WORLD WORLDWIDE EUROPE FRANCE - news journal UPDATE - (en) France, UCL AL #364 - Culture - Read Célia Keren, The Cause of Children (ca, de, fr, it, pt, tr)[machine translation]

 Célia Keren opens a little-known chapter in the history of the Spanish

Civil War. As is so often the case in armed conflicts, collateral
victims are overlooked and then forgotten. This was the fate of nearly
15,000 children from the Republican zone who were transferred to France.
Girls and boys, aged 5 to 15, were registered by their parents to be
sent to France to be placed with families or in facilities designed
specifically for them. This was an incredible humanitarian mission that
involved a wide range of civil actors, some even opposed to each other,
such as the Communists and Catholic institutions like the Diocese of
Dax. This book attempts to understand the issues surrounding the
involvement of these different spheres, from the Popular Front left to
Catholic intellectuals, from the Vatican to feminist activists. These
groups, although fully present, had to endure being sidelined from
leadership positions in favor of activists.

Inevitably, the implementation of this aid went beyond its humanitarian
aspect and clashed with the political context of the time, raising major
questions about interventionism versus non-intervention, antifascism,
and pacifism. These questions, in turn, led to many others, such as the
position of the activists directly involved and their leadership,
whether Catholic or Communist. Caught in the crossfire, some
organizations opted for more neutral, less politically charged positions
on the concept of solidarity. Célia Keren also examines the
relationships between the "anarchist" ministers and these solidarity
groups within the highly tense context of relations between the
Communists and the CNT (National Confederation of Labor). In her
research, Célia Keren recounts the development of these actions, the
efforts of these women and men from diverse backgrounds who, in a
challenging context, contributed to building transnational solidarity.
Above all, through her writing, she sheds light on a little-known aspect
of the Spanish Revolution.

Dominique Sureau (UCL Angers)

Célia Keren, *The Cause of Children*, Anamosa, September 2025, 512
pages, EUR28.

https://www.unioncommunistelibertaire.org/?Lire-Celia-Keren-La-cause-des-enfants
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