At the end of the civil war in Spain, citizens who fought for the Spanish Republic had to go into exile to protect their family’s lives and their own. For the Rafael Leónidas Trujillo Molina regime, accepting these refugees helped improve its international image and deny accusations of proximity to the fascist government established in Spain.

The Dominican people welcomed these Spanish citizens with open arms, as usual. A brotherhood was born from a mutual respect of two peoples, thinking together, tuning in to their ideas of freedom.

The contributions of these immigrants to Dominican society are undeniable. In addition to farmers, artists, critics, and professors came to the country and helped shape the intellectual landscape of several generations of Dominicans. Some of these Spanish citizens were instrumental in establishing and strengthening institutions such as the National Symphony Orchestra, the School of Fine Arts, among others.

Eighty years have passed since this exodus, and despite being born from painful causes, many refugees took root in the Dominican Republic and helped it grow as if it were their own. In other cases, as the country did not have the financial means to welcome them all, the Dominican Republic served as a bridge to continue the journey to other countries in America.

Spanish exile in the Dominican Republic: Reconstruction of an uprooted people is a reinterpretation of the two previous instances of the exhibition Stronger than death, curated by Graciela Azcárate (Dominican Republic in 2008) and by Natalia González Tejera (2019 Madrid Book Fair 2019). The project is a joint effort of the  Archivo General de la Nación and the Embassy of the Dominican Republic in the Kingdom of Spain.