The Berango museum presents a book that proposes a literary journey through Euskadi to the fronts of the war

He was looking for traces of war in the mountains and forests, but he found much more. That’s why he decided to put the collected stories into a book. Esther Merino Ruano (Gasteiz, 1971), nurse, mountaineer and writer, has made a literary journey to the past which enables follow the trail of the combatants who fought in the Civil War and World War II. A publication titled Routes to war fronts 1936-1945edited by Sua Edizioak, who will present this Thursday (7:00 p.m.) in an ideal setting such as Iron Belt Memorial Museum Berango.

“It is a visual and comfortable book to read, an open-air museum that facilitates these visits”, explains the author, who has prepared a guide through the footprints of the combatants that allows us to travel their same paths. “Where there was war, now we find peace; The nature of the forests and mountains have absorbed the suffering. Everything is calm, silent. They are routes of memory, places of peace. Mountain, history and memory,” she highlights.

In this sense, Merino offers in the book a historical introduction to the events of the Civil War and consists of twenty routes that cover Gipuzkoa, Araba, Bizkaia, Nafarroa and Iparralde, with its map, historical context and description of the itinerary. A publication that is an invitation to historical memory through four different scenarios: the remains of the war in 1936 that was fought in the mountains; the ‘P Line’ of the Navarrese Pyrenees; the consequences of the war such as the shooting pits or places of forced labor and World War II with the Atlantic defenses of Iparralde by the Nazi occupation and the Comète evasion network of allied pilots. “The choice of routes has been based on the existence of trails and visible heritage such as trenches, machine gun nests, shelters, forts and bunkers. Most are marked as memory itineraries and explanatory panels,” Merino details.

Precisely, during the preparation of this work, the author has made a “historical and emotional journey”, as he explains, since he has traveled “the same paths as the combatants.” A book that he has written “from the inside out,” he indicates. That is, “without lawsuits or debts.” During this introspective journey, she states that she has never felt “alone in places of war.” Quite the opposite. “I have felt peace in the midst of silence, as if nature absorbed past suffering and calm had transformed it… Today the landscape gives us harmony in the environment,” he notes in the prologue of the work.

During his trip through the past he was looking for traces of war in the mountains to write a book, but he has taken away much more. Personal stories, names, missing people who are still searched for in graves and missed by families. “We talk about our grandfathers and grandmothers, the wounds and losses are still remembered with pain. We are the third generation, everything is very recent and, on the other hand, it has been forgotten, it is a paradox. Giving them a voice has been a form of tribute after forty years of dictatorship where they were not allowed to speak or express themselves,” he continues.

Democracy

Along these lines, Merino considers that for current generations “it is easy to believe that democracy is taken for granted in its own right, but our grandparents had to defend it with their courage, in battle, prison or exile. That’s why we have to remember it, so that history doesn’t repeat itself.” That is why he himself is committed to facilitating dialogue in the family, with grandparents, parents who know stories, so that they can tell “how they lived in 1936 and in the postwar period.” “Wars are always the same, only the countries change, we see it currently in Ukraine and Gaza,” he clarifies.

For its part, Aitor Miñambres, director of the Berango Iron Belt Memorial Museum where the publication will be presented, points out that “it is a pleasure to be able to carry out this type of event.”s and Esther Merino’s book responds to a genre that is highly in demand by the people who visit us, interested in being able to easily reach the places where the events of war have occurred.”

Finally, Esther is a regular contributor to magazines and media outlets and has published various publications and articles on nature. Precisely, in 2021 she published the book Mountain routes to medieval castles. She has been awarded by Pyrenaica magazine five times for being the most visited online blogger.