Martin Aguirre y Otegui

Before the Second World War, in the 1930s, a fierce battle was already raging in Spain between left-wing Republicans and right-wing nationalists. On July 17, 1936, the left wins the elections, and the right-wing General Franco decides to seize power by force. It is the beginning of a bloody civil war that will claim hundreds of thousands of lives. As a young teenager, Martin Aguirre experiences it all up close. The whole of Spain is burdened by terror, but the Basque Country, an autonomous region in the north, is perhaps the most. Franco receives support from the Italian fascists, and Nazi Germany, to harass and smoke out the Basques. After the violence in the streets, Martin now encounters the constant threat from the sky. The government therefore decides to evacuate Basque children. Martin and his two brothers arrive in Belgium, where they end up in another war just two years later: the Second World War. Martin ends up in a Catholic home for boys. There, after a few years, he gets to know priest Ceupens, who is part of a resistance network. Between 1942 and 1945, the network rescued hundreds of Jewish children from the clutches of the Nazis. He could never have imagined that Martin would play an important role in this.