I authorize to disseminate widely on my behalf

that I live under lock and key.

I am surrounded by a terrifying collective insanity...

I'm surprised I haven't been shot yet.

I will never step on the streets of Salamanca again.

They will take me from here only when I am dead.

All these people are against intelligence.

They're shooting at intellectuals.

If they succeed, Spain will become a country of imbeciles.

After years of exile for his position to the Dictator and the Monarchy,

Miguel de Unamuno returns to Salamanca.

I told you I'd be back.

Not with my freedom, which is worth nothing.

But with yours.

What is presented in Spain is not a political problem,

but an ethical and dignity problem.

Now many struggles will come from the left and the right,

of believers and unbelievers.

In Spain there is a consciousness that is beginning to awaken.

In April 1931, municipal elections were held

and they become a plebiscite.

Monarchy or Republic?

I advocate a civil republic,

because militarism is the greatest plague of the century.

A secular republic, not an irreligious one.

Because religion belongs to the most intimate part of man.

Salmantinos!

Four centuries ago, the comuneros rose up

against the first of the Habsburgs,

Carlos I of Spain and V of Germany.

Then, as now,

they fought for popular sovereignty.

In this same city, in this same square

and under this same blue sky,

a commoner proclaimed popular sovereignty.

And today,

in the 20th century,

We have completed the work that they could not do,

throwing the last Habsburg out of Spain:

Alfonso de Bourbon.

Today a new era began

and ended a dynasty that has impoverished and debased us...

You

those who have been called “rogue rabble”,

You have given a beautiful example of citizenship,

maintaining order against those of order.

which was nothing more than organized disorder.

I trust that the Republic will come for the whole world,

without any distinction.

And for the good of Spain.

Long live Spain!

Long live the Republic!

-After the proclamation of the Republic,

the mob vented in tearing down and destroying the statues.

I ask you to interpose your influence, if you have any,

so that it serves to watch over our tranquility.

He loves you,

your sister.

-I said that Spain hurt me.

And today it still hurts.

It hurts too

his Republic.

I do not belong to any political party,

Which doesn't mean I'm not a Republican.

I condemn the burning of convents and the confiscation of their property.

I criticize the exception laws and the censorship of newspapers

by the current government.

A new Spain is necessary,

a federal Spain.

-Yesterday Unamuno gave his conference.

Many people were outraged.

If everyone had paid the same attention to him as I did,

they would avoid being outraged.

-Watch out for Azaña.

He is a writer without readers.

And it will be able to make a revolution to have them.

First of all, we must save the Republic.

Indeed, you have to save it

because it is the means to save Spain.

But not as an end,

but as a means.

Now the world takes other paths.

Fascism or communism.

They will turn men into an immense herd.

And it aims to center the world on materialism.

Is it taking hold in our Spain

something like Italian fascism

and German National Socialism?

Is there anything more impersonal and blurry than

That poor Führer? A mental and spiritual deficient.

How can a mass of humans fascinate?

And that tragic policeman who is Mussolini.

The movie leader of the black shirts,

that can drag his country down unsuspected abysses.

This return to barbarism

demands a fierce struggle against Hitler's fascism.

The great tortures suffered by Germany,

the repression of all freedom,

of all manifestations of the labor movement,

obliges us to launch this appeal.

The swastika nonsense hasn't reached us yet

and racism.

But we have a Spanish Mussolini wannabe...

Millán-Astray, creator of the Legion and the legend of the Tercio,

with a cinematic feel.

In the first pledge of the Legion's banner,

Francisco Franco is a lieutenant of Millán-Astray.

Commander Millán-Astray created the Legion

after the defeats of Spain

in the colonial wars of North Africa.

The Legion condones methods of extreme violence.

Terror applies.

Millán-Astray gave his style and mystique to the legion.

Maybe it was his experience in the Philippines, commanding natives,

who helped develop these methods.

At only 17 years old,

Millán-Astray enlists as a volunteer

to combat the insurrection of another Spanish colony,

Philippines.

Coincidentally, on the same boat as him,

the hero of the insurgents is arrested,

Rizal, accused of high treason.

Unamuno always admired Rizal.

He even went so far as to preface his biography.

The Filipino Rizal came to study Philosophy and Letters in Madrid,

for the same years as me,

in the same faculty.

Though he was finishing it when I was starting.

