After the fall of Barcelona in January 1939, the greatest diaspora in Catalan and Spanish history occurred, when almost half a million refugees fled to France through border crossings in Catalonia as their only salvation. On 5 February the French government authorised the passage of refugees into French territory. The retreat took place along dozens of paths in deplorable conditions, those fleeing being bombed and fired at by Franco’s troops. By 15 February 1939, a total of 353,107 people had entered the French department of Pyrénées-Orientales (which then had about 230,000 inhabitants). Most came on foot: complete families with the few belongings they had, soldiers and members of the International Brigades. When the French authorities realised the magnitude of the exodus, the humanitarian catastrophe was already inevitable. Almost 200,000 of the refugees were women, children or elderly people; more than 230,000 were soldiers and militiamen, about 40,000 invalids and about 20,000 wounded.
The French government, impotent in the face of the situation, decided to take some of the refugees to a camp in Argelès, and others to Saint Cyprien and Le Barcarès. The camps were located on the beach and the area was surrounded by wire fencing to prevent the refugees leaving. They were guarded by Moroccan and Senegalese colonial troops, and gendarmes. The living conditions were extreme: there was no electricity, no huts, no latrines, no kitchen or infirmary and, in addition to deaths from cold and hunger, cases of dysentery began to multiply. Many men and women could not survive, but it was the old and the children who suffered the most. Hundreds of children died. In the Spanish cemetery many children were buried; of those who are known, seventy were less than ten years old. This Memorial Award honours their memory, their small stories. As a symbol of the suffering of children killed in all refugee camps.