Page 9 - YGARTUA: Magnum Opus - volume two

This left a great impression on me and still Spanish government, we left England

to this day I marvel at their tenacity and for a six month sojourn to Gorliz, my

foresight. Father’s hometown; I was four and half

years of age.

Your biography is quite special. How is it a

‘gorliztarra’ like you is born in Liverpool, Your father left the Basque Country very

of all places? young, how did he manage to keep and

On 1936 my father, Pablo Francisco share his Basque heritage with you and

Ygartua, jumped ship with 22 other your brother? How do you keep your

Basques in Liverpool and claimed heritage?

political asylum. Due to the military You keep your heritage through your

age of the Basque boys on board, they customs, cuisine, sports and language,

decided to jump ship to avoid military the heart of every race is their language

service under Franco against the Basques. and this is why the re-introduction of the

There was a group of British in place to Basque Language, Euskera (the oldest

help the young political exiles relocate language of Europe) into the school

and place them with families so they system in 19s, was an essential part of the

could learn English and become part of preservation of the Basque Culture and

British society. During the Second World the independence of the Basque People.

War my Father met my Mother, the love of My Father did everything possible to

his life, Dorothy, a painter, free-spirited preserve his heritage, his culture and

and open-minded. She was exceptionally his connection to his beloved land and

gifted and not only adapted to the Basque family. Looking back, I must say, my

customs but helped my Father introduce Father had a profound influence on me.

these to myself and my brother. Eleven His strength, his pride of being Basque

years after the Spanish Civil War, Spain was the most predominant factor in my

declared an amnesty for all the political life. He talked all the time about the

exiles. Upon this declaration from the Basque country, growing up, the fiestas,

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