On April 26, 1937, 21 German and three Italian bombers destroyed the undefended Basque market city of Gernika in northern Spain. It became the most famous air raid in history, after the American nuclear attacks on Hiroshima and Nagasaki that ended World War II.

The Spanish Civil War raged across the Iberian Peninsula at the time, and Basque country was a stronghold of the Republicans fighting the German-backed Nationalists of Gen. Francisco Franco.

The Gernika bombing — immortalized in a painting by Pablo Picasso — was a turning point in Britain, France and the United States regarding attitudes toward the Nazis.

And Lucia Lezamiz, then 13, was there.

Lezamiz, who has lived in Twin Falls and Richfield, emigrated from Spain to Idaho after World War II and became a citizen in 1960. She detailed her experiences to the Basque Oral History Project in 2002.

Here’s what she told interviewers Daniel and David Chertudi in an interview conducted in Spanish:

“The Monday Gernika was bombed, Lucia was very upset to her stomach. She heard the planes swoop over the town and the machine guns fire. Maria (Lucia’s mother) closed the shop (locking it, which she rarely did) and the family fled to the hills. … Tomas (Lucia’s dad) was heading to his shop in Gernika. The planes dropped nine bombs, and the first one hit right in front of the shop.”

Tomas was one of about 400 Gernikans who died that day.

“During this time, Lucia and her mother watched the smoke rise from the city, and heard the guns fire. An incendiary bomb landed near them, but didn’t explode. Lucia recalls that since it was market day, only women and children and merchants were really downtown, and received the full brunt of the bombing. … Lucia describes the horror of seeing burnt and dismembered bodies. … They never knew for sure what became of Tomas’ body.”

The bombing went on for three hours.

“At 11 p.m., she and her mother were escaping through the hills by Forua.She recalls that the pilots flew so close to the ground that she could see them. It was easy for them to pick off fleeing civilians with their guns. Somehow or another, Vitor and Carmela (Lucia’s brother and sister) later joined them in a cave, from where they decided to go to Renteria. When they found Tomas’ mother, Lucia’s father was not there, so the family knew something was wrong. They went from place to place looking for Tomas, but everywhere they went they found only unidentifiable corpses.”

Lucia’s school was also bombed that day.

“She decided to continue studying her favorite subject — accounting — with a tutor. For eight years, the family stayed with Lucia’s aunt, and Lucia worked in the tavern for three of them.”

The bombing changed life completely. “There was no more money, and Lucia didn’t have time for fun.Food was hard to come by, and the family had to eat many unpleasant things.For 10 years, there was only black bread … The family lived there in Gernika, and the house is still in the family today. Carmela became a teacher. Lucia lived in the house until after she was married and her first son was two years old.”

Lucia had married another Gernikan, Ciriaco Lezamiz, who had earlier come to Idaho to tend sheep and returned to Spain. They eventually settled in Bruneau, where she went to work for J.R. Simplot as a bookkeeper and cook. The Lezamizes bought their own ranch in 1960 and raised six children.

Steve Crump is the Times-News Opinion editor.