Exile and escape routes
Crossing the Pyrenees through Pallars Sobirà was a perilous endeavour fraught with danger. In addition to the environmental difficulties (steep and precipitous terrain with mountain passes nearing 3,000 metres, covered with snow for almost 8 months a year and a considerably long passage), there were also personal limitations (lack of familiarity with the trails, limited physical preparation and deficient equipment to take on high-mountain treks). Malnourished and without the right clothing or footwear, the journey was often deadly for the refugees. And once they finally made it into Spain, the obstacles simply continued: lack of documentation, ordered expulsions when they arrived, arrests, etc. All these factors made escape through these areas a heroic feat for those who undertook them.
Escaping from France into Spain was relatively easy during the first two years of WWII. The situation would change as of November 1942, when the German army occupied Vichy’s France and immediately reinforced surveillance over the routes that led into Spain, as part of an effort to make the Pyrenees insurmountable.
The trails that led to Pallars Sobirà ran through the valleys of Valls d’Àneu, Vall de Cardós and Vallferrera, which provided access to the region, following the courses of the Noguera Pallaresa, Lladorre and Noguera de Vallferrera rivers. The main route that connected Saint Girons (Ariège) with the Valls d’Àneu valleys ran along the paths located within the Saint Girons–Port de Salau–Port dels Tres Comtes triangle, which converged at the valley of Isil and continued to Esterri d’Aneu and Sort. The most frequently used trail departed from the town of Seix, the starting place of the paths that led into Spain through the mountain passes of Pala de Clavera (2,522 m), Tindarelha (2,355 m), Aulà (2,260 m), Portanèth d’Aurenèra (2,331 m) and Salau (2,087 m).
After the passes of the Valls d’Àneu valleys, those of the Vall de Cardós valley would become the most frequently travelled. These trails generally departed from Saint Girons and ran through the passes of Tavascan (2,217 m) and Lladorre (2,444 m). From Aulus-les-Bains, the access passes were Guiló (2,318 m), Artiga (2,481 m), Tres Comtes, Lladorre (2,444 m) and Colatx (2,416 m). Finally, those coming from Ausat would cross the passes of Artiga, Tres Comtes and Boet (2,510 m), towards the neighbouring Vallferrera.
Setting out from the Principality of Andorra, some of the paths led to the municipality of Alins de Vallferrera. Through the centuries, the following passes were travelled by smugglers, as well as those fleeing war: Boet, Baiau, Negre, Ovella, Cabús and Vell, which lead to the towns of Àreu, Tor and Alins.