Rizal was always a dreamer,

an idealist.

Rizal wanted the Philippines to have the same rights

than any Spanish province

and not those of a colony.

And for that he was sentenced to death.

For the insurgents,

Rizal was their hero and martyr.

Millán-Astray hated him all his life with the same intensity

that Unamuno admired him.

Millán-Astray, head of the Legion,

did more damage with his cinematic feats

than others running away.

The Legion was made up of Spaniards and foreigners

who enlist voluntarily.

So propaganda was crucial.

Spanish youth are charging

a cinematographic conception of life.

This explains why Millán-Astray,

the cheeky one,

that movie hero,

has been a representative figure for part of the youth.

And we could forgive the movie shops

if they always ended up in smoke tails.

And not, ever, in skulls.

The miners of Asturias rise up against the Government

in the so-called “October Revolution”.

The Legion is sent in to suppress the rebellion.

Francisco Franco, advisor to the Minister of War,

directs operations.

Heavy artillery is used on the civilian population.

We are in the midst of a civil war.

Or revolution, which is the same.

It is therefore necessary that there be light

and don't follow the devil asking for blood.

You do not know with what regret I am writing this letter.

This is not about my poor homeland, which is suffering one of its most serious crises.

It's something intimate and familiar.

My poor woman

He stands between life and death.

In just eleven months,

Unamuno suffers the loss of his wife and his daughter Salomé.

Her sister Susana also died.

My students,

It would be distressing if they exercised the abuse of firearms.

But it would be more distressing if you used other worse weapons.

Slander,

the injury,

the deceit

and insults, which are beginning to be abused so much.

All of this is a symptom of a mortal desire for national dissolution,

civil and social.

Nobody

subject or party, group or school

I acknowledge the authenticity,

and less the exclusivity of patriotism.

After the political change that occurred since 1933

Unamuno has taken such a clear attitude against us

which can be considered as the spiritual spokesperson

of the fight against Germany

in the intellectual circles of Spain.

For this attitude

We do not support your application for the Nobel Prize.

In 1935,

the Nobel Prize is vacated at the last moment.

Only in the Literature category.

Previously,

The awarding of the Nobel Prize was only suspended on one occasion:

on the occasion of the First World War.

In 1930, almost a third of Spaniards were illiterate.

In 6 years,

the Republic carries out

a politics of democratization of culture.

Thousands of schools are created.

The older ones imagine

that our games are more serious than yours

because in ours players kill each other.

And many of us want to show you our games.

Tell them no!

Tell them that schools in Spain

they must be the real Houses of the People.

Tell them not to enter them

our fucking civil war games.

And now children,

I will speak on your behalf

and to tell my colleagues

to tell them with you:

Let us play in peace.

We don't want your games of rage and death

And don't teach us to threaten each other.

Teach us to live in peace.

Some raise their fists high

and others raise their arms in the Roman salute.

When I go to my office,

contemplate the statue of Fray Luis de León

and his admirable gesture.

The outstretched hand advising calm and meditation.

It's the best advice right now.

We must save western civilization,

Christian civilization is so seriously threatened.

July 12, 1936

Lieutenant Castillo is assassinated by an extreme right-wing group.

A day later

deputy Calvo Sotelo is assassinated

by socialist gunmen.

I see this very badly.

What is gaining strength here is something that is not seen in Europe.

It is syndicalism at bottom anarchist.

And on the other side, fascism.

As for the Republican thing...

I know less and less what that means.

I, who elaborated as much as anyone else for the Republic...

Lost individuality,

I'm not satisfied with the regimen.

You might think that the coup

was motivated by the murder of Calvo Sotelo,

or by the violent actions of anarchist and communist groups

on the one hand and violence on the other.

The reality is that he had been organizing for years.

General Mola,

with the code name "the Director",

wrote and disseminated to soldiers they trusted,

reserved instructions in which he was organizing the coup d'état

since years before.

He received the support of Mussolini.

Extreme right-wing paramilitary groups,

they store weapons and receive training.

Volunteers were recruited in various parts of Spain.

Mola was joined by the Africanist military.

-“Attribute all the powers of the State”

It will be taken into account that the action must be extremely violent

to reduce the enemy as soon as possible.

Two days after the start of the military coup,

Salamanca is suddenly occupied.

