architecture and urban planning: bilbao in the aftermath of the civil war

8/10/2019 ARCHITECTURE AND URBAN PLANNING: BILBAO IN THE AFTERMATH OF THE CIVIL WAR.

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ARCHITECTURE AND URBAN PLANNING: BILBAO IN THE AFTERMATH OF

THE CIVIL WAR

MEDIA MANIPULATION AND PROPAGANDA DURING FRANCOS

DICTATORSHIP

MARA JOS GARCA CONCHA

YEAR 3/ INTER 11

HTS 3 FIRST TERM SUBMISSION

ARCHITECTURAL ASSOCIATION


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Abstract

After the Spanish Civil War, a dictatorship was set in Spain and a censorship that covered allareas of society ended up being part of everyday life. How did this censorship affect mediaand the information that the Spanish people had access to?

My intention through this essay is to show how Politics and Architecture materializedtogether in the form of media during Francos Dictatorshipand the way this media wasmanipulated in Bilbao (an industrial city located in the North Coast of Spain) in order tocontrol the vision of the Basque people in favour of the existing political regime.


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Bilbao during the Spanish Civil War

After the partial failure of the Coup d'tat carried out by the army against the Government of

the Second Republic, in July 17 and 18 of 1936 a Civil War

1

is triggered in Spain between theInsurgents- who referred to themselves as the Nacionalists or "Bando Nacional" and

constituted by, just to mention some of them, the Fascist Phalanx, the Carlists and the Catholic

Church - and the Republican faction which was integrated by, among others, a coalition of

republican parties as well as the Basque Nationalist Party2which, in spite of being Catholic,

conservative and former Carlist, chose to support the Republicans for fear of the end of both

the Basque autonomy3and nationalism that it defended.

During the Spanish Civil War, Bilbao became the capital of the Basque Government. The

province of Biscay constituted an elementary possession for both factions, both for its

geographical strategic situation in the Cantabrian Strip (controlled by the Republicans) and forits heavy industry and weapons factories.

Image 14

In the spring of 1937, the Biscay Offensive took place- during which a series of combats and

battles occurred to gain control over the province and, more concretely, over its capital:

Bilbao.

1June, 17

th1936April, 1

st1939

2Partido Nacionalista Vasco (PNV)

3

Bilbao was the capital of the Basque Autonomous Region that was officially established by the Government of theSecond Republic a bit after the beginning of the Spanish Civil War, although it had been scheduled since 1936.4Image 1. The Basque Country located on the map of Spain.


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The Basque Government, in his attempt to defend the city and avoid the fall of Biscay into

hands of the Nationalist faction, raised the Iron Belt. At the same time that the Insurgents

began their bombing assaults helped by the Italian and German aviation.

Due to the advantage that was being gained by the National faction over the Republicans, on

the 13th of June 1937, all the troops that remained on the other side of the Iron Belt weretransferred to the interior of the capital; on June 17, continuing the battle for its conquest, the

city of Bilbao was bombarded finding itself, for June 19, practically deserted after the mass

escape to Santander, by train of the civil population, and the retreat of the Republican troops

by General Ulibarri.5

Once the Battle of Bilbao was over and the city had fallen into Nationalist hands, the city and

its industry remained practically intact. The destruction and disabling of its bridges by the

Republican faction6(a task that was carried out in order to impede the access of the Insurgents

to the heart of the city) was the most serious damage suffered in constructive terms.

Bilbao after the fall. The role of mass media in the tasks of reconstruction and in the creation

of a new city for a new political regime.

After the fall of the city of Bilbao and the end of the Civil War, the general image of the

country was that of a mutilated one on which a totalitarian regime was installed by force, aswell as a censorship that covered all areas of society, including the development of both

architecture and city planning: the urban space and the architectural language were placed at

the service of the State ideology and, consequently, the city of Bilbao initiated changes that

reflected the renaissance of a new State.

Nevertheless, the situation in which both the country and the city were in economic terms was

a situation of a total and absolute austerity, this being the reason why the initiatives that were

carried out were not important and only apparently out-standing since the industrialization

and control of the mass media (specially the written press and radio) ensured the presentation

of any proposal, as irrelevant as it could be, with a disproportionate relevancy; simultaneously,they criticized the efforts of the previous Republican Government which was also accused of

being the alleged perpetrator for the destruction into which the country had sunk7at the same

time that they enhanced the effort of the Franco regime: a regime capable of arising and

construct a new Empire8from nothingness.

