A child's return to Franco's Spain

During the Spanish Civil War, the fascist dictator Francisco Franco rose to power.Around half a million people fled the fighting, but some chose to return even as the conflict continued.One of them was eight-year-old Felisa Umbon San Vicente. In 1937, her mother brought the family back from France to their village near Bilbao, in Spain’s northern Basque Country, close to the French border.Felisa tells Ivana Davidovic about starting school and growing up during the war, as her region fell to Franco’s forces.Eye-witness accounts brought to life by archive. Witness History is for those fascinated by and curious about the past. We take you to the events that have shaped our world through the eyes of the people who were there. For nine minutes every day, we take you back in time and all over the world, to examine wars, coups, scientific discoveries, cultural moments and much more. Recent episodes explore everything from how the Excel spreadsheet was developed, the creation of cartoon rabbit Miffy and how the sound barrier was broken.We look at the lives of some of the most famous leaders, artists, scientists and personalities in history, including: the moment Reagan and Gorbachev met in Geneva, Haitian singer Emerante de Pradines’ life and Omar Sharif’s legendary movie entrance in Lawrence of Arabia.You can learn all about fascinating and surprising stories, like the invention of a stent which has saved lives around the world; the birth of the G7; and the meeting of Maldives’ ministers underwater. We cover everything from World War Two and Cold War stories to Black History Month and our journeys into space.(Photo: Felisa with her mother. Credit: Felisa Umbon San Vicente)

HISTORICAL ARCHIVE & EVIDENCE
The original photo gallery, unedited witness statements, and the private archive documents mentioned in this historical report are now available for public access:
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