Twelve deaths in the so-called “Tiro de la Plaza”.

They will be imprisoned

all directors of political parties,

companies and unions not affiliated with the Movement.

Applying exemplary punishments to said individuals,

to strangle the subordinations of rebellion or strikes.

The coup plotters take over the City Hall,

Correos, Telefónica, the train station and the media.

Radio and press are key.

In Salamanca, we are pleased to publicize loyalty and discipline

of the regiments that guard the capital and the province.

That with whose loyalty and discipline they assist the government of the Republic.

The information given to the population

differs from the secret directives of the rebel generals.

The Military Commander wishes to express to the people of Salamanca

thank you for the many valuable offers of people

of all social classes,

who wish to collaborate with the movement for the salvation of Spain.

Salmantinos,

Spanish,

everyone!

Long live Spain!

Long live the Republic with dignity!

Unamuno believes that the coup that is taking place

It is one more military pronouncement, of those he has already experienced.

Franco, in his manifesto on the day of the military coup,

Use words like “liberty”, “equality” and “fraternity”.

Unamuno is summoned as Councilor to the first plenary session of the City Council

after the coup.

He believes that, once order is restored, elections will be called.

Unamuno was the perpetual honorary mayor of the city.

I consider myself here today as an element of continuity.

The people brought me here,

to the salmantino town hall

when bringing the Republic, in the elections of April 12, 1931.

And here you have me at my years,

as Fray Luis de León.

With his outstretched hand gesture of calm and peace.

Unamuno tries with his presence

guarantee civility on the part of the new rulers.

He will not return to the Town Hall nor will he sign any minutes.

He begins to realize his blindness.

The Official Commission participates

that the amount that has been indicated for said subscription

is the five thousand pesetas,

Hoping it will serve to enter them as soon as possible...

More than an invitation to make a donation,

The letter seems like a veiled imposition.

In the areas occupied by the rebels,

a “donation” program is articulated.

Now my financial situation is disastrous.

My income has been cut in half.

Of my eight children I have to help five who only count on me.

From my writings, it's been almost a year since I got anything.

5,000 pesetas represent 6 months of Unamuno's pension.

With the economic hardships of the family,

The voluntary payment of said amount is unlikely.

And less with the celeridad that said income is made.

The money required may have been paid by a local business owner.

As documented in the case of other personalities

in a situation similar to that of Unamuno.

The insurgents make a propaganda use

from certain donations.

Among them, that of a key figure like Unamuno.

The goal was to encourage other donations.

And show their adherence to the coup side.

Former mayor and friend of Unamuno,

Castro Prieto,

together with other councilmen, they are taken to prison

After the assassination of Federico García Lorca,

the coup leaders exploit Unamuno's adherence.

Outside and inside Spain.

The Government sees with pain that Don Miguel de Unamuno,

for whom the Republic had reserved

the highest expressions of respect and devotion,

has not responded at the present time

to the loyalty to which he was bound

publicly joining the faction in arms.

Days later,

the coup leaders reinstate Unamuno as Rector of the University.

At the end of July,

the military rebels get the support of Hitler and Mussolini.

The Pan-European International Union

It was a movement that sought peace between peoples.

They request the mediation of Unamuno.

Mr. Unamuno,

studied the problem of granting an armistice,

I am very sorry to tell you that it is not possible.

-In almost everyone hate is lit.

In almost no one compassion.

Unamuno returns to the University.

He is flattered by his reinstatement as rector

He is not aware that the acceptance of the position

They will make him a hostage to the coup plotters.

Your rectorate will only last six weeks.

General Mola, the leader of the coup,

pressure Unamuno to send an apology letter

to another coup military.

General Martínez Anido.

The reason? An article written 16 years earlier.

Unamuno denounced the brutal repression

to workers' organizations in Barcelona.

Described the person responsible, General Anido,

like a hysterical goose.

Unamuno, after many doubts, sends the apology letter.

She probably fears for her family's safety.

In this context,

Unamuno presides over the cloister since his reinstatement as rector.

Former Chancellor Ramos Loscertales,

read a text in support of the military coup.

Submits it to the faculty for consideration.

It is unanimously approved.

Unamuno, in his role as rector, certifies the vote of the faculty.

A few hours after the document is approved

General Mola is introduced.

The letter written by Loscertales and approved by the faculty,

it appears in the press of the insurgents

under the sole authorship of Unamuno.

