Join our practical webinar for teachers and educators exploring how to teach the Spanish Civil War and the Franco regime through two powerful perspectives: the bombing of Gernika and the indoctrination of children and young people.
Date: Tuesday, 20 October 2026
Time: 17:00 CET
Language: English
Participation: Free of charge
Webinar contents and guiding questions
In 1937, Gernika was bombed by Nazi Germany’s Condor Legion and Fascist Italian aircraft in support of Franco’s Nationalist forces. The attack became an international symbol of violence against civilians and modern warfare.
Following the Nationalist victory in the Spanish Civil War, Franco’s regime made the education of children and young people one of its priorities. Through schools and organisations such as the Frente de Juventudes (Youth Front), it sought to instil obedience, discipline, nationalism and loyalty to Franco.
Studying Spanish history can raise difficult yet important questions about the conditions that lead to war, youth involvement and indoctrination, and the road to peace. How was the situation different from or similar to that in your country? What place do the Spanish Civil War and the beginning of Franco’s regime occupy in the turbulent history of Europe?
Register for the free webinar
Receive free educational resources
Participants will learn how to use free, ready-to-use teaching materials devoted to the Spanish Civil War and Francoist Spain. The resources include:
- historical cartoons;
- photographs;
- contemporary media reports;
- an interactive worksheet;
- personal stories and testimonies.
The materials are designed to support engaging classroom discussions and encourage students to analyse historical sources from different perspectives.
Discover the Sound in the Silence project
The webinar will also introduce Sound in the Silence, an international educational project by the European Network Remembrance and Solidarity.
The project brings young people together to explore difficult chapters of European history through art, music and dialogue. The 2026 edition will take place in Gernika.
Meet the webinar experts
The session will be led by representatives of:
- the Gernika Peace Museum;
- Ruta al Exilio;
- the European Network Remembrance and Solidarity.
The webinar will conclude with a live Q&A session, giving participants an opportunity to ask questions and exchange ideas with the speakers.
Our speakers:
Anna Pastor Roldán is a historian whose research focuses on projects related to memory politics in Spain and on the transmission of knowledge through non-formal educational tools. She has worked as a documentary researcher at Catalonia’s main institution dedicated to historical memory, the Memorial Democràtic de Catalunya (Barcelona), and as an archivist at the archive housing the largest anarchist collection in Spain, the Fundación Anselmo Lorenzo (Madrid). Her research has contributed to the creation of the Map of Repression and Mass Graves in Catalonia. She is the author of a book related to anarchist international solidarity during the Spanish War (2025). Since 2022, she has coordinated the educational content for the youth memory project “Ruta al Exilio.”
IDOIA Orbe Narbaiza holds a degree in Philosophy and Humanities and has completed specialist training in museology, museum education, peace studies and community management. She is responsible for educational projects in Gernika Peace Museum, President of OndarHez, the association of heritage educators in the Basque Country, and a board member of Almazuela, the Spanish federation of associations working in cultural, museum and heritage mediation and education. On behalf of the Gernika Peace Museum, she was one of the co-organisers of the Ibero-American School of Mediation in Sites and Museums of Memory (EME), which was delivered online from 2021 to 2025. She has also participated in a number of European projects.