5Hugh Thomas, Historia de la Guerra Civil Espaola p.747

6Thomas, 747

7

Francisco Javier Muoz Fernndez, Una nueva ciudad para un Nuevo Estado. La transformacin de Bilbao en losaos de posguerraRevista Bidebarrieta, 22 (2011) p.628Gonzalo Crdenas, Imperio. Qu sentido tiene para nosotros la palabra IMPERIO?revista Vrtice, 9 (1938)


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1. The process of reconstruction and its media repercussion and influence.

Once the Civil War was over, the very few financial resources that the state agencies had

(Devastated Regions Department Headquarters9 or the Ministry of Public Works) were

destined, as could not be otherwise, to the reconstruction of the regions most affected bythe bombardments like, just to mention an internationally best-known example, Guernica;

being the local institutions, and especially Bilbao City Council, the ones in charge of the

tasks of construction and reconstruction of the city.

Image 210

1.1Media manipulation and exaltation during the reconstruction process of the bridges of

Bilbao in benefit of the Franco regime (press and propaganda banners).

The first (and almost only) reconstruction project that was carried out in Bilbao during

the immediate postwar period was that of the bridges that the Republican troops

demolished when leaving the city. The Commission of Fixed Bridges 11 assumed the

duty and the works began in August 1937; finishing the reconstruction of all of them

by the early 40s. The bridges were also renamed using terminology that was symbolic

to the new regime.12

9Direccin General de Regiones Devastadas. It was the new name that the previously known as Servicio Nacional

de Regiones Devastadas y Reparaciones (SNDR) adopted in 1939 with the aim of executing reconstruction projects

after the Civil War in national territory. (national territory was the territory controlled by the Insurgents)10

Guernica after the bombing.11

La Comisin de Puentes Fijos12

The Deusto Bridge (el Puente de Deusto), is one of the most important bridges of the city and it is inspired on theMichigan Avenue Bridge (Chicago). After the reconstruction, it was called Puente del Generalsimo.

(Generalsimo refers to Franco, the dictator). La Gaceta del Norte, October, 26th 1939.


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Image 313

In all these cases, the reconstruction of the bridges was presented as a visible

testimony to the supposed efficiency of the new government and it had great media

repercussion, which was exploited with the purpose of making a profit out of

construction tasks that were more symbolic than effective through exhibitions,inaugurations, monographs14, magazines and press, and in which the above mentioned

destruction was constantly shown to the public as derived from a Republican

barbarism that had luckily been left behind15.

In the same way, they endeavoured to continuously repeat the kindness of the new

regime. However, the reason16 behind the initial destruction of these bridges was

never mentioned or remembered to the Spanish people, since it would not contribute

to either the image or the merits of the Franco regime.

The reconstructive "feat" was promoted all around the city in the form of enormous

banners; the size of which was that exaggerated that in some cases they practically

covered the entire faade of the building like it occurred, for example, with the one

used to announce the exhibition about the bridges in el Saln de Artistas Vascos in

the Gran Va17, which included Franco's image printed on it.

13 Puente de Deusto right after the Civil War.14Nuevos Puentes de Bilbao, Huecograbado Arte. Bilbao. 1938.15Muoz Fernndez, 68.16As it has been above-mentioned, these bridges were demolished by the Republicans in order to

defend themselves against the inhuman attacks of the Insurgent faction.17Esta noche a las ocho y media.., Gaceta del Norte, September, 4th 1937. To attend the exhibition itwas necessary to pay 25 cents.


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18 Image 18. Propaganda banner. FRANCO FRANCO FRANCO. NEW BRIDGES. BILBAO CITY COUNCIL

Image 418


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Image 5

19

19La Gaceta del Norte, March, 6th1938. THE BRIDGES OF BILBAO, MUTED MEMORY OF THE TERRIBLEBARBARISM AND PERENNIAL CHANT DEDICATED TO THE INITIATIVE OF A CIVILIZATION THAT RISES ITS

ARCHITECTURAL WORKS ON THE RUINS FOUND IN ITS PATH. This is what the fixed bridges looked likebefore dynamite made them blew away like feathers in the wind (left).This is what the bridges will looklike under the sign of Spain.


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2.

The urban development process and its media manipulation.

2.1

The factors behind the need of an Urban Development Plan for the city of Bilbao.

