80 years on: Walter Benjamin's death in Catalonia while fleeing Gestapo

"There is no document of civilization which is not at the same time a document of barbarism." This quote is part of the German Jewish philosopher Walter Benjamin's last masterpiece, 'Theses on the Philosophy of History' (1940), and, an ironic twist of fate, this would perfectly apply to him in Catalonia just months after writing it.

In 1940, he had already spent seven years in exile, ever since Adolf Hitler became the German chancellor. After spending time in Eivissa (Balearic Islands) France, Denmark, Italy and the US, Benjamin was living in France in early 1940.

In May that year, Hitler's troops began to advance firmly into France, and occupied Paris in June 14, with a myriad of aims, including arresting the philosopher.

Fleeing at the eleventh hour

Yet, they failed because Benjamin was able to escape the day before, moving south – and two months later he obtained a travel visa to enter the US.

His plans to flee the Gestapo once and for all was leaving to the States from Portugal, crossing Spain, a neutral country during the war.

Yet, at that time the fascist dictator Francisco Franco had just won the Spanish Civil War and was leading a bloody regime while somehow cooperating with Hitler.

Infamous walk to cross border

On September 25, 1940, he and some other German anti-Nazis began an infamous day-long walk to cross the mountainous French-Spanish border, from Banyuls and aiming to reach Portbou, the first town in the other side of the border.  

His health got worse during that effort – Lisa Fittko, one of his companions who used to help Germans cross the border, explained afterwards that Benjamin had to stop every ten minutes.

He arrived in Portbou in the evening, but some Francoist Spain police officers told him and his group that they were not allowed to be in Spain and that they would be deported back to France the day after.

According to Angelus Novus foundation, which contributes to the memory of the writer, the orders for those police officers in Portbou had changed that day, and if they had crossed one day earlier, they would have been allowed to stay.

Found dead in Portbou

Indeed, the day after, Benjamin's companions were allowed to continue their route – but the philosopher was found dead the morning of September 26 on his bed in 'Hotel de Francia', the guest house where they stayed that night in the northernmost Costa Brava town.