FUNDACIÓN VÍCTIMAS DEL TERRORISMO 96 - ENGLISH

San Sebastián writer Luisa Etxenike , whose work has extensively addressed terrorism’s human consequences, explai- ned that in some novels she has adopted ETA victims’ perspective: “I wanted to give them a voice able to free itself from terrorism’s exclusive tyranny.” Irati Goi- koetxea examined how Basque-langua- ge literature has treated terrorism and its victims, traditionally less present than members of the terrorist organisation. She reflects on this absence in Herriak ez du barkatuko ( The Town Will Not Forgive ), a novel also shaped by personal experience: her father’s murder by ETA. The author said she was pleased her work “has reached places where many people had turned their backs on victims’ pain and even come to justify violence”. Fernando Aramburu also participa- ted in the presentation, explaining that his literary project Gentes vascas arose from his commitment to victims of terro- rism after the murder of Socialist sena- tor Enrique Casas by the Autonomous Anti-Capitalist Commandos in 1984. “It marked me very deeply and caused a powerful shock. I saw his coffin being carried into the Casa del Pueblo in the Gros neighbourhood, and at that mo- ment, perhaps naively, I made a perso- nal commitment I have maintained ever since,” he recalled. Before that episode, Aramburu had alre- ady experienced violence at close quar- ters. A bomb exploded near his home in San Sebastián’s Ibaeta neighbourhood, cutting off the electricity while he was working on a poem. It made him un- derstand that what he was writing “was insufficient and had nothing to do with what was happening outside”. These ex- periences would eventually take shape in works such as Los peces de la amargura and Años lentos , predecessors to Patria , whose publication now marks its tenth anniversary. From the final years of Franco’s regime to the present, numerous writers have imagined and recreated stories related to ETA terrorism. Some have also explored the experiences of those who suffered it directly. Coinciding with the tenth anni- versary of Patria (2016), the novel that brought ETA victims into bestseller lists, the exhibition offers a journey through literature about terrorist violence in the Basque Country, particularly the work of authors who have given victims special attention. The exhibition seeks to show how fic- tion has gradually approached their experiences and highlight these works’ contribution to building remembrance of terrorism. As Luisa Etxenike noted, literature allows us to see what can so- metimes be difficult or uncomfortable to look at. Through novels and stories, victims appear tangibly and intimately, inviting readers to contemplate wounds from which eyes were too often averted. Looking is the first step towards recogni- sing others and ourselves. The exhibition brings together works in Basque and Spanish addressing terro- rism in the Basque Country from diffe- rent perspectives. They range from early narratives centred on militants and ETA members themselves, as protagonists, perpetrators or victims, to more recent texts incorporating the voices of those who suffered violence. The exhibition brings together copies of the novel in different languages, including a braille edition, alongside working materials, notebooks, character sketches and scenes revealing how the work took shape 75 CULTURE