“Those were times of ration cards, of green lice, of cold sores and, of novenas dedicated to The Virgin Mary and of castor oil. The decade of chicken broth and beggars”

According to the population census of 1950, the number of inhabitants of Avila city was 21,110, but, in fact, people living in the city reached 22,577, this difference is due to the high number of non-professional military men (around 800), the orphans housed by charities and the vagrants. The women percentage was 54%, 3 points over the natural sex proportion, this unbalance was caused by the high number of widowed women; those were the years of black clothes, all women were still dressed in mourning although the Civil War had finished ten years ago.

The chart below shows the results obtained after the enquiry carried out in our families, the data obtained allows us to conclude that in the 1950s and 60s the families used to have more children than nowadays, the average number of children was over three. Among the reasons they given us to explain this difference, the most frequent were in order of importance:

· They needed children to help them in agriculture.
· The lack of family planning.
· Religion beliefs.
· Infant mortality.

As a consequence of this high number of children, they had some difficulties as the need of food, money or big houses; so that, some of them were forced to migrate to the cities in searching of better jobs.

"Family was very important to Spaniards, the war split so many. It is because of that we had to do whatever we could to bring us together again."

MEMBERS OF THE FAMILY:

The concept of family was really different also. The grandparents and single relatives often lived in the house. It was very common that wealthy faimilies having servants accomodated them in the house because this way the salary was cheaper and the servants were at their service whenever they needed. The graph proves this fact because, as we can observe, the number increases at a higher extent than the expected at the view of the first one.

SOCIETY:

In the 50s and the 60s were enormous social differences. Social status was based on wealth, religious beliefs and family relationships. A rise in social standing was quite difficult, and those who managed to achieve it, could never gain the same reputation as those who had always had a high social standing. Religion was also closely related to the social class. Those who did not attend mass on Sundays were never received well in the higher class social circles.

"Only exceptionally were Spaniards able to travel outside the country. Gibraltar and Portugal returned fugitives who crossed their borders. The Pyrenees remained closed after France broke relations with Spain. The area near the border on the Spanish side was heavily patrolled after "guerrillas" based in France tried to invade the Arán Valley. To circulate in that zone required a special permit, signed by no less than the captain general of the military region. To travel elsewhere in Spain one needed a safe-conduct pass issued by the police upon presentation of a certificate signed by a parish priest that the bearer had taken communion."

LIFE EXPECTANCY:

The next graph shows the life expectancy in the years 50-60 and it is referred to our grandparents’ families. According the data we can conclude that the life expectancy was lower than current days; most of them died between the age of 60-65 and only a few lived over 70 years. Life expectancy was lower due to the difficult living conditions, the lack of sanitation, food and hygiene.

MIGRATION:

At those years migration was a very frequent solution to solve the economic problems. Most migration was from rural to urban areas; however some Spaniards were forced to migrate to a foreign country . Some years ago the main reason for this migratory movement had been religious or political persecution but now Germany had to be rebuilt after the war, so workers are needed and it could be a great work opportunity. However, migration to a foreign country meant facing big problems such as language, housing, solitude...it was a male migration and only a few families migrated together. And, lastly, the main problem was that only dirty, unskilled and badly-paid jobs were done by immigrants.

CHILDREN MORTALITY:

In the 50s and 60s a lot of children died because there were not neither bathrooms nor running water, the organic residues and the rubbish where accumulated everywhere; besides, obtaining food was a problem and some children died from hunger. Rats went to the village because of the accumulation of waste and bit the people, transmitting diseases. Baths were infrequent and children were dirty most of the time . The hygienic conditions and the inadequate diet caused a lot of diseases, many children died from dehydration produced by diarrhoea.

Light blue shows the families who remind any relatives who died at an early age