Puerto de la Pedraja

[peterhore]

Puerto de la Pedraja is in the Montes de Oca, between Belorado and San Juan de Ortega.
If memory serves me right there are two monuments there to the dead of the Spanish Civil War - does anyone please have phots of these or copies of the inscriptions on these?
Thank you
Peter

 

[mspath]

Peterhore,
Is this photo of any help?

 

[Marc S.]

And this is a photo of the inscription.

(I took it from this website article, with some more background information - it is in French though)

Au col de Pedraja

Sur le Camino francès, une stèle, une date : 1936, l'image d'une colombe et la mention, La Palomba de la Pace. L'intention du message est claire. Quelle est l'histoire de ce monument ?

www.saint-jacques-compostelle.info

 

[Rowena]

Yes there are two mass graves there. Here’s what I have for the monument.

 

[Rowena]

Here is the second mass grave, with the explanation, and a view of the explanation of the mass grave beside the monument. That one is too small to read though.

Rowena

 

[Vince Rollason]

Puerto de la Pedraja is in the Montes de Oca, between Belorado and San Juan de Ortega.
If memory serves me right there are two monuments there to the dead of the Spanish Civil War - does anyone please have phots of these or copies of the inscriptions on these?
Thank you
Peter

This is the only one I have. Hope it is of use to you.
Buen Camino
Vince

 

[jsalt]

does anyone please have phots of these or copies of the inscriptions on these?

 

[lt56ny]

Even today, I know the Spanish Civil War is a very, very sensitive issue in Spain. Even though I am an American it has very special personal importance to me. My father fought in the Abraham Lincoln Brigade when he was 20 years old. Even though we grew up in what was then called lower middle class my dad sent money to another wounded comrade who was severely wounded and lived in a nursing home in France and was soldier in the Republican Army. When I came across these monuments on my first camino it was a very intense moment for me.
I never knew my dad was in Spain until I saw a photo of him among a group of Lincoln Brigade members in a book about the Civil War. When I showed it to him he broke down but still told me very little and said it was too hard for him to talk about. He said in some ways it was harder for him than World War 2. He never talked about his experiences there either.

 

[peterhore]

Many thanks for the pictures and the reminiscence. Much honour and sympathy to your father,
It56ny. When I arrived here I wondered why the bench was pointing up the hill and not looking out across the valley. Presumably it's facing that way so that visitors can sit and contemplate what happened in 1936. From the inscription, I gather that the second grave was discovered during improvements (ampliacion) to the Camino. I think pilgrims should be reminded of man's inhumanity to man as they pass places like this.