Before approaching the question of the Urban Development Plan for the city of Bilbao

it is necessary to understand the backdrop of the situation and, to do so, we need to

mention that in the nineteenth century, Biscay in general and Bilbao in particular

experienced a brutal transformation as a result of a rapid industrialization process

which meant, among others, such a spectacular immigration that, for example, in 1890

more than half of the population living in Bilbao were not even born in Biscay20.

This process of industrial, mining and commercial maritime traffic expansion

propitiated the conformation of a new urban agglomeration that used the Nervin

Estuary as an axis and that was composed by a city (Bilbao) and several populationsettlements (the set of the Comarca del Bajo Nervin, constituted by a score of

municipalities, each one with its own jurisdiction21).

2.2The inheritance received by the Franco regime corporations in urban development terms:

the question of regional planning.

From the First World War onwards, the urban debate focused on the territorial

projection, a difference of opinion concerning the diverse political parties clearly

remained: whereas the Socialist, Republican and Liberal forces supported the idea of

carrying out a direct annexation of the adjacent municipalities to Bilbao, the

Nationalist and Carlist ranks opposed to the growth of the city22.

After a long political debate, in 1923, Ricardo Bastida23established a Road Scheme to

link Bilbao with its adjacent villages; this maneuver would have allowed a second

phase of local planning development in every municipality (basing it on the same

territorial guide), while perfectly adapting to the common problems and demands of

the twentieth century.

Nevertheless, the proclamation of the dictatorship of Primo de Rivera at the end of

1923, facilitated the victory of the idea of making the city grow by using the route of

annexation, which culminated in the Decree of 1925 with the municipalities of Begoa,

Deusto and part of Erandio being annexed to Bilbao24.

20Mara Jos Garca Concha, Regional Identity and Architecture. Bilbao: from the industry to theGuggenheim (March, 2013), p.2.21Ana Azpiri Albstegui, Urbanismo en Bilbao: 1900-1930(Vitoria-Gazteiz) p.5422Azpiri Albstegui p.7523

Ricardo Bastida, El problema urbanstico de Bilbao(Bilbao) Jose A. de Lerchundi, 192324Jos Mara Beaskoetxea Gointi, Fernando Martnez Rueda. La creacin del Gran Bilbao en elFranquismo y el alcalde Joaqun Zuazagoitia (1942-1959)Revista Bidebarrieta, 23. p.81


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During the following years, the almost simultaneous arrival of the Republic and the

international economic crisis determined negative conditions of both political

instability and economic precariousness that made the development of the urban

projects that were being studied impossible and, especially, the development of the

Extension Plan for Bilbao designed by Estanislao Segurola in 1929.

To the previously mentioned international economic crisis of 1929 and the political

instability of the Second Republic that propitiated the inability to implement the urban

development ideas, the Civil War needs to be added, which accentuated the negative

framework.

The need of a regional development had been already accepted as indispensable by

the time theNationalists take over took place25(after the Spanish Civil War) and the

corporations of the new regime received an inheritance that consisted of both theideas/projects and the contradictory debate originated in the attempt of answering to

the question about the articulation of the modern metropolis.

However, the pro-Franco municipality brought an absolute institutional break in the

area of local administration as, from this moment on, any type of autonomy ceased to

exist to fully depend on a central administration in all areas26 and the figure of the

Mayor was no longer understood as synonymous with representative of the

municipality27. In addition to all of this, despite the conclusions that could be

extracted, the Franco regime did not bring the awaited political stability but, instead, it

accentuated it due to the internal tensions between the different parties (Carlists andFalangists, principally) that formed the reactionary coalition against the Republic. All

this, in terms of the Municipal Council, resulted in the appointment of six different

Mayors28(only in Bilbao) during the period of time between 1937 and 1942. With each

Mayor, a new urban development plan was partly developed and abandoned when

replaced in the mayoralty; this meant that, with a different solution from each

different Mayor, it was impossible to materialize none of the urban plans.

Nevertheless, in the 40s a political stability was settled down, an economic recovery

took place and the City Council of Bilbao welcomed a new Mayor, Joaqun Zuazagoitia,

who kept his post for 17 years (from 1942 to 1959) and for whom the project of urban

growth planning beyond the municipal are of the Comarca del Bajo Nervin

supposed his greatest priority29.

