Campaign to build Spanish Civil War memorial
BBCA memorial honouring volunteers who fought against fascism in the Spanish Civil War would help bring a city and Spain together, a campaigner has said.
About 20 people from Roker, Millfield, Southwick and other parts of Sunderland are believed to have travelled to Spain in the late 1930s to fight against right-wing Nationalists led by General Franco.
A new campaign aims to get the community involved in building a monument to the volunteers in their home city.
Campaigner Julio Romero Johnson said: "For me, it is a small gesture to thank all those that helped the Spanish people and to say that we don't forget them."
Mr Romero Johnson, who was born in Valencia but has lived in Sunderland since 2013, said he first had the idea of the monument about five years ago.
Similar memorials already exist in Durham, Newcastle, Middlesbrough and Stockton.
"I thought it would be quite interesting to bring back that history and try to recover it, " Mr Romero Johnson said.
"It brings Sunderland and Spain together, Britain and Spain together."
'Part of Sunderland'
The Spanish Civil War was fought from 1936 to 1939 between Franco's Nationalists and left-wing Republicans.
According to the National Archives, about 4,000 people from Britain and Ireland are thought to have joined the war, including author George Orwell.
Mr Romero Johnson said a lot of the Sunderland volunteers probably saw the Spanish Civil War as "a preamble to the Second World War".
"They had a clear idea that if Spain fell under what would become the fascist dictatorship of Franco, that gave more strength to Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy," he said.
"They understood they had to intervene in a way to try and avoid that."
The memorial project is still in the early stages, with a meeting planned at 10:00 GMT on 5 April at the Winter Gardens to get the community involved in the project.
"We want it to be part of Sunderland and Sunderland to get involved in it," Mr Romero Johnson said.