We Came for Games by Roberto Aguirrezabala

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We Came for Games is a profoundly humanist project, championing the ideals of equality, mutual respect, and solidarity across people and cultures. This artist’s book is set in Barcelona in mid-July 1936, a city poised to host the People’s Olympiad—a monumental act of international anti-fascist resistance.

That same year, the official Olympic Games were scheduled to take place in Berlin under Hitler’s regime, a spectacle of Nazi propaganda. Barcelona’s counter-event was conceived as an extraordinary gesture of defiance, a celebration of peace and unity through sport and regional folklore—a rare and ambitious vision.

Tragically, the People’s Olympiad never came to pass. On the eve of its opening ceremony, Spain was plunged into civil war by a fascist coup. Hundreds of young athletes from around the globe, who had just arrived for the games, chose to stay and defend the Spanish Republic rather than return home.

These sportsmen and women exchanged their athletic pursuits for arms, becoming part of a nascent resistance. Their presence laid the groundwork for the International Brigades, a force of global solidarity that fought until 1938, when it was finally disbanded. They came for games, but stayed to fight for a cause far greater.