25When Francos tropos took Bilbao (June, 19th 1937), it was evident that both the city and the regionwere in serious need of an instrument to regulate the urban sprawl that was taking place.26The dependence on the Central Administration was such that the Mayor was choose by the prefect ordirectly by the Ministry of Governance in localities with a total population of 20000 or more.27Beaskoetxea Gangoiti, Martnez Rueda, p.8228

J.Aguirreazkuenaga, M. Urquijo, Bilbao desde sus alcaldes. Diccionario biogrfico de los alcaldes deBilbao y gestin municipal en la Dictadura(Bilbao 2008)29Beaskoetxea Gangoiti, Martnez Rueda, p.85


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2.3. Joaqun Zuazagoitia, the urban development plan and media manipulation through the

press of the moment.

After taking, Zuazagoitia, the initiative of the urban development project " withdetermined intention of moving it forward through the use of new directive formulae

and solutions" he noticed that, to be able to develop the plan in such a strongly

centralized political regime like it was the Franco regime, it was necessary to get the

Central Administration (located in Madrid) involved; and his tactic worked: it was only

four months after his appointment as a Mayor of Bilbao when he got the authorization

to manage an Urban Development Plan for the city together with the Ministry of

Governance and the Directorate General of Architecture30, with Pedro Bidagor in

charge. In October 1943 the works were concluded and the "Urban and Regional

Development Plan for Bilbao and its influence area"31 was finally designed. For the

designing process, important aspects of the Plan of 1923 by Bastida and the Plan of1929 by Segurola32(both previously mentioned) were rescued.

None of this was mentioned in the press: Zuazagoitia was correctly known, in this

case, as the Mayor of the Great Bilbao, due to the fact that he was the one who

carried out the necessary negotiations in order to turn the urban improvement of the

region and of the city into reality. However, in some press copies like, for example, in

the regional newspaper called La Gaceta del Norte (February 8, 1945) they managed

to excessively refer to him as the "creator of the Great Bilbao "; it was said that the

project was his "personal work" and that it was him the one who first thought about it

and promoted it. Although it is true that, somehow, Zuazagoitia was the promoter ofthe project- as he gave the necessary and determined political push to it at the same

time that he adapted it to the Franco regime- it is necessary to make it clear that

under no circumstances was he its creator. As it has already been studied through

these lines, the set of ideas and projects that were used had been planned for

decades. We are facing, then, another example of media tactic in which the exaltation

of the actions realized by the Franco regime were fully present, considering it to be

the Creator of a New Nation ".

3.

The housing problem and its media treatment.

3.1The embellishment of rural life by the Franco regime.

One of the most important problems of the time, apart from that of the reconstruction

of the areas that were destroyed during the Civil War, was that of the housing deficit

as, it has already been mentioned, both the city of Bilbao and its surroundings

30

Actas de la Comisin Permanente del Ayuntamiento de Bilbao, March, 12th

194331Plan de Ordenacin Urbanstica y Comarcal de Bilbao y su zona de influencia.32Beaskoetxea Gangoiti, Martnez Rueda, p.85


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obligated every single company to carry out an investment of a 20 % out of the total of

their benefits that would be devoted to housing for their workers37.

The State was very proud of making homeownership affordable for all Spaniards and

this pride was shown, once again, through propaganda. Nevertheless, apart from

building less houses than the necessary and originally projected ones due to a lack of

funds and subsidies, a funding scheme was established (in order to fund these

constructions that were carried out by the Union Work of Housing) and it consisted of

the following:

- 10 % of the total cost of the project was paid by companies to their employees, as

it was an inaccessible percentage for individuals.

- 4% in the form of loans at a 50% out of the total cost of the dwelling during 20

years.

-

The rest of the cost of the dwelling would be paid in monthly quotas withoutinterests for the following 20 years38.

This funding regime made it impossible for the hard-working class to own a house and

homeownership remained designated to the middle class.

Thus, the State, far from solving the confronted problem of housing deficit among the

social class with less financial resources, promoted the homeownership among the

middle class. At the same time it funded home acquisitions for the well-off classes.

3.3The working class and housing: the documentary as a means of media manipulation

and the truth behind the Ocharcoaga Project.

During decades, the problem of housing deficit constituted a reality that persisted for

an unsuspected long time. As it has been above-mentioned, the situation the

industrial city of Bilbao was facing was that of a city that was sheltering a hard-working

class (both immigrant and autochthonous) in constant growth, financially barred from

access to what the new regime considered decent housing.

