Francisco Sabaté Llopart
Encyclopedia
L'Hospitalet de Llobregat
L'Hospitalet de Llobregat or briefly L'Hospitalet is a city to the immediate southwest of Barcelona in Catalonia, Spain, and the second largest in Catalonia by population...
, Catalonia
Catalonia
Catalonia is an autonomous community in northeastern Spain, with the official status of a "nationality" of Spain. Catalonia comprises four provinces: Barcelona, Girona, Lleida, and Tarragona. Its capital and largest city is Barcelona. Catalonia covers an area of 32,114 km² and has an...
, Spain
Spain
Spain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula...
– January 5, 1960 Sant Celoni
Sant Celoni
Sant Celoni is a municipality in the comarca of the Vallès Oriental inCatalonia, Spain. It is situated in the valley of the Tordera river between the ranges of Montseny and Montnegre. The main part of the town is on the left bank of the river...
, Catalonia), also known as "El Quico", was a Catalan anarchist involved in the resistance against the Nationalist
Nationalism
Nationalism is a political ideology that involves a strong identification of a group of individuals with a political entity defined in national terms, i.e. a nation. In the 'modernist' image of the nation, it is nationalism that creates national identity. There are various definitions for what...
regime of Francisco Franco
Francisco Franco
Francisco Franco y Bahamonde was a Spanish general, dictator and head of state of Spain from October 1936 , and de facto regent of the nominally restored Kingdom of Spain from 1947 until his death in November, 1975...
.
Biography
At the age of 10 Sabaté escaped his clerical school and by the age of 17, he had joined the anarchist action group Los Novatos ("The rookies"), a part of the Iberian Anarchist FederationFederación Anarquista Ibérica
The Federación Anarquista Ibérica is a Spanish organization of anarchist militants active within affinity groups inside the Confederación Nacional del Trabajo trade union. It is often abbreviated as CNT-FAI because of the close relationship between the two organizations...
(FAI, also known as CNT-FAI because of its close links to the Confederación Nacional del Trabajo
Confederación Nacional del Trabajo
The Confederación Nacional del Trabajo is a Spanish confederation of anarcho-syndicalist labor unions affiliated with the International Workers Association . When working with the latter group it is also known as CNT-AIT...
industrial union). This group was involved in insurrections against the conservative government of the Second Spanish Republic
Second Spanish Republic
The Second Spanish Republic was the government of Spain between April 14 1931, and its destruction by a military rebellion, led by General Francisco Franco....
in late 1933 and fought against the army's coup attempt at the beginning of the Spanish Civil War
Spanish Civil War
The Spanish Civil WarAlso known as The Crusade among Nationalists, the Fourth Carlist War among Carlists, and The Rebellion or Uprising among Republicans. was a major conflict fought in Spain from 17 July 1936 to 1 April 1939...
in July 1936. In 1935 Sabaté refused military service, the beginning of his life outside the law. Also in this year, Los Novatos carried out its first robbery (characterised by the group as "exproprations") to fund a prison relief group.
During the Civil War, Sabaté fought on the Aragon front with the CNT-FAI's "Young Eagles Column". When this division was forcibly assigned a Stalinist commissar
Commissar
Commissar is the English transliteration of an official title used in Russia from the time of Peter the Great.The title was used during the Provisional Government for regional heads of administration, but it is mostly associated with a number of Cheka and military functions in Bolshevik and Soviet...
who crushed the democracy and free initiative of the column, Sabaté and two of his comrades shot him dead and deserted to Barcelona
Barcelona
Barcelona is the second largest city in Spain after Madrid, and the capital of Catalonia, with a population of 1,621,537 within its administrative limits on a land area of...
where they carried out many missions on behalf of the FAI against the Stalinist authorities. Eventually Sabaté was arrested by the Communists, but with the help of his wife, he with a few other comrades managed a recklessly daring prison break. When the war ended he was in the 216th Division ("Durruti Column
Durruti Column
The Durruti Column was the largest anarchist column formed during the Spanish Civil War . During the first months of the war it has come to be the most recognized and popular military organisations fighting at the republican side...
") that crossed the French border. In France during World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
, he spent time in concentration camps and fought with the Maquis
Maquis (World War II)
The Maquis were the predominantly rural guerrilla bands of the French Resistance. Initially they were composed of men who had escaped into the mountains to avoid conscription into Vichy France's Service du travail obligatoire to provide forced labour for Germany...
resistance against the Vichy regime.
After the end of the War, Sabaté returned to Spain to carry on resistance activities against Franco's
Francisco Franco
Francisco Franco y Bahamonde was a Spanish general, dictator and head of state of Spain from October 1936 , and de facto regent of the nominally restored Kingdom of Spain from 1947 until his death in November, 1975...
regime. His first action was the freeing of three anarchists from police custody. In large part these took the form of further robberies from wealthy businessmen and large banks to fund anarchist activities. He also attempted many successful assassination attempts against Falangist notables and Civil Guard
Civil Guard
The Civil Guard , often abbreviated in Hebrew to Mash'az is a volunteer organization of Israeli citizens which assists in daily police work. It is a subdivision of the Israel Police.-Organization:...
members. After attempting to assassinate a police commissioner, accidentally attacking the wrong car, killing its occupants, Quico fled back to France, but was arrested and jailed for six years. He was often described as having been the regime's "Public Enemy Number One" during this time. In 1960, at the age of 45, he was finally killed in Sant Celoni
Sant Celoni
Sant Celoni is a municipality in the comarca of the Vallès Oriental inCatalonia, Spain. It is situated in the valley of the Tordera river between the ranges of Montseny and Montnegre. The main part of the town is on the left bank of the river...
by the Somaten (a Catalan paramilitary
Paramilitary
A paramilitary is a force whose function and organization are similar to those of a professional military, but which is not considered part of a state's formal armed forces....
organisation, then mainly formed of Francoist fascists) and the Civil Guard
Civil Guard
The Civil Guard , often abbreviated in Hebrew to Mash'az is a volunteer organization of Israeli citizens which assists in daily police work. It is a subdivision of the Israel Police.-Organization:...
, along with four companions.
Popular culture
The character played by Gregory PeckGregory Peck
Eldred Gregory Peck was an American actor.One of 20th Century Fox's most popular film stars from the 1940s to the 1960s, Peck continued to play important roles well into the 1980s. His notable performances include that of Atticus Finch in the 1962 film To Kill a Mockingbird, for which he won an...
in the film Behold A Pale Horse
Behold a Pale Horse (film)
Behold a Pale Horse is a 1964 film directed by Fred Zinnemann, and starring Gregory Peck, Omar Sharif and Anthony Quinn. The film is based on the novel Killing a Mouse on Sunday by Emeric Pressburger, which loosely details the life of the Spanish anarchist guerrilla, Francisco Sabaté Llopart. The...
is loosely based on Sabaté.
Sources
- Beevor, Antony (2006). The Battle for Spain: The Spanish Civil War 1936-1939, Penguin Books, ISBN 014303765X.
- Antonio TéllezAntonio TéllezAntonio Téllez Solá was a Spanish anarchist, journalist and historian.He fought on the Republican side against Francisco Franco in the Spanish Civil War. At the war's end in 1939, he went into exile in France...
, Sabaté: Guerrilla Extraordinary ISBN 1-902593-10-3 - Antonio TéllezAntonio TéllezAntonio Téllez Solá was a Spanish anarchist, journalist and historian.He fought on the Republican side against Francisco Franco in the Spanish Civil War. At the war's end in 1939, he went into exile in France...
, The Anarchist Resistance to Franco ISBN 1-873605-65-X - Biography at libcom.org