That letter, agreed upon in the cloister, is not mine,

but from the University.

I didn't write it.

And then a staunch priest put it in a “macaronic” Latin.

Well, that's a lie. And you know it.

-Appointed to take over

of the command of the Propaganda Directorate,

I am sending you the instructions that you will let the censors know,

to newspaper editors

and all kinds of written publications:

magazines, books, brochures, etc.

And to those in charge of radio stations and their censors.

So that you know what to expect

regarding the publication of articles,

photographs and radiation of all kinds.

I will give the instructions and you will implement them.

Spanish!

Do you know the Legion's greatest idol?

The glorious General Millán-Astray.

Creator of the glorious body that you admire today.

Look at him, today broken in body but full of spirit!

Death was more cowardly than he!

Join the Legion!

-The tricks of that youth,

of that fictitious “giovinezza”.

The terrible programmatic phrases.

Youth are experiencing a sad decline in mental capacity.

A certain hatred of intelligence coupled with a cult of violence,

by violence itself.

A farmer finds himself in a ditch

the lifeless bodies of the mayor of Salamanca, Casto Prieto,

and representative José Andrés y Manso.

The news of the murder of his friend Casto Prieto shakes Unamuno.

I, who have accused my compatriots of having gone mad,

I feel his madness surround me.

I'm getting bad blood.

-I ask you to interpose your influence...

-I beg you to intervene...

-Her valuable influence on...

In order to get...

-Would you like to do something for us?

The Protestant pastor,Atilano Coco,

He is arrested in Salamanca by the military.

He is one of Unamuno's closest friends.

Days later, Salvador Vila is arrested,

disciple and friend of Unamuno.

Gerda Leimdörfer is arrested with him,

Salvador's wife.

She's German Jewish.

I am glad that Salamanca,

the city of secular intelligence in Spain,

Humanities studies,

be again... Salamanca!

With their eager youth,

Heart of Spain!

And the damned and a thousand times damned intellectuals

that, having enough culture and means,

they poisoned our masses and made them believe

that happiness was in crime.

Long live Spain!

Long live!!

Long live death!

LIVE!

-They're like animals.

We have to kill, kill and kill.

Our program is to exterminate

one third of the male population of Spain.

This would clean up the country.

There will be no more unemployment in Spain.

Captain Gonzalo de Aguilera is under the command of Millán-Astray.

By mastering six languages,

He is responsible for relations with foreign media and journalists

They are all ideologically close to the cause of the coup plotters.

Aguilera provides propaganda guidelines.

As the terminology to refer to one's own side, the “National”,

and the enemy side, “the reds”.

Unamuno, during the war,

He will be interviewed mainly by foreign media.

Then their interventions are replicated in national media.

Aguilera is present at the foreign interviews with Unamuno.

French journalist André Salmon,

in his memoirs, he tells that the interview he did with Unamuno,

the testimonies of the intellectual were modified and censored

by Aguilera.

Unamuno's texts that appeared in the press during the war

These are only words attributed to Unamuno.

From this stage, we can only resort to writings in his own handwriting.

I already run away from interviews. And more with foreigners.

They make me say what I don't say...

or put tassels on it.

Aguilera puts his ideas in the mouth of Unamuno.

The press and propaganda officer never hid his racist ideas.

He called the Civil War the Race War.

For years, Unamuno wrote about the concept of Race.

They were reflections on the festival of October 12,

then called Columbus Day.

That ridiculous party, which they have called the party of the Race.

Raza, empeza a querer significarlo que significa

Yesterday was all about learning.But learning how to cook tortellini and a bisque. ...recipe said 2 hours, I took… https://t.co/A7Vhk8wCBZ

— Janina Stromfield FCCT Sun May 16 07:17:26 +0000 2021

in today's Germany, that of racism.

It would have been better to call it the Language Festival.

The Spanish of Spain is also the Spanish of America.

And the Spanish from the extreme of Asia.

The South American liberators of the 19th century are of the same race.

Like the great José Rizal.

Although it was between Tagalog and Chinese,

he thought and felt and spoke and wrote in Spanish.

A good Tagalog is better than a bad Spanish.

It is a few days away from October 12, 1936.

Celebration of the “Day of the Race”.

The wife of Protestant pastorAtilano Coco

Take a letter to Unamuno.

