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At the end of 1936, the authorities who recommended the inhabitants of Madrid to take refuge in the subway from the bombings of the Civil War, decided to evict it.
Leading the evacuation team was Enrique Jiménez, from the Águilas de la Libertad group, a CNT battalion made up of some volunteers from the Bar Association.
They dispersed those who had turned the Metro into an underground community.
Another neighborhood was growing under the city.
They sent the women and children to the refugee committee.
Men of fighting age were returned to their respective units.
The criminals and undocumented immigrants were handed over to the general directorate of security.
"There is no record of the number of people who came to take refuge.
It was not only used by the people affected by the bombs
. Many made it their habitual residence. Refugees from the towns had arrived in Madrid.
They believed they were safer in the capital than in their cities and when they arrived they found that they had no home.
So they got into the subway. Travelers found the platforms full and there were health problems: people relieved themselves there, "says Luis María González Valdeavero.
Since he came to Heritage of the Metro in 2010, he has read everything about the history of the city's underground.
At the beginning of the Civil War, as happened on the first day of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the citizens used it as a shelter from the bombing.
It was the summer of 1936 and on the capital, guarded by the Republican side, "bombs were falling from planes or from artillery fire,"
says Luis María, who has been in charge of Andén Cero, the Metro museum, since 2012.
"The last book that has fallen into my hands is
Hours of Red Madrid
. Written by
El Caballero Audaz
, pseudonym of José María Carretero Novillo."
The events of Spain seen by a diplomat
, of the Chilean ambassador during the war, Aurelio Núñez Morgado, is another of his sources.
Or
Diplomatic and Journal Reports of the Civil War
.
"But above all, the newspaper library.
Both from the republican zone and from the national zone."
Also the stories told by his great-aunt.
She "she is over 90 years old and still remembers some anecdotes."
As she recalls, a young woman who lived in the Plaza de Antonio Zozaya, in the Lavapiés neighborhood, currently belonging to General Vara del Rey, would run to the Court every time she heard the sirens.
"He said that he would run to Tribunal because it was the safest. Imagine. He had to go through part of the center with the danger of a bomb falling on him along the way.
Surely he would not reach Tribunal and would hide in some other station before arriving "
.
In this way, it reconstructs the moment in which the Metro became the blind spot of the siege of Madrid.
"There were fights to keep the site on the platform.
The trains had to circulate slowly because some families were placed on the tracks.
It was unfortunate that the trains took time to arrive because they take advantage of the time to occupy the tracks. There is a lot of censorship regarding accidents."
One of the busiest stations was Príncipe de Vergara.
"They had to convert it into a warehouse."
The alarms frightened the city.
"It was allowed to take refuge in the basements of buildings, in the sewer or in the subway
. The subway was the safest but it was difficult to get to it. You were exposed, especially at night, to the
cops"
, the snipers who shot To anybody.
"They were called
pacos
because of the characteristic noise their rifles made when they fired."
Upon reaching the Metro, those seeking shelter from the bombs ran into a crowd.
"There was danger of avalanches. You had to be very careful.
That's why many preferred to stay in the basements of their buildings
."
The stations were open 24 hours a day.
"Even when there was no service."
And it was forbidden to take refuge in Sol. "Because it was the one with the most traffic," explains Luis María.
"Gran Vía, Ventas or Seville were the preferred ones".
The subway replaced the projected shelters.
"They were expensive and took a long time to build."
In 1936, "line 3, which went from Sol to Argüelles, was under construction.
The tunnel from Sol to Callao was already finished and it was the one with the greatest capacity: up to 2,900 people could fit inside"
.
The northern branch trains were used "as ambulances and hearses. They were loaded with coffins at night and moved from the north to Ópera. In Ópera they put the coffins on line 2 and from there they went to Sales.
In Sales they loaded the dead in trucks bound for the Almudena cemetery"
.
Despite the bombing, there were also relaxed moments inside the stations.
"They killed fear or boredom.
There was always someone who picked up a guitar and they even danced chotis
".
That tragic and happy communion ended at the end of the year.
"Fed up with the refugees occupying the platforms again,
they decided to expel from Madrid those who arrived after July 19."
Fortunately, Kiev is just one dismal example.
Madrid does not have a plan to accommodate people in the Metro in the event of a bombing threat.
"The emergency measures are for evacuation. In the event of an altercation, accident or fire," the expert breathes.
"I hope that we never have to carry out any of those plans because we find ourselves in a situation like the one in Ukraine
. "
And in case Madrid was bombed, what would be the best station?
"
Cuatro Caminos has a depth of 45 meters. I guess you could be safe there."
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