La Jonquera, gateway to exile

This exhibition takes a visual and written journey to the border area of La Jonquera-El Portús (between Catalonia and France) in January and February 1939, a period that saw a huge exodus by supporters of the Spanish Republic in the face of the definitive occupation of Catalonia by Francoist troops. The exhibition at the Exile Memorial Museum also covers the first years of the war's aftermath, when La Jonquera was blocked and militarised by a dictatorship that was closely connected to the Axis powers and fearful of a possible invasion supported by the Allies. In addition, as well as the information on display and the documents and small items that have been gathered for the exhibition, there is an audiovisual presentation with a number of eyewitness accounts about exile and the border. 'La Jonquera, porta de l’exili' aims to contribute to our understanding about the historical breakdown of a country that has marked the town of La Jonquera for most of the 20th century and continues to do so today.