Insituto Cervantes and the Diputació de Lleida will present "Perseguits i Salvats," a exhibition curated by Josep Calvet that documents the story of Jews who fled to the Pyrenees to escape the Holocaust.

During World War II, thousands of people crossed the Pyrenees towards Spain fleeing from Nazi barbarism or to enlist in the Allied armies. The majority were Jews but there were also military allies and members of the Resistance in Germany and France. In Catalonia, escape networks were created to save these refugees, creating pathways from the border in the Pyrenees to the city of Barcelona.

EXHIBITION OPENING 
"Persecuted and Saved. They did not want us to exist"
Curated by Josep Calvet
Tuesday, December 10th, 7pm - Instituto Cervantes

This exhibition addresses how over 15,000 Jews escaped during the World War II through the Pyrenees, a range of mountains in northeast Iberian Peninsula that forms a natural border between France and Spain, under extremely harsh conditions in an adverse and relentless climate. In this exhibition, which runs from December 10th until January 31th, two key events are remembered that mark this persecution in Nazi Germany: the Nuremberg Laws in September, 1935, and the Night of the Broken Glass in November, 1938

DOCUMENTARY FILM
"Persecuted and Saved"
Directed by Daniel Serra and Jaume Serra. 
Wednesday, December 11th, 7pm - Instituto Cervantes

The documentary is a tribute to the memory of Jews who crossed the Pyrenees Mountains fleeing Nazi genocide—from the perspective of three generations: those who survived, their children and grandchildren. Such generations, according to the Nazi plan known as the Final Solution, should have never lived. The film intends to recall the experience lived by those who uncovered a ray of hope in the high mountains amidst the terror felt in Europe under Hitler’s totalitarianism.
(Original Version: Catalan with English Subtitles)

TALK
“Spain a country open to refugees persecuted by Nazism during World War II"
By Curator Josep Calvet History PhD, Universidad de Lleida 
Thursday, December 12th, 7pm - Instituto Cervantes