She begs him to continue the mediation to release her husband.

On the back of said letter,

Unamuno took the notes at that time

for his impromptu speech at the Auditorium.

That day Unamuno has to preside over the act.

That day will have tragic consequences for him.

Some people deny what happened

or minimizes events.

To clarify it, we must go to the tests.

Just a few pictures.

One from the audience.

And another from the presidential table.

Carmen Polo de Franco,

Unamuno, the bishop of the city,

and General Millán-Astray.

The images from the exit could give more information about the incident.

Carmen Polo gets in the car.

Millán-Astray seems to say goodbye shaking someone's hand.

But you can't see his arm.

Are you saying goodbye to Unamuno or the bishop?

This photo is from a few seconds later.

Carmen Polo and Millán-Astrayya are in the car.

Falangists and others, raise your arms.

From that day, we only keep

the transcripts of Maldonado de Guevara's speeches

and José María Pemán in the press.

But there is no trace of what was said by Unamuno and Millán-Astray.

It is striking that his interventions were made to disappear.

There is no single historical truth.

Only diverse stories from the past,

some better founded than others.

But now it is possible

a reliable reconstruction

of the confrontation between Unamuno and Millán-Astray.

Eighty-four years later,

thanks to the discovery of historical, unpublished and very valuable documents.

This is the only live testimony at the time of the events,

that October 12, 1936.

Its author, a professor of Civil Law at the University.

Ignacio Serrano.

A first level witness and proven rigor.

In 1938 he would be named

First Honorary Officer of the Military Legal Corps.

Professor Serrano hardly coincided with Unamuno.

He had recently joined the University.

On October 12, Serrano,

Aware of the transcendence of events,

transcribed the interlocutions of the speakers

and annotations with the reactions of the public.

As a record.

This important document

has been collated

with other historical materials written by Unamuno.

The notes he took in the letter from Atilano Cocó's wife.

The texts of the ‘’Resentment’’,

his private diary written during the war.

And the letter he wrote to his friend Quintín de Torre.

In all documents,

Unamuno talks about the confrontation on October 12.

The previous versions of what happened in the Auditorium

were constructed from oral accounts

by people who were not present at the scene,

Those who were, told it decades later.

The plausibility is debatable,

by the treacherous filter of memory.

Unamuno and Serrano had no contact during the act,

nor after it.

But their texts agree.

Let's finally know the words.

Let's do what God has done in Spain with the Alcazar of Toledo,

who was surrounded by enemies, the demons of Spain.

Boys of Spain, let's make each one, in each chest,

an Alcazar of Toledo

and let us always live with that one slogan:

Spain, always Spain and nothing but Spain!

Spain, one!!

Long live Spain!

-I can't shut up anymore.

Above all, after the words of Francisco Maldonado

against the Catalans and Basques.

I do not accept calling them «exploiters of the Spanish name and man».

We are all Spanish.

And I, Basque on all four sides,

I have come to Castilla to teach Spanish at this University.

This whirlwind of collective madness

it is necessary to impose a true peace of conviction.

Because only voices of hate are heard and none of compassion.

Not even from women!

The same as the red ones flaunt all the crimes and evils,

there are also some who gloat among us

with the spectacle of the executions.

To win is not to convince.

To conquer is not to convert.

And what some call without any foundation

The anti-Spain, is as Spain as the other.

And the greatest danger is that vulgarity equalizes both sides.

For me the Filipino Rizal is as Spanish as we are,

who said goodbye to the world in Spanish.

-Traitor! Get out!

Crazy!

-Yes, yes... I know what I'm saying.

-Get out!

-Can I talk!?

-So, is everyone going to talk?

-The Catalanists will die!!

And certain teachers,

those who pretend to teach faulty theories,

they'll die too!

Death to the treacherous intelligentsia!

-Die!

-Long live Death!

-Hurray!

-Long live Franco!-Long live!

-Long live Spain!

-Hurray!

-Rector, give your arm to the wife of the Head of State.

They tell me that the Casino has expelled Unamuno from its ranks.

And that instead, for now, there will be no dismissal from the position of Rector.

This is how Professor Serrano's document ends.

The chronicle is written according to the events

and its author does not know the outcome.

What happened after the confrontation in the Auditorium

it belongs to the oral record, as confirmed by Serrano.

