Marcelino Bilbao Bilbao (16 January 1920 in Alonsotegi–25 January 2014) was a lieutenant in the Isaac Puente battalion of the

Confederación Nacional del Trabajo The Confederación Nacional del Trabajo ( en, National Confederation of Labor; CNT) is a Spanish confederation of anarcho-syndicalist labor unions, which was long affiliated with the International Workers' Association (AIT). When working wi ...

(CNT) of

the Basque Country The Basque Country ( eu, Euskal Herria; es, País Vasco; french: Pays basque) is the name given to the home of the Basque people. Trask, R.L. ''The History of Basque'' Routledge: 1997 The Basque country is located in the western Pyrenees, st ...

and survivor of Mauthausen concentration camp and the Ebensee concentration camp.

Biography

Orphan by birth, he left school at the age of twelve. He temporarily worked at the “La Primitiva” mine in Castrejana (Baracaldo). Shortly after, he started working at the “Rica” jute spinning factory.

Spanish Civil War

During the

Second Spanish Republic The Spanish Republic (), commonly known as the Second Spanish Republic (), was the form of government in Spain from 1931 to 1939. The Republic was proclaimed on 14 April 1931, after the deposition of Alfonso XIII, King Alfonso XIII, and was di ...

he was a member of the

Unified Socialist Youth The Unified Socialist Youth (Spanish: Juventudes Socialistas Unificadas; JSU) was a youth organization formed in the spring of 1936 in Spain through the amalgamation of the Spanish Socialist Workers' Party (PSOE) and Communist Party of Spain (PCE) ...

(JSU), but at the outbreak of the

Spanish Civil War The Spanish Civil War ( es, Guerra Civil Española)) or The Revolution ( es, La Revolución, link=no) among Nationalists, the Fourth Carlist War ( es, Cuarta Guerra Carlista, link=no) among Carlists, and The Rebellion ( es, La Rebelión, lin ...

he joined the Isaac Puente No. 11 battalion of the

Euzko Gudarostea (spelled in modern eu, Eusko Gudarostea, lit=Basque army) was the name of the army commanded by the Basque Government during the Spanish Civil War. It was formed by Basque nationalism, Basque nationalists, socialists, communists, anarchists an ...

, the No. 3 of the Euzkadi

(CNT). In November 1936 he participated in the

Villarreal offensive The Villarreal Offensive ( es, Ofensiva de Villarreal) was an offensive of the Spanish Civil War which lasted from 30 November to 24 December 1936. Eusko Gudarostea's 4,300 men fought 600 men of the insurgent forces. Background In 1936, the Ba ...

. In February and March 1937 Marcelino Bilbao fought with the Isaac Puente battalion in the siege of

Oviedo Oviedo (; ast, Uviéu ) is the capital city of the Principality of Asturias in northern Spain and the administrative and commercial centre of the region. It is also the name of the municipality that contains the city. Oviedo is located ap ...

, integrated into the 1st Brigade of the Basque Expeditionary Brigades. Faced with General Mola's offensive, he participated in the withdrawal of the Guipuzcoan fronts, was a direct witness to the bombardment of Guernica and fought in the battle of Sollube. After the fall of the

Bilbao's Iron Ring Bilbao's Iron Ring" ...

, it went to

Santander Santander may refer to: Places * Santander, Spain, a port city and capital of the autonomous community of Cantabria, Spain * Santander Department, a department of Colombia * Santander State, former state of Colombia * Santander de Quilichao, a m ...

and from there to Asturias, participating in the Battle of Mazuco. In this battle, the entire battalion was decorated with the Medal of Freedom (highest distinction of the Second Spanish Republic) awarded by Belarmino Tomás, president of the Sovereign Council of Asturias and León, to the commander of the battalion, Antonio Teresa de Miguel. When the northern front fell, he managed to embark in

Avilés Avilés (; ) is a town in Asturias, Spain. Avilés is, along with Oviedo and Gijón, one of the main cities in the Principality of Asturias. The town occupies the flattest land in the municipality, partially in a land that belonged to the sea, ...

for

Bordeaux Bordeaux ( , ; Gascon oc, Bordèu ; eu, Bordele; it, Bordò; es, Burdeos) is a port city on the river Garonne in the Gironde department, Southwestern France. It is the capital of the Nouvelle-Aquitaine region, as well as the prefectur ...

