La comunidad española en Francia: la región de Auvergne

Abstract

The Spanish community in France, after almost a century of migration, remains insufficiently known. Research completed from the late 1980s onwards has clarified above all the case of republican exiles after the Civil War. A local approach is necessary to understand the community as a whole, which was characterised by its great diversity. This article describes the sources, both in France and in Spain, available for developing a regional study of Spanish emigrants. Taking the example of the Auvergne, several dozen studies completed from the 1930s, often confidential, are then synthesized and situated in the context of current debates about the history of migration and foreign populations in France. Finally, the article inidicates the large areas of shadow that still lie over the subject as it relates to the Auvergne, in particular relating to economic emigrants, and attempts to offer some leads for future research.