75 years, and many more, of the Necochea Basque Center in Argentina

This year, 2020, the Euzko Etxea of Necochea celebrates its 75th anniversary, and they’re making the most of this celebration by sharing some photos of all the things they’ve done through all these years on their Facebook page.

In the photos and newspaper clippings they’ve uploaded covering the activity of the Basques in this town in Argentina, we can see how they’ve more than fulfilled the three qualities that have largely been the marks of identity of those Basques who, for different reasons, had to go abroad and leave our Nation behind: their ability to organize, their internal solidarity, and their commitment to their adopted homeland.  And that’s all accompanied by the extraordinary quality to maintain their roots while beautifully integrating into the community.

That’s 75 years of the Basque House as such, but this was the continuation of the Mutual Aid and Festivities Society that was founded in 1913 under the name “Euzkady”, according to news reports from the day.  Shortly after being founded, it became the largest of its kind based on number of members in Necochea.  That’s a clear demonstration both of their ability to organize and their commitment to solidarity in the Basque Community.

In the news clippings offered on the Basque Center’s Facebook page, we can also see a whole story: a commitment to our community in Necochea and to the Basque Government during those hard years of war and exile; their sporting, cultural, and festival activity; the creation of the building that now houses the association; the social activity in their adoptive community, where they are a fundamental part…

We can also see reports about their festivals to honor St. Ignatius, or when they placed the first stone at their magnificent new headquarters; their Basque Dance shows, or their efforts to spread Basque pelota.

We can also witness when the planted a sapling of the Tree of Gernika, the sacred tree of the basques that is a symbol of our Freedoms, and also a Symbol of those ancient rights of our People that the Basques in Necochea, in 1939, petitioned were restored to the Basque People.  That same petition coincided with the 100th anniversary of the beginning of the Southern Basques’ rights’ being taken away, by force, on October 25, 1839.

Truly this is a magnificent display of what these compatriots, good Basques and good Argentines, have been and are doing not only during the 75 years this Basque Center has been around, but in the 100 years since the first Basque organization in this coastal town near Buenos Aires got started.

When Lehendakari Aguirre addressed the Basque of Argentina, and the world in 1955, he told them:

“The Basques, in their adopted homeland, must, among all others, be the best citizens“

We have no doubt he was asking them to do what the Basques in Necochea, and in many other places in the Americas, had already been doing since they’d arrived in their new homeland.

And this is not just history, it’s also the present, because, as we can see, in this Basque Center and in many others like it around the world, the spirit is alive and well.

From here we can only say one thing: Eskerrik Asko …

And to wish them a future that is at least as bright as their past.

We’ll leave you with the Centro Basko de Necochea‘s Facebook page, so everyone can see the story they’ve shared with us

Last Updated on Dec 20, 2020 by About Basque Country