BOE, the Spanish State Official Bulletin, dated 5th July 1937, published an order from the Secretary of War for the creation of Concentration Camps for Prisoners:

""His Excellency the Generalísimo [Francisco Franco] of the national armies has ordered the constitution of a Commission which, subject to the necessary advice and as a matter of extreme urgency, will proceed to create Concentration Camps for prisoners; designating to oversee this Commission, and as Head of this Service, Colonel Luis Martín Pinillos y Bustamante, who will leave his post as Military Governor of Caceres".

The organization and the implementation of the concentration camps was carried out following the German model. In November 1936, Paul Winzer, a Gestapo and SS member, was sent to Spain to oversee the installation of the camps across the territory occupied by the ill-named National Side.

The Miranda de Ebro Concentration Camp was created in 1937. The geographic location and the excellent transport links meant the city was in the ideal place to be the site of the camp.

It was built in a setting known as La Hoyada (The Dip), on a piece of land belonging to the company Sulfatos Españoles (Spanish Sulphates), adjoining the Castejón to Bilbao train line and the River Bayas.

Initially, building was started with materials belonging to the Corzana Circus which had been stored in Miranda since the start of the Civil War, having been requisitioned by the military authorities.

The Miranda Concentration Camp was operative from June 1937 and January 1947, making it the longest lasting camp in Spain. It housed as many as 60,000 prisoners of various nationalities over different stages.

In its first stage, it was used as a camp for Republican prisoners.

When Bilbao was taken by the Francoist army, the number of Republican prisoners increased considerably. Many of them were transferred to Miranda and taken, in a first instance, to the bull ring and sent over various days to the Leopoldo Sugar Factory before they were definitively confined in the camp.

The prisoners' situation was extremely cruel; they were punished and tortured, there was a complete lack of the most basic services, bad conditions of hygiene, no latrines or running water. The camp's capacity was for around 1500 people, but this limit was soon exceeded, which made conditions deteriorate even more for those men who were deprived of their freedom to defend the Republic.

The Spanish prisoners were gradually transferred to civil prisons or disciplinary battalions, leaving the camp in 1941.

With the outbreak of the Second World War, a second stage of prisoners began in the Miranda de Ebro Concentration Camp.

From this date onwards, the prisoners were principally foreigners from Allied Countries, fleeing the German advance, who were captured, or those who had belonged to the International Brigades.

From 1940, as a consequence of the advance of the German troops on the European stage, refugees and escaped prisoners sought a route through Spain towards Portugal or Gibraltar, to travel on to the countries on the American continent, England or colonial African territories. Those refugees and prisoners of war in flight from the European or North African concentration camps, stateless persons, ex-combatants from the warring countries or civilian refugees, on being detained in Spain, were interred systematically in Miranda and in other holding places.

The third stage of the camp started in 1944 when those interred were German officials and soldiers, as well as collaborators who had deserted, seeking refuge after the collapse of Nazism. Unlike the rest of the prisoners, the Germans enjoyed benevolent treatment, and even had permission to stroll around the city.

With the liberation of the south of France, German influence on the camp's management came to an end, and this third stage started: the Nazi troops from the French-Spanish border moved to Spain and were interred in Miranda de Ebro. German prisoners of war who had escaped from French concentration camps also arrived in Miranda.

As a Disciplinary Unit, the Miranda Camp or Holding Place was to function until February 1947, with the Ministry of the Armed Forces (Territorial Army) being in charge of the custody of its prisoners and refugees, its internal regime and the regulations concerning admission and release, in collaboration with the Ministries of Foreign Affairs and of Government.

In the 1950s, all the camp's buildings were destroyed for the installation of a factory complex. However, some remains were preserved which remind us of the camp's existence: the water tanks, the wash house, the base of a surveillance turret, remains of the perimeter enclosure wall and of a small building (the guards' hut). All of these have been included as Protected Items as part of the City Planning General Plan.

The opening of the Visitors' Centre and the creation of the Garden of Memory in the facilities of the Civic Centre have meant recognition for all those who were imprisoned for defending freedom.