Les Caixes d'Amsterdam - The Amsterdam Archives

This footage, never seen before in public, was filmed in January 1939. After three years of war, Barcelona was surrounded and the fascists took the city. At CNT headquarters, the worlds most important anarchist organization, activity to save its archives and historical documents was frantic. On January 26th, as thousands of Republican civilians were fleeing, 22 boxes from the CNT-FAI archives were loaded onto a truck from the newspaper Workers solidarity. It was then transported by train to the border. With the end of the civil war just weeks away, the Anarchist Federation had signed a contract with the International Institute of Social History, giving them custoday of their historical archives. The Amsterdam archive, as the national committee's historical documents are known, reflects part of the violent political and social history of 20th-century Europe.