On the other hand, this concludes another story based on testimonies.

The foundational version

from Unamuno's speech on October 12,

written by Gabriel Portillo.

“The offense was considered sufficiently serious.

But someone better informed understood that such an act,

the execution

could do fatal damage to Movement prestige.

It was never carried out.

But that night,

The soldiers stood guard in front of his home.

The precaution was taken that Unamuno lived as a prisoner in his own house

during their last three months of life.

The facts and documents of the day after

show the consequences for Unamuno

of the confrontation with Millán-Astray.

“I found out about a serious incident on the occasion of the Auditorium event.

Your father said some things

which provoked crude and violent protests from the attendees,

with Millán-Astray at the helm.

It would be painful if it happened to your father

some unpleasant incident.

It is my duty to let you know, in case things go further,

tempers are high.”

One day after the celebration of October 12,

Unamuno is annulled as perpetual honorary Mayor of Salamanca.

On October 14, at the initiative of former rector Loscertales,

the faculty withdraws its support for Unamuno as Rector.

On October 22, Franco himself

signs the dismissal of Miguel de Unamuno as Chancellor.

On October 23, Unamuno's disciple, Salvador Vila,

He is murdered along with 28 other people.

They are thrown into a mass grave.

Gerda, Salvador's widow,

She will not be released until she renounces Judaism,

get baptized

and renounce her name for María de las Angustias.

The night that Unamuno was informed of the release of his friend,

the Protestant pastor Atilano Cocó,

he is actually shot.

The date chosen to assassinate the pastor is December 8,

day of the Immaculate Conception.

Dogma denied by Protestants.

Earthquake

Seismic movement.

Earth tremor.

Disarticulations and breaks.

The insides burst.

Tremor of town.

Envy,

hate,

resentment.

Resentment...

-Up Spain!

-Oh, those intellectuals

Let them march along the dark paths!

And those who use subtle ways,

the costumes,

word games

who shoot poisonous arrows and hide their chests.

Those will be struck down.

-Wrong philosophy.

The wrong current of men

which an exalted denomination called,

in recent times, intellectuals...

Men who walked with the intellect.

Those who saw things upside down.

With backwards opinions

and whose species or breed was very old.

Well, in Greek they were called “those who seem contrary”.

Heterodox!

Heterodox, sophists, heretics,

high school graduates,

pedants,

intellectuals.

Mystics long for Spain,

in front of the rebellious, rebellious and crazy intellectuals

for an absurd freedom,

Show the Spaniards that there is no true freedom,

more than in submission.

-The character of the purge that is pursued today is not only punitive,

but also preventative.

It is necessary to guarantee that, with arms in hand

and without haggling over sacrifices and blood, civilization be saved.

It will not be tolerated again, let alone protect and subsidize,

to the poisoners of the popular soul.

Mayors responsible for all crimes.

-Freemasonry

has led Spain two fingers from ruin

and the people to misery.

I accuse! And I accuse without rhetoric,

with evidence, to Unamuno.

In whose aid he intervened

all the liberal and socialist freemasonry of France.

-I am writing this letter from my home,

where I have been for days imprisoned in disguise.

They're holding me hostage, I don't know why or for what.

But if they have to murder me, like others, it will be here in my house.

They have murdered, without any formation of cause,

to two university professors.

One of them, my disciple. And others.

Also to the Protestant pastor, for being a Freemason. And my friend...

I haven't been murdered yet

these beasts at the service of the monster.

Let them come here to assassinate me, like Salvador Vila.

In that Granada...

The “hotros” are worse than the “huns”.

Poor Garcia Lorca.

In the last twenty days of life,

The writings in which Unamuno believes that he will be assassinated are concentrated.

He had never expressed himself in these terms before.

Eight days before his death,

Unamuno donates his personal library to the University of Salamanca.

Are these the last words of Miguel de Unamuno?

Someone who ended his days defining the, “up Spain!”,

as the “holy sign of careerists”,

were you able to exclaim compatible phrases

of the Falangist ideology before dying?

The story of the death of Unamuno and his last words,

they have as their source a text written by Loscertales.

It appears in the prologue to a work by Bartolomé Aragón.

The former rector gives the details as the only witness

of the death of Unamuno

they were transmitted to him on the same night of December 31st.

The text appears on January 16, 1937.

