La Vanguardia, picture page (Barcelona, 26 May 1937): "La bárbara destrucción de Guernica"
Photo spread, scanned landscape without the masthead: six photographs of ruined streets in Guernica under the headline "La bárbara destrucción de Guernica". The central caption says German aircraft squadrons destroyed "la ciudad símbolo de las libertades vascas" with incendiary bombs, that only five houses were left standing, and that as a symbol Guernica "será inmortal y eterna". The tell: symbol and virtue wording (liberties, civilisation, immortal) frames photographs of real destruction.
- Date
- May 26, 1937
- Period
- Interwar
- Made by
- La Vanguardia (Barcelona daily, Republican zone); owner and editor not named on the page or the Commons record
- Country
- Spain
- Medium
- Newspaper pages
- Issuer type
- Media
- Regime
- Second Spanish Republic
- Leader
- Juan Negrin
- Audience
- Mixed
- Purpose
- Demonize
- Themes
- War and the military, Home front
- Event
- Spanish Civil War
- Techniques
- Glittering generalities
- Source
- Identified Openly sourced: the speaker is who they say they are
- Source
- Wikimedia Commons (scan uploaded under Category:Scanned by LBM1948) of La Vanguardia (Barcelona), retrieved October 2, 2026
- Rights
- Commons {{PD-anon-70-EU}} (anonymous); URAA status not cleared; hosted on owner decision October 2, 2026
Wikimedia Commons, File:May 26, 1937 LA VANGUARDIA 1.jpg: La Vanguardia (Barcelona), May 26, 1937; source given as La Vanguardia (diario); author unknown/anonymous.
Text on the object
La bárbara destrucción de Guernica [caption] He aquí los restos de Guernica, la ciudad símbolo de las libertades vascas, que destruyeron las bombas incendiarias de varias escuadrillas de aviones alemanes. Bárbara muestra de una intervención innegable, y de una actitud, que ellos dicen «defensora de la civilización». De esta Guernica, capital espiritual de Euzkadi, sólo han quedado cinco casas en pie; pero, como símbolo, será inmortal y eterna
The barbarous destruction of Guernica [caption] Here are the remains of Guernica, the city symbol of the Basque liberties, which the incendiary bombs of several squadrons of German aircraft destroyed. A barbarous sample of an undeniable intervention, and of an attitude which they say is "defender of civilisation". Of this Guernica, spiritual capital of Euzkadi, only five houses have been left standing; but, as a symbol, it will be immortal and eternal
Headline and central caption read from the downsampled image; a strip of the caption's last line is partly obscured by the photo border in the scan, but the words given were legible. No masthead or date line is visible. Translation is literal and not checked by a fluent reader.
