Manuel Montes traveled from Australia to Madrid in early October, a distance of 17,000 km as the crow flies, to receive the last personal belongings of his great-granduncle Gabriel Álvarez Arjona. The Nazis had confiscated these items from Gabriel 80 years earlier in the Neuengamme concentration camp.

After his long journey, Manuel Montes was able to hold his great-granduncle’s pocket watch and two rings in his own hands – a deeply emotional moment on October 2 at the Goethe Institute in Madrid. Together with Jesús Rodríguez and Isabel Martínez from the initiative “Stolpersteine Madrid” (stumbling stones Madrid), Floriane Azoulay, the Director of the Arolsen Archives presented Manuel with the mementoes. The Stolpersteine initiative played an important role in finding Gabriel Álvarez Arjona’s family in Australia.

Survivor of several camps

Gabriel Álvarez Arjona, born on March 26, 1899 or 1900 in Madrid, was a painter and decorator by trade. In 1936, he joined the volunteer militia MAOC (Milicias Antifascistas Obreras y Campesinas; English translation: Antifascist Worker and Peasant Militias) to defend Madrid against rebels led by Franco. Like many of those who supported the Republic, Gabriel had to go into exile in France at the end of the Spanish Civil War in 1939. When he first arrived, he was interned in various camps.

From October 1940 until May 1943, he worked in a painting business in Le Mans, but was then arrested by order of the regional prefect of Angers under the Vichy government’s laws on foreigners. The arrest warrant accused him of having links with Spanish communists and anarchists in Paris. Gabriel was transferred to the Voves camp on November 23, 1943. The SS took control of this camp on May 6, 1944. Three days later, he was deported to the Royallieu-Compiègne transit camp and from there to the Neuengamme concentration camp.

Upon Gabriel’s arrival in Neuengamme, the Nazis confiscated the personal belongings he had with him, which included a pocket watch and two rings. This was common practice in the camps. He was liberated on April 29, 1945, in the Sandbostel camp, where the SS had deported him along with more than 9,000 other prisoners in early May, shortly before the end of the war. Gabriel returned to France, where he lived until his death on September 4, 1982.

Search for traces spans the globe

When Jesús Rodríguez and Isabel Martínez from the Stolpersteine Madrid initiative set out to trace Gabriel Álvarez Arjona’s family for #StolenMemory, they found out that his relatives have been living in Australia since the 1960s. A mutual friend, private researcher Unai Eguia, knew a Spaniard who lived in Australia and hosted a radio show for Spanish immigrants. Unai Eguia spoke about the search for Gabriel’s family on the radio show.

That was two years ago. Manuel Montes heard about the show and the efforts to trace Gabriel’s relatives. His father was adopted by one of Gabriel’s nieces in 1940, making him Gabriel’s great-grandnephew. Manuel’s father corresponded with his great-uncle Gabriel, who lived in France.

The original plan was to hand over the personal effects in September 2022, but this date had to be postponed because Manuel’s father was unwell. Unfortunately, he passed away on December 8, 2023, leaving Manuel to travel from Melbourne to Madrid alone to receive his great-granduncle’s personal effects. The Stolpersteine Madrid initiative also unveiled a commemorative plaque for Gabriel Álvarez Arjona in the city’s Tetuán district on October 5.

Great interest in #StolenMemory in Spain

Since the launch of the #StolenMemory project in 2016, the personal possessions of more than 50 Spanish concentration camp inmates have been returned to their families thanks to our #StolenMemory volunteers. Some personal possessions have also been lent to archives and museums – in Salamanca and Murcia, for example. Exhibitions in these cities tell the stories of their owners.

Since 2020, the Arolsen Archives have organized a number of poster exhibitions in cooperation with Spanish institutions in various cities. This summer, for the first time, five exhibitions were on show simultaneously in different cities and regions such as Madrid, Alicante, and Asturias. The exhibitions usually include biographies of victims of Nazi persecution from the region hosting the exhibition. Antonio Muñoz Sánchez, a volunteer who has found many families in Spain, provides valuable support here.