Only two weeks after the death of Unamuno.

And it is imposed as the official account of the death of the intellectual.

It is surprising how quickly the text is published.

And more in the middle of a war.

And with the scarcity of a role

which was mainly intended for propaganda.

But who was the only witness to the death of Unamuno?

Who recorded his last words?

Bartolomé Aragón, contrary to what we have been told for 85 years,

He was never a student or disciple of Unamuno.

Your academic record does not exist as a student

in the archives of the University of Salamanca.

Unamuno passionately cultivated the epistolary genre.

Among his more than twenty-five thousand surviving letters,

No mention of Bartolomé Aragón has appeared.

No correspondence from the young man to Unamuno has been found.

There doesn't seem to be

no friendship or close relationship between them.

Who was Bartolomé Aragón then?

After graduating in Madrid,

Bartolomé Aragón completes his studies at the University of Pisa.

He graduated from the School of Corporate Sciences in 1934.

From this center arise important theorists

of fascist corporatism.

At this stage, the youngster will be scarred

by the fascist culture and the figure of Mussolini.

In March 1936,

Bartolome Aragon

takes over the chair of Political Economy

at the Faculty of Law of Salamanca.

According to testimony from Aragon,

At that time he forged a friendship with Professor Torres López.

During the war he will be Head of Press and Propaganda in Salamanca,

under orders from Millán-Astray.

Another of his friends is Professor Rodríguez Aniceto.

In a few months he will be a censor and collaborator of foreign press,

also under the orders of Millán-Astray.

Aragón refers to them as his “dear and admired companions”.

The outbreak of the military coup

meet Bartolomé Aragón on vacation in his land. Huelva.

In August 1936,

Aragón enlists as a volunteer for the Requetés “Virgen del Rocío”.

He wants to go to the fight.

It also belongs to the Falange.

Millán-Astray returns from abroad to join the coup plotters.

Enters Spain through the port of Huelva.

That is where he signs his entry form in the Falange.

Los Requetés “Virgin of El Rocío”

they joined the Redondo Column by order of Queipo de Llano.

Bartolomé Aragón marches with them at the head of Riotinto.

The Round Column formed by the Infantry,

Cavalry, Sappers, Machine Guns,

Civil Guard and aviation.

They all come together in the mining basin.

August 25, 1936.

The Republican council of Nerva surrenders.

The mayor, along with 200 other people, flees.

In the mining town there are only widows, orphans

and women victims of terror.

The troops leave women raped and shaved heads.

200 murdered.

In Nerva you can find

the largest mass grave of the Civil War in a rural environment.

More than 1,400 shots were thrown.

More than 500 corpses remain to be excavated.

The director of the newspaper La Provincia de Huelva

It's Bartolome Aragon.

He is also the head of Press and Propaganda for the Falange in the city.

Cheers, courageous youth of the Falange!

I congratulate you for knowing how to alternate

the rifle with the book and with the word,

to offer them to the holocaust in Spain.

In Italy and Germany, students serve the Fatherland

through the rifle and the book.

Like Falange, with its motto

“Book and rifle, Falangist in profile!”

The Requetés of Huelva organize the Via Crucis, under the motto:

''God for the salvation of Spain''.

There will be those who think that the act of burning

what is being done tonight by imported Falangees.

For remembering a recent burning of Berlin's Reichstag Square.

We have to tell you that you don't know the best of our literature:

Don Quixote.

The burning that the Curay the Barber performs.

“The Barber ordered them to give him those books.

One by one...

To see what they were about,

for they could find some who did not need the punishment of fire.

No! said the niece.

There is no reason to forgive anyone.

Because everyone has been the offender.

Better throw them out the windows, and set them on fire!”

Bartolomé Aragón is claimed

to rejoin his teaching position in Salamanca.

Aragon arrives five weeks later

of the confrontation between Unamuno and Millán-Astray.

During his time as a rearguard in Salamanca,

Aragon combines teaching

with the purge of university teachers.

Of those last weeks of the year, one day will mark the life of Aragon.

December 31, 1936.

It's striking that he barely talked about it.

The version of Unamuno's death

It is written by Loscertales according to the testimony of Aragón.

Not the witness himself.

Aragon's statements are confusing and sometimes contradictory.

Let's try to reconstruct what happened on December 31,

through verified data and statements,

next to official documents.

