Shelters of the Local Board of Passive Defence of Figueres (JLDP), at the top of the Rambla, on 5 February 1939 (RGVA, via David Gesalí)
“The surprise attacks of traitorous and immoral military officers who […] do not hesitate to sow death and desolation […] force us to determine resistance measures to protect the lives of all citizens.”
Ordre from Minister of Defence, Pere Bellostas Vilanova. Figueres, 19 December 1936 (BPF)
The Local Passive Defence Board (JLDP) of Figueres was the official municipal body in charge of protecting citizens from the danger of bombing, but it had a predecessor, the Municipal Defence Department (1936-1937), which foresaw the danger and published information, instructions and orders. Their actions were well directed, but most of them could not be carried out. Shelters and trenches became a reality later.
In this upper part of the Rambla, in 1937, work was being done on underground public urinals, but they were not completed because in the summer of 1938 the JLDP ordered the removal of sanitation materials, the spaces to be used as shelters and an external concrete protection to be added.
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