Who was the girl in the picture at the port of Bermeo? Hibai Agorria found the answer in Madrid

Some of the old negatives of the photos found in a Madrid trash can have just come up with a beautiful storythat has taken 16 years to complete, because since the documents appeared in 2010, it has been impossible to identify the protagonist. In the end, it's called Elena.

The story has its ends in three places: Madrid, Urdaibai and Elorrio, and the thread links three moments: 1954, 2010 and 2026.

Discovery in Madrid

16 years ago, a casualty in the Rastro area ofMadrid allowed the collection of pieces of this story, as explained by the Gernikarra photographer Hibai Agorria. "Dani Asúa was then living in Madrid. In a trash can in the Rastro area, he found a box with more than a hundred negative photographs, and when he searched them he thought that some of the photographs had been taken in his village, Gernika."

These negatives remained in a drawer of Asua's house for several years , untilsix years ago she told Agorria, who scanned them and revealed them. They formed a wonderful collection of photographs from another era: beautiful images taken in Gernika, Sukarrieta, Mundaka, Bermeo or Elorrio.

For months, even years, Asua and Agorria tried to find the family trail in the photos. They knocked on many doors and even talked to local historians.

"Then we thought it might be interesting for the people of Gernika to participate in this search. We organized an exhibition with images, "explains Agorria, who was named "Where are you" and left in January at the Gernika House of Culture.

The main image of the exhibition was the photograph of a girl in the port of Bermeo, which appeared in many of the portraits in the collection, and the exhibition was widely echoed.

"Many of the 160 photographs were taken in Elorrio, we thought the clues might come from there. At the inauguration came a girl from Elorrio who photographed the images of the exhibition and then took her images to Elorrio. After a month we got a call from there. Someone identified the family and from then on all that was missing was to contact the protagonist, "explains Agorri.

Carmen's testimony.

There came a person who was indispensable, Carmen,who is from Elorrio and currently lives in Bilbao, who explained to Agorria and Asua that she was the cousin of the girl from the port of Bermeo, and they called her Elena. They also knew that she lived in Madrid and that she was 80 years old.

Elena has always lived in Madrid, but in the summers of the '50s she went to Elorrio to visit her family. "They went to Elorrio and took advantage of it to make visits to the coast.

By a strange chance, the physical footprint of those memories that Elena had kept appeared, 70 years later.

One question, however, remained to be answered: why did these negatives appear in a Madrid trash can in 2010? Agorri also clarified: "The author of the photographs, Grandpa, died at the time of the negatives. After his death, the family decided to clean the house and throw away some boxes, including those negatives. "

On the same day that they were thrown out, Dani Asúa passed by that trash can and became curious.

Now, thefile is back in the hands of Elena's family, who are shocked and amazed at the impact of their story. Hibai Agorria will soon travel to Madrid.