"Basque and the Basques" by zizu

Erromatar garaia : Roman age.
Lurralde elebidunak : Bilingual lands.
Euskaraz nagusi : principally in basque.
Toponimoak euskaraz : toponyms in basque.
Mendea : century.

The Basques call their language euskara. The word euskaldun (literally, `one who has Basque') means `Basque-speaker'; the plural is euskaldunak, and this is what the Basques commonly call themselves. Where necessary, a native speaker is euskaldun zahar (literally, `old Basque'), while a person who has learned Basque as a second language is euskaldun berri (`new Basque'). The neologism euskotar means `(ethnic) Basque', and can be applied to any Basque, whether or not he speaks the language; the word basko, borrowed from Spanish, has also been used in this sense. The Basques have traditionally called their country Euskal Herria, which means `the Basque Country'; this designation includes the territory of the traditional seven provinces, north and south. The neologism Euskadi means `the Basque state'; this is the name of the territory administered by the Basque Autonomous Government, but it is sometimes applied more widely to the entire Basque Country as a demonstration of political feeling.

Saseta battalion

1937, 26 August.
Fall of Santander in the north
The Basque defense line at Santander broke down under the permanent attack from troops, artillery and around 250 airplanes. Ten thousands of soldiers and civilians are fleeing to the port of Santander. Only few can escape over the stormy sea in the Biscay Bay, in which overcrowded boats are sinking, among them General Gamir and the leader of the Basque government, Aguirre. 60.000 Basque and Republican soldiers fell prisoners, the Fascists capture an enormous amount war material.
Around 25.000 soldiers, 3000 officers and several hundred officials of the Basque army and administration concentrate in Santona, east of Santander, to surrender themselves to the Italian troops. In secret consultations they agreed with the Italians to hand over their weapons, the Italians allowing the Basque officers and civilians to go aboard two British ships waiting in the port.

The free and independent Basque country ceased to exist.

On April 26th of 1937 the Luftwaffe unit known as the Kondor Legion deployed in the Iberian peninsula by Adolph Hitler to aid Francisco Franco in his revolt against the Spanish Republic proceeded to carry the first ever carpet bombing of a civilian population in history.

The attack was directed against a town that had no military relevance and no means for the inhabitants to defend themselves, in three hours the Luftwaffe tested techniques and their modern equipment, when the attack ended up to 1,600 Basques were dead, most of them children and women.

This dark episode was the inspiration of Pablo Picasso's famous painting "Guernica" which is today the embodiment of the anti-war spirit.

What happened in the Basque Country that market day in 1937 is simple, that was the first mass murder of an ethnic group by Hitler's war machinery, it was the dawn of the darkest era in Europe's modern history.

The German government apologized a couple of years ago for what happened in Gernika, the Spanish government continues to deny it and claims that the Basques destroyed the town themselves .