Between 1936 and 1939, the advance of Franco’s troops and the use of criminal tactics against the civilian population led to the flight of thousands of people seeking a safe haven to avoid fascist insanity. The two best known episodes are: the ‘Desbandá’ de Málaga, in February 1937, and the ‘Retirada’ to France, in January 1939. But there is a third flight that has not received as much attention from Spanish historiography (yes, from the Portuguese) and whose memory has begun to be claimed in recent years.

We are referring to the march to Portugal of Republicans from Extremadura and Andalusia, who escaped from the Badajoz pocket in September 1936 and who were confined between September 21 and October 8, 1936, in two improvised refugee camps in the Alentejo lands of Barrancos: Herdade da Coitadinha and As Russianas. HELP project aims to undertake a comprehensive archaeological study of this traumatic and uncomfortable landscape.