Munich 1962. El 'contubernio' de la concordia

Last June, marked 50 years since this event, which the Franco regime first called the "the conspiracy of treason" but that would go down in history as the "conspiracy of concord." In the German city of Munich, 118 Spanish people from very different ideologies, some who had been exiled, met up at the Hotel Regina in the Bavarian capital on the 5th and 6th June 1962 to debate the text that they would then present to the plenary session of the 4th International Congress for the European Movement, taking a very important step towards the reconciliation between the "different Spains" that had emerged after a bloody civil war.

This would be later summarised by Salvador de Madariaga when he spoke in the name of everybody "those of us who in the past chose freedom losing our land and those who chose the land losing freedom have come together to look over the path that will lead us together to land and freedom." For the first time, high standing political figures, who had belonged to different factions during the Civil War, spoke with one voice before world public opinion, united by their wish to build a Spain that was democratic and European at the same time.

To a great extent, it was a step forward in the European integration process, which allowed any deadlock to be overcome giving those gathered a common cause. The text approved by the Spanish delegation on the 6th June confirmed without beating around the bush that so that there could be an integration of Spain in the EEC, it was necessary for authentic representative and democratic institutions to be restored so that they could guarantee that the Government was based on the approval of those they governed. In other words, only a democratic Spain could join what was still a budding integration process.

In the same way that Casa de América did so last June, Casa África now takes to Fuerteventura (the place of exile for some of the participants at that European meeting) the exhibition 'Munich 1962. The conspiracy of concord', which offers a very visual outlook to the events that occurred thanks to more than 40 photographs and photocopies of newspapers and a valuable compilation of documents, many of them never seen until now, and statements from the leading figures of that historical event.

The exhibition, divided into eight blocks, sets out a review of the Spain of 1962, of the meeting that occurred at the Hotel Regina of Munich and of its leading figures, more than a hundred representatives of political organisations that opposed the Franco regime. It also does not forget the impact that this reunion had inside and outside the Spanish borders as well as the legacy that the resulting text left for the Transition process.

Information on the exhibition:

• Place: Juan Ismael Art Centre
  • Almirante Lallermand, 30. 35600, Puerto del Rosario, Fuerteventura
  • Telephones: 928 859 750-51-52
  • e-mail: caji@cabildofuer.es
• From the 15th October to 10th December 2012
• Time: from 9.00am to 1pm and 5pm to 9pm Tuesday to Saturday