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395:, at the headquarters of the College of Civil Engineering. The exhibition demonstrated women's involvement in civil engineering, a discipline traditionally dominated by men, through the story of two Basque women pioneers, Laura Irasuegi and Araceli Sánchez, both “gerrako umeak” children of the war, who left the port of Santurtzi in June 1937 and were sent to Leningrad.
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in
September 1956. Her return to Spain was not an easy experience. She had to complete the conversion of her civil engineering qualifications to fit Spanish requirements, which took some years. Eventually, in 1977 after achieving her requalification, she was able to join the Colegio de Ingenieros de
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Irasuegi had been a Basque speaker during her childhood but lost most of it during her time in Russia. On her return she did not have much chance to recover her lost Basque language, but when her nephews were born and she heard them speak Basque, she joined language classes at the age of 70 to be
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were largely welcomed and well cared for in Russia. They were mostly educated in
Spanish and taught to appreciate Spanish culture but using the Soviet method. Some of the children were encouraged to learn to speak Russian but not all learned it. The presence of the children was seen by the Soviet
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began to take the upper hand. Children at risk from the conflict were evacuated to other countries, with evacuations organised through the
National Council for Evacuated Children, created for this purpose by the Spanish
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during 1937 and 1938, to avoid the rigours of war. Spanish children were also evacuated to France, Belgium, United
Kingdom, Switzerland, Mexico and Denmark and were referred to as Niños de la Guerra (Children of War).
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had an Asian crew, and the language barrier made communications difficult. The children travelled in the holds, in unsuitable conditions, and arrived in
Leningrad dirty, with lice, colds or pneumonia.
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who travelled on the same ship later recalled "rats as big as cats" in the holds. The children were immediately seen by medical professionals. The evacuation was the second to go to the USSR.
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Union as a way of publicly supporting the future
Spanish socialist republic which they hoped would emerge from the Civil War by caring for the next generation of their political elite.
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Caminos, Canales y
Puertos del País Vasco, the first Basque woman to do so. At that time there were only two women civil engineers working in Spain, Irasuegi and fellow
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navy ship, they were eventually allowed to continue their voyage, with 4,500 children on board. At
Bordeaux, 1,495 children transferred onto the merchant ship
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Age thirteen, Laura
Irasuegi Otal was selected to be one of the children evacuated. She was assigned the number 1732 and was put on the ship
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624:""Bide-ingeniaritzako euskal emakume aitzindariak" erakusketa gaur arratsaldean irekiko da Bilbon, Bide Ingenieritzako Elkargoaren egoitzan"
606:""Bide-ingeniaritzako euskal emakume aitzindariak" erakusketa gaur arratsaldean irekiko da Bilbon, Bide Ingenieritzako Elkargoaren egoitzan"
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in 1953, diplomatic relations between Spain and the Soviet Union improved a little and negotiations began about the repatriation of the
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Alted Vigil, Alicia (2005). «El “instante congelado” del exilio de los niños de la guerra civil española»
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and worked to extract silk threads to make parachutes for the war effort. She eventually arrived in the
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When the war ended, Irasuegi was sent to Moscow and completed her civil engineering studies at the
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Irasuegi was settled in one of the Las Casas de Niños, large children's houses in the town of
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in Moscow before returning to Spain in 1956. She became the first woman civil engineer in the
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Stalin's Ninos: Educating
Spanish Civil War Refugee Children in the Soviet Union, 1937?1951
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in Northern Spain on 6 October 2016, age 92. At her funeral, a red flag was accompanied by
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Colegio de Ingenieros de Caminos, Canales y Puertos del País Vasco – Caminos Euskadi
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418:"Esquelas y Necrologicas | ERRENTERIA | Laura Irasuegui Otal | diariovasco.com"
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Araceli Sánchez Urquijo, "La Nina de la Guerra" que conquisto el mundo
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205:(Children of Russia), were evacuated from the Republican zone to the
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in memory of Irasuegi's survival of the Siege of Leningrad. The
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Basque Women Pioneers of Civil Engineering)" was opened in
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Climent Viguer, Susana; Calve Mascarell, Oscar (2020).
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ship, which ensured that, despite an encounter with a
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began in 1936 and conditions became very harsh in the
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Exiles of the Spanish Civil War in the Soviet Union
389:"Bide-ingeniaritzako euskal emakume aitzindariak” (
126:(26 November 1923 – 6 October 2016) was one of the
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703:Evacuations during the Spanish Civil War
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131:Niños de Rusia (Children of Russia)
338:Moscow Power Engineering Institute
302:Moscow Power Engineering Institute
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377:State Anthem of the Soviet Union
280:in trucks. She was taken to the
157:Laura Irasuegi Otal was born in
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245:, a seven-day voyage away. The
728:20th-century Spanish engineers
481:Qualls, Karl D. (2020-02-04).
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439:Etxarte, Hedoi (2023-06-29),
387:On 27 June 2023, an exhibion
708:Refugees in the Soviet Union
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268:Before the start of the
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351:Laura Irasuegi died in
342:Araceli Sánchez Urquijo
251:Araceli Sánchez Urquijo
217:which left the port of
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688:Soviet women engineers
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185:controlled areas, as
663:Women in engineering
296:Studying engineering
511:3 June 2018 at the
441:"Mila esker, Laura"
124:Laura Irasuegi Otal
42:Laura Irasuegi Otal
320:exiled during the
312:With the death of
274:Siege of Leningrad
229:was escorted by a
139:Siege of Leningrad
693:Spanish emigrants
678:People from Eibar
563:978-84-482-6531-1
494:978-1-4875-2275-9
379:was also played.
322:Spanish Civil War
179:Spanish Civil War
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21:Spanish name
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541:(in Basque)
539:sustatu.eus
465:(in Basque)
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278:Lake Ladoga
673:Communists
642:Categories
588:2024-06-23
515:, revista
459:"Elkargoa"
399:References
353:Errenteria
340:and Ninos
333:Errenteria
231:Royal Navy
153:Early life
101:Occupation
86:Errenteria
243:Leningrad
235:Francoist
219:Santurtzi
509:Archived
357:Gipuzkoa
288:city of
286:Georgian
282:Caucasus
223:Bordeaux
163:Gipuzkoa
90:Gipuzkoa
68:Gipuzkoa
29:Irasuegi
19:In this
628:Kultura
290:Tbilisi
258:Obninsk
114:Basque
25:surname
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445:Berria
393:Bilbao
314:Stalin
247:Sontay
239:Sontay
227:Habana
225:. The
215:Habana
128:Basque
173:Exile
159:Eibar
64:Eibar
558:ISBN
489:ISBN
177:The
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57:Born
33:Otal
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