All this propitiated the appearance of illegal settlements in the surrounding areas of

BIilbao like, for example, Uretamendi or Ocharcoaga. These illegal settlements were

defined by the Franco regime as "slums" and this is the way they were also called in a

37Muoz Fernndez, p.5038Archivo Municial de Vitoria. (Vitoria, June, 3rd 1945). Fomento V. expediente A.14.28.


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documentary about the constructive process of Ocharcoaga directed by Jordi Grau and

filmed in 196139.

In this documentary , used as propaganda and initially filmed only to be visualized by

Franco, both the previous situation and what this situation was like right after the

works were finished are shown.

Apparently, (always according to what it is observed in the propaganda video), the

slums were in very bad conditions, their construction had been carried out using low

cost materials of a poor quality (reason why it was so easy for a fire to start or for a

house to collapse) and the living conditions were so reprehensible that the inhabitants

did not even have running water at home.

All this, together with the displeasure of its inhabitants towards their way of living,

propitiated a wave of joy and optimism when the moment of voluntarily leaving their

terrible homes behind arrived. Moving to Ocharcoaga meant the beginning of a newlife where everything was nothing but advantages. Once again, the new regime was

using media, in this case a means as direct as filming, in order to award itself with a

new victory in its mission of making the civil population believe that Spain was re-

arising (thanks to them) from the ashes to which the country had been reduced after

the Republic.

However, how was the operation in Ocharcoaga carried out? What was it really like?

3.3.1

The truth behind the project in Ocharcoaga

To understand the media tactics of the Franco regime in this particular case study it is

necessary to emphasize the period of the dictatorial regime in which we are situated: the

40s have already passed and, along with it, the autocratic policy has also been left behind

to open up towards the rest of Europe from the 50s onwards. This opening brings with it a

considerable amount of tourists (mainly European) that chose Spain as a destination for

their holidays. The image of the country wanted to be sold and to do so it was necessary to

clean its image. The illegal settlements of Bilbao were visible along the route that

communicated the old Sondika airport with the city centre, causing a very bad impression.

For this reason, they had to be demolished.

- The first media manipulation tactic consisted of making the citizens

believe that, as it is shown in the propaganda film, Franco and his regime

39Video attached to the hard copy submission (video 1)


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Image 6-11. Revista Nacional de Arquitectura. Rural Groups of Monte San Pablo


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BIBLIOGRAPHY

Books

Thomas, Hugh. Historia de la Guerra Civil Espaola.Barcelona: Debolsillo, 2003.

Muoz Fernndez, Francisco Javier. Una nueva ciudad para un Nuevo Estado. La

transformacin de Bilbao en los aos de posguerra.Bilbao: Revista Bidebarrieta nmero 22,

2011.

Crdenas, Gonzalo. Imperio. Qu sentido tiene para nosotros la palabra IMPERIO?. Madrid:

Revista Vrtice nmero 9, 1938.

Garca Concha, Mara Jos. Regional Identity and Architecture. Bilbao: from the industry to the

Guggenheim. London, 2013.

Aizpiri Albstegui, Ana. Urbanismo en Bilbao: 1900-1930.Vitoria: Gobierno Vasco, 2000.

Bastida, Ricardo. El problema urbanstico de Bilbao. Bilbao, 1923.

Beaskoetxea Gointi, Jos Mara and Martnez Rueda, Fernando. La creacin del Gran Bilbao en

el Franquismo y el alcalde Joaqun Zuazagoitia (1942-1959). Bilbao: Revista Bidebarrietanmero 23, 2011.


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Aguirreazkuenaga, J. and Urquijo, M. Bilbao desde sus alcaldes. Diccionario biogrfico de los

alcaldes de Bilbao y gestin municipal en la Dictadura. Bilbao, 2008.

Muoz Fernndez, Francisco Javier. Reconstruccin y Vivienda. La arquitectura de los aos de

postguerra en el Pas Vasco 1937-1956. Bilbao, 2006.

Guerra, Juan Carlos. Proyecto de viviendas protegidas en Bilbao. Grupo de caseros en el

Monte San Pablo. Madrid: Revista Nacional de Arquitectura nmero 14.

Journals

La Gaceta del Norte. Bilbao, 1901-1984.

Documentary

Grau, Jordi. Ocharcoaga, 1961.

AFO. Otxarkoaga. El nacimiento de un nuevo Bilbao

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