Spanish Civil War
and exile in Chile
Lola Patau’s testimony connects personal memories of the Spanish Civil War, exile, migration and political change with the wider history of the 20th century.
Through three synthetic memories, Lola’s testimony offers a personal perspective on displacement, migration and political change across different places and moments of the 20th century.
Exile at four
At the age of four, Lola Patau left Barcelona with her mother and went into exile in France during the Spanish Civil War. Her father, a civil servant with the Catalan government, was being held in a concentration camp. Lola recalls her mother’s journey to find him and their subsequent crossing of the border together. They eventually arrived at the Saint-Cyprien concentration camp.
Aboard the Winnipeg
After settling in Toulouse, the family decided to leave France as the Second World War approached. Through the network supporting Spanish Republican refugees, they joined the passengers of the Winnipeg, which transported more than 2,200 refugees from France to Chile in 1939.
For Lola, then a child, the 30-day journey was an extraordinary experience. She remembers playing, drawing and doing gymnastics on the decks, while the adults faced the uncertainty of leaving their homeland behind.
Growing up in Chile
The family settled in Santiago, where Lola went to school and later studied journalism. During her second year, she won a competition that took her to Cuba with a group of Chilean journalists.
She remembers Havana shortly before the Cuban Revolution, when Fidel Castro was still in the Sierra Maestra and Batista was in power.
Returning to Spain
Lola eventually returned to Spain, bringing with her the experience of growing up in Chile. She recalls the cultural differences she encountered and the reactions to her lifestyle as a young woman. When she returned in 1962, she found a country that was already beginning to change with the arrival of tourism.