The outbreak of the civil war brought the Educational Missions to a halt. From July to September 1936, the missionaries who were in Madrid and had not left for the front formed 14 teams of three people each and continued the work of the Missions. In October, the Committee of Cultural Propaganda was established under the Patronato and its photograph and film archives were used to promote cultural activities in support of the Republic. Renau’s photomontages in the Spanish pavilion of the Exposition Internationale des Arts et Techniques dans la Vie Moderne (Paris, 1937) used photographs of the Missions to show Spain’s tragedy to the people. The library service continued operating from Valencia almost to the end of the war.
The fate of the more than the 600 people who participated in the Educational Missions varied. Some missionaries were killed at the outbreak of the war; others enrolled in the Milicias de la Cultura or in the Brigadas Volantes; still others were imprisoned, placed under inquiry or went into exile. And some became Franco’s supporters.