Caldes en Temps de Guerres

Vichy Thermal Spa – Programme

In the mid-20th century, Vichy Catalan Thermal Spa had almost half a century of history. Its waters were first marketed in 1883, and in 1898 the first thermal baths opened. The large complex that can be seen today did not open until the start of the season in 1904.

But on 20th December 1937, the thermal spa was converted into military clinic No. 2 of the Gerona District, which accommodated over 1,000 wounded soldiers when the estimated maximum capacity was 800. On 10th March 1938, the wounded received a visit from the Republican Generalitat government, headed by President Lluís Companys.

In 1944, the plan was for the thermal spa to accommodate up to 495 Italian soldiers. In order for these Italians to be accommodated, the thermal spas were emptied of refugees. At that time, the majority were Jewish women and children of different nationalities, who had entered Spain via the Pyrenees (from 1939 to 1943) fleeing the Nazis and for whom there was no room at the prisons and/or hospices in Figueres and Gerona. Conversely, men of enlistment age, after being sent to the prisons, were sent to the Miranda de Ebro concentration camp.

When the world war ended, some Nazis stayed here. They usually played football on nearby land and chess and dominoes at the Tea Room, which is no longer there. On 23rd October 1945, José Félix de Lequerica, the new Spanish Foreign Affairs Minister, ordered the General Security Directorate to hold 23 “subordinate” Germans at Vichy Thermal Spa. Only 11 were transferred to Caldes because the rest could not be found. The maintenance expenses had been covered by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, but it rarely paid them and this caused the Director, Modest Carreras Furest, to file a complaint in 1946 to claim a debt of 85,000 pesetas.