian...........................................................................May
Llerandi, Sara............................................................................May
Llerandi, Rogelio........................................................................May

Luis, Germinal.....................11................Barcelona....................June

Ribares, Antonio..................12................Vicien, Huesca..............June
Ribares,Jose........................11................Loporzano, Huesca........June

Ruiz, Antonio.........................8................Molin de Rey.................June
Ruiz, Jose..............................7................Barcelona.....................June
Ruiz, Juan.............................11...............Molin de Rey.................June

Baez, Augustina....................12................Alfaro..........................June

Diaz, Argimiro..............................................................................May
Diaz, Benjamin............................................................................May
Diaz, Luiz.....................................................................................May
Martin, Esteban............................................................................May
Martin, Maruja..............................................................................May
Perez,Albina.................................................................................May
Perez, Armonia.............................................................................May
Perez, Manuel...............................................................................May
Poyuelo, Manolita..........................................................................May
Rios, Encarnacion..........................................................................May
Rios, Josefa...................................................................................May
Galan, Luis....................................................................................May
Izquierdo, Jose..............................................................................May
Izquierdo,Manuel...........................................................................May
Izquierdo, Lucia.............................................................................May

.

Corsino · Post by **Corsino** » Tue Mar 02, 2004 6:46 pm

Received a reply from the International Social Services (ISS), American Branch. They did inherit records from the U.S. Committee for the Care of European Children.
I'll see how much information they are willing to provide....

Corsino.

Sweeney · Post by **Sweeney** » Tue Mar 02, 2004 9:41 pm

Dear Corsino:

I have a little surprise for you. Check out the following website:

http://www.musiccentre.ca/apps/index.cf ... d=330&by=G

How many people have we found so far, 7 or 8?

This one only took me 5 minutes to find! I am getting faster!

Corsino · Post by **Corsino** » Tue Mar 02, 2004 10:08 pm

Donna,
Yes, we are making good progress. Thanks to you.
I have little time to research. I have called several. But they all want to talk a lot. I hate to see my phone bill !!! But it's worth it.
I have talked to Antonio Ribares, Jose Ribares and Rogelio Llerandi so far.
I'm getting e-mail addresses of the other Llerandis. Although Felipe Llerandi lives in Caracas, Venezuela. So far, the ones I've talked with, know where their Spanish families are. That's good.

Carlos · Post by **Carlos** » Wed Mar 03, 2004 12:24 pm

Hi Corsino.

The lady who you had under her responsibility in France, Ascension Andrés Casaus, could not be a sister of the Civil Governor of Santander. Both republican governors who existed in this province during the Civil War were called Enrique Balmaseda Perez, and Juan Ruiz Olazarán. For what I could quarrel, almost with complete certainty this lady must have been the sister of Manuel Andrés Casaus, co-founder of a republican party called Acción Republicana (Republican Action). During the first two years of the II Spanish Republic, this gentleman was a Civil Governor of Navarre. He was a personal friend of the socialist Asturian leader Indalecio Prieto, and he took part in the armament obtaining for the Revolution of October, 1934, thanks to the contacts that both had in the Basque Country, specially in the Eibar's weapon factory (part of the shipment of the famous ship Turquesa). Manuel Andrés Casaus had some charge of responsibility in Public Security (Police), and was he who distributed some handguns (pistols), proceeding from police seizures, among the labour organizations, for self-defense, provided that there were terrorist armed groups with an ideology of extreme right (the Navarrese Requetés and the Falangists) and gunmen to salary of some businessmen who were murdering the workers. With all that he turned into a very dangerous person for the political right, so he was murdered by a group of Falangists in the Basque city of San Sebastian, previously to the Civil War.

Corsino · Post by **Corsino** » Wed Mar 03, 2004 1:36 pm

Carlos-
Wow !!! You have done a lot of research. You're probably correct. All I can go by is what's written on some of my documentation, which refers to Ascension as " the sister of the ex-governor of Santander before the war".
But since many documents of that period are in error, my information may be wrong too.

Corsino.

Corsino · Post by **Corsino** » Wed Mar 03, 2004 2:20 pm

An update on the progress of the search the whereabouts of the refugee children:

NAME................................PRESENT LOCATION........................NOTES

Ribares, Jose.......................Naples, Florida (winter home)
Ribares, Antonio...................Lafayette, Indiana....................... Harrison

Llerandi, Rogelio...................Schaumburg, Illinois
Llerandi, Julian......................San Diego, California
Llerandi, Felipe......................Caracas, Venezuela
Llerandi, Sara
Llerandi, Maruja

Izquierdo Torres, Manuel ..........Portland, Oregon
Izquierdo, Jose
Izquierdo, Lucia........................Medford, Oregon

Giron, Arsenio............................Canada ?
Giron, Eusebio...........................Deceased ?

