Damn Mountain' #51: The Pyrenees, the lifeline during World War II
New installment of the podcast 'Damned mountain'. with Eduardo Azcona (@eduazcona). High altitude airs for the whole week.
The Pyrenees was the lifeline for many Jews fleeing Nazi barbarism in World War II.. Long and dangerous marches, with mountain hunters lurking in the passes, made it safe for those who risked crossing the border.
We had a pleasant and very instructive chat with Pep Coll. on all these subjects - and some more. The author has just released his novel "La larga siesta de Dios", set in the Pyrenees during World War II, in which the Pyrenees are shown as the "only escape option".
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TABLE OF CONTENTS:
- Intro, the book: God's Long Nap.
- The Pyrenees as a lifeline.
- Flight across the Pyrenees in World War II. A late study.
- Solidarity of the territory's neighbours.
- Mountain hunters, special corps in the passes and cols.
- Pep Coll's beginnings as a mountaineer.
- The mountains of freedom. Josep Calvet.
- Current cultural routes and memorials. "Freedom Road
- Documentation. 1st June we had to see what the mountain was like.
- Smuggling and smuggling in the Pyrenees
- Pins, guides and nets
- Passage of young deserters to armies in Africa or of downed British pilots.
- Barcelona as a centre for Jews who crossed the Pyrenees and then left on chartered ships for Palestine.
- The case of Switzerland. It was not an alternative for them.
- The reason for the title: God's long nap.
- A place in the Pyrenees: Roc de Pessonada
- Monteixo, and the peculiar "Cuita el Sol".