Bartolomé Aragón and the Rector of the university, Esteban Madruga,

they meet to have a coffee before the visit they are going to make to Unamuno.

Madruga is a close friend of Don Miguel.

Young Aragón is going to accompany him.

She hasn't been to the writer's house.

There is no record, as the official account suggests,

that Aragón went regularly to visit Unamuno.

According to Aragón, the afternoon of the last day of the year

he wants to show Unamuno a copy of the newspaper he ran in Huelva.

In another version,

he says he wanted to give him a study on Italian fascism.

At the last minute,

Esteban Madruga does not go with Aragón to his appointment.

She has to attend a funeral.

Aurelia, the servant, receives Bartolomé.

At that moment, Maria is at the neighbor's house.

Felisa and Miguelín are watching the Christmas nativity scenes in the city.

Aurelia leads Bartolomé to Unamuno's study.

He leaves them alone.

Aurelia has to prepare New Year's Eve dinner.

After a while, Aurelia hears Unamuno yelling from the kitchen.

She goes outside to see what's going on,

but calm returns and he returns to his work.

A sudden scream alerts Aurelia again.

Bartolomé Aragón, beside himself, shouts:

“I didn't kill him!”

Aurelia and María, Unamuno's daughter, arrive at the studio.

The three move the limp body of don Miguel to a sofa.

Felisa returns to the house.

Hey screaming.

Hurry up.

A young man she doesn't know yells.

Aragón recounts that Unamuno gently inclined his head,

as if sleeping.

And that he realized his death

because of the burning smell of the shoe.

Shortly a doctor arrives who certifies his death.

According to family members and witnesses, it occurs between 6:00 p.m. and 6:30 p.m.

That same afternoon,

a burial certificate is issued in the parish.

The document changes the time of death given by the witnesses.

5:00 p.m.

This document cannot be obtained

without previously having the Death Certificate from the Civil Registry.

Dr. Núñez was a friend of Unamuno and Casto Prieto,

the assassinated mayor.

The doctor had been a Republican alderman.

On December 5th, he receives a large fine.

He is a man under the yoke of the rebels.

Dr. Núñez is a prestigious surgeon.

The opinion offered by the death of Unamuno

It is impossible to give them without performing an autopsy.

No autopsy was ever performed.

A bulbar hemorrhage is a type of intracranial hemorrhage.

Today and already in the thirties,

when an intracranial hemorrhage causes sudden death,

is included in the legal concept

of “criminal suspicious death.”

So a judicial autopsy has to be performed.

It is possible to produce this bleeding with little or no external signs.

Given the state of anxiety in which Bartolomé Aragón finds himself,

The doctor recommends that he leave.

Aragón locks himself in his hotel room.

That same night, according to his version,

type the circumstances of Unamuno's death.

And he delivers the document to Ramos Loscertales,

who has come to the hotel to see the young man.

This is the information that will appear published on January 16, 1937.

16 days after the death of Unamuno.

The next day in the morning,

January 1,

The Death Certificate is drawn up in court.

Bartolomé Aragón does not go to court nor does he sign as a witness.

Neither are any of the relatives.

The witness to the record is unknown to the family.

Figure as time of death four in the afternoon,

before Bartolomé Aragón

would have arrived at Unamuno's home.

The death certificate is signed

by the judge at 10:50 in the morning on January 1st.

Ten minutes before

that urgent acts be carried out in honor of the deceased.

According to the law of the time,

a minimum of 24 hours had to elapse

from death to burial.

Why the rush on New Year's Eve and the first day of the year?

The night of the 31st he was at home, already dead.

Some relatives came, my father for example,

they told him, he was in Palencia.

And they arrived at the wake.

The next day, already in the morning,

suddenly, without warning, some Falangists showed up,

acquaintances, Fleta, etc...

they grabbed the coffin and took it away without further ado.

Without asking permission from anyone, or making any comments.

Then there were the famous scenes of the cemetery, the exit...

all that fascist demonstration,

organized and quite prepared.

And then my cousin, who was 7 years old

he got scared, and I think he was saying:"they're going to throw him into the river"...

what my aunt Felisa said, who lived with him.

That's what I know.

It was a robbery.

Violent, and without asking permission.

They held him to the end.

Not only from the body but from the use...

propaganda, trying to present him as a fascist.

That's all, which is a lot.