In the current issue of the New Yorker, a short story about the final days of the Spanish Civil War and a Francoist captain’s decision to surrender to the soon to be defeated Loyalists.
When asked if the heroic deeds of the National Army were his reason for betraying the Fatherland, he replied that they were not, that the real reason was that our objective at that time was not to win the war against the Popular Front.
When asked what our objective was, if not to win the Glorious Crusade, the accused replied, “To kill them.”
After which he was found guilty of treason and collusion with the enemy, and sentenced to death.Both the stamp and the signature are illegible.
The former Captain Alegria had, at last, spoken of the usury of war to his superior officers.
Read First Defeat (1939) by Alberto Mundez.
(Translated from the Spanish by Chris Andrews.)
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