GERNIKA, Basque Country - The connection to the Basque Country for Idaho Basques was recharged in the mid-1970s through a program that still exists today.
Through the Oñati Program, teens from southern Idaho go to the Basque Country every year to see the place their parents or grandparents came from. And it's not just for young Basques - it's for any young person who wants to experience this unique part of the world.
The year was 1974. Spain's dictator, Francisco Franco, was still in power, and his choke hold on the Basque Country and culture remained tight.
It wasn't a safe place for young people. But that didn't deter a group of 100 young people from southern Idaho from making a Boise State-sponsored trip to the Basque Country.
The trip was led by Pat Bieter, a history teacher with German roots whose marriage to a Basque woman from Mountain Home led him to a career of learning and teaching about the culture of his wife's ancestors.
All five of his children went to the Basque Country for the first time.
One of them, Boise Mayor Dave Bieter, recounted his experiences to us.
"I experienced a submachine gun pointed at my brother and I coming back late from a festival - out of the blue," the mayor said. "A Basque priest was arrested and beaten. These are things you're not going to experience here at the Basque Center or in Boise."
Franco died in 1975. The country began the transition back to a democracy, allowing the Basque Country to restore its culture and language not allowed during the regime.
It also meant the BSU Oñati Exchange Program flourished, with Basques coming over to Idaho and more young Idahoans coming here.
"The exchange has been going on since the 1890s, when Idaho became a state," the mayor's brother, John Bieter, said. "But, I feel like in some ways that 1970's program kickstarted and re-invigorated an exchange until we're at it again today at a level even higher than what was going on in the 40s, 50s, and 60s - actually energizing the base.
"Without those relationships being renewed and the new relationships formed it would be a novelty that would be a distant thing and historic thing but not something that's present day," Dave Bieter said.