. From there he was transferred by train to

Catalonia Catalonia (; ca, Catalunya ; Aranese Occitan: ''Catalonha'' ; es, Cataluña ) is an autonomous community of Spain, designated as a ''nationality'' by its Statute of Autonomy. Most of the territory (except the Val d'Aran) lies on the north ...

. In December 1937, Marcelino Bilbao joined and commanded the “63. Maxim ”Machine Gun Company of the Special Defense Against Aircraft (DECA) of the People's Army of the Republic (EPR). Under his leadership the unit fought in the Battle of Teruel (February 1938), where he met

Valentín González Valentín González González (4 November 1904 – 20 October 1983), popularly known as ''El Campesino'' (the Peasant), was a Spanish Republican military commander during the Spanish Civil War. Life Spanish Civil War Born in Malcoc ...

, “El Campesino”. After the unsuccessful offensive on Teruel, the company fell back until it reached Lleida, where it coincided with Valentín González (“El Campesino”) and

Enrique Lister Enrique () is the Spanish variant of the given name Heinrich of Germanic origin. Equivalents in other languages are Henry (English), Enric (Catalan), Enrico (Italian), Henrik (Swedish, Danish, and Norwegian), Heinrich (German), Hendrik, Henk (Dut ...

. During the summer of 1938 he participated in the Battle of the Ebro and was awarded the Medal of Valor. At the end of 1938 Marcelino Bilbao was transferred to Battery No. 528 Oerlikon of the Defensa Especial Contra Aeronaves (DECA) (Special Defense Against Aircraft) and on February 9 he crossed the French border through La Junquera.

France

Once in France he was in the concentration camps of Saint-Cyprien, Argelès-sur-Mer, and

Gurs Gurs is a commune in the Pyrénées-Atlantiques department in south-western France. History Gurs was the site of the Gurs internment camp. Nothing remains of the camp; after World War II, a forest was planted on the site where it stood. Geogr ...

. In this last field he met José María Aguirre Salaberría, his future brother-in-law and companion in captivity in Mauthausen. In Gurs Marcelino joined the Foreign Workers Company and was assigned to the "26 work company". After a short stay in the Septfonds concentration camp he was transferred to the

Maginot Line The Maginot Line (french: Ligne Maginot, ), named after the French Minister of War André Maginot, is a line of concrete fortifications, obstacles and weapon installations built by France in the 1930s to deter invasion by Germany and force the ...

. Captured by the Nazis in Epinal in June 1940, he was transferred to the Stalag V D in Strasbourg (identification number 3293).

Mauthausen

On December 13, 1940 he was deported to the Mauthausen concentration camp (

Austria Austria, , bar, Östareich officially the Republic of Austria, is a country in the southern part of Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine states, one of which is the capital, Vienna, the most populous ...

) with identification number 4628. There he worked for two years in the well-known quarry of Mauthausen, and managed to survive thanks to his picaresque and his youth. During his stay in Mauthausen he participated as a guinea pig in an experiment that the Nazi doctor Aribert Heim carried out with 30 prisoners using toxic elements and of whom only 7 survived. Finally, on April 10, 1943, he left Mauthausen permanently to move to the concentration camp by Ebensee. There, thanks to the experience gained and the group of Spanish Republicans, he managed to get a job in the country kitchen. Faced with the withdrawal of the Nazis from all fronts, he participated in the resistance apparatus of the camp created in order to prevent the slaughter of the prisoners. On May 5, 1945, the Ebensee concentration camp was liberated. After a last odyssey through Austria together with other colleagues he managed to reach Paris on foot, where he was treated by the French Government.

Bibliography

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bilbao, Marcelino 20th-century Spanish military personnel 1920 births 2014 deaths Mauthausen concentration camp survivors People from Alonsotegi