Corsino.

Terechu · Post by **Terechu** » Wed Mar 03, 2004 5:43 pm

Corsino, Donna, everybody,
This has got to be one of the best threads yet! It's amazing how you are finding people in such a short time!
Wouldn't it be great if all those "children of the war" could come together again here in Spain for a holiday? If I were one of them, I would think of nothing else. It would be such a thrill!

--------------------------------
Corsino, Donna, todos,
Este es uno de los mejores hilos hasta la fecha! Es alucinante como estáis encontrando a la gente en tan poco tiempo!
No sería genial que todos estos "niños de la guerra" se juntaran de nuevo aquí en España por unos días? Si yo fuera uno de ellos, no pensaría en otra cosa. Sería tan emocionante!

Terechu

Corsino · Post by **Corsino** » Wed Mar 03, 2004 11:08 pm

Carlos.
A little more about Ascension Andres Casaus. I always wondered why she did not return to Spain after the Civil War was over. Her life wouldn't have been worth a " plugged nickel". After I came to the U.S., we wrote letters for a while. She had to gone to Switzerland and was caring for some children there.

Corsino.

Corsino · Post by **Corsino** » Fri Mar 05, 2004 5:59 pm

Got an e-mail from Marcelo Laruelo of 'asturias republicana', requesting a list of names so that he could look to see if there's any reference to them in his archives.
Sent him the list of the "June" group, because it has the most information.

Corsino.

Corsino · Post by **Corsino** » Sun Mar 07, 2004 11:02 pm

Update...
About a week ago, Donna posted a message on Genealogy.com about Jose Fernandez.
Unfortunately we haven't located him yet, but she did get a reply from one of his relatives in Belgium. They have been looking for him too.

On another subject, I have been in frequent communication with Arsenio Giron, Rogelio Llerandi, Julian Llerandi, and Jose Ribares. They are very supportive of this project.

Corsino .

Corsino · Post by **Corsino** » Mon Mar 08, 2004 8:09 pm

About Jose Fernandez..
I received an e-mail fom a Marlina Claessens in Belgium, who is also looking for her relative Jose Fernandez, wanting information on him. I e-mailed her all I know, including two photos in which Jose appears.

Corsino

Corsino · Post by **Corsino** » Tue Mar 09, 2004 10:00 pm

This is our compiled information on the whereabouts of the Spanish children. Well, actually we are no longer children, most of us being in our 70's.
The asterisks indicate the latest known locations. Since people move around, they are probably wrong now.

Elvira Abadie...............New England*
Luisa Abadie................New England?*

Benigno Fernandez...... ?
Manuel Fernandez....... ?

Corsino Fernandez........Ft. Worth, Texas

Jose Fernandez.............Caracas, Venezuela*

Juan Garcia...................Mexico*
Rosario Garcia...............Mexico*

Eusebio Giron.................Deceased
Arsenio Giron.................London, Ontario, Canada

Maruja Llerandi..............Isla Margarita, Venezuela
Felipe Llerandi................Caracas, Venezuela
Julian Llerandi................San Diego, California
Sara Llerandi..................Miami, Florida
Rogelio Llerandi..............Schaumburg, Illinois

Germinal Luis..................?

Antonio Ribares ...........Lafayette, Indiana
Jose Ribares.................Naples. Florida/Milwaukee, Wisconsin

Antonio Ruiz..................Wallingford, Connecticut*
Jose Ruiz.......................Florida *
Juan Ruiz.......................Florida*

Augustina Baez..............Lackawanna, NY*

Argimiro Diaz................Milwaukee, Wisconsin *
Benjamin Diaz...............Deceased
Luis Diaz.......................?

Esteban Martin...............Kansas City, Missouri*
Maruja Martin................Kansas City, Missouri*

Albina Perez..................?
Armonia Perez...............?
Manuel Perez.................?

Manolita Poyuelo............?

Encarnacion Rios.............Las Cruces, New Mexico*
Josefa Rios.....................Las Cruces, New Mexico*

Luis Galan......................Northern NY state*
Jose Maria Palacios.........Northern N.Y.state*

Jose Izquierdo................Medford, Oregon
Manuel Izquierdo............Portland, Oregon
Lucia Izquierdo...............Yreka, California

I hope I haven't left out anybody....

Corsino.

Corsino · Post by **Corsino** » Wed Mar 10, 2004 7:55 pm

We found two more...

Jose Maria Palacios............Waterport, NY

Luis Galan.........................Pinehurst, NC

They are cousins.

Asturian-American Migration Forum

Spanish Civil War Refugees in the U.S.

Arsenio Giron

Ascension Andrés Casaus.