A Spanish Republican's Life during The Civil War by Lea RODRIGUEZ

My great-grandfather, Manuel Rodriguez and his family lived in a village with the name of Tembleque near Madrid in Spain. He lived with his parents and his two sisters. They were communists and so, they were against the Franco Regime. Indeed, at this time, after the Civil War in 1939 General Franco established his military dictatorship. He proclaimed himself the Head of State and he had all the powers. What’s more, this regime was based on a conservative and national-catholic ideology, which is symbolized by authoritarian institutions such as a single party, censorship, etc. Then, the regime was against the communists and as it had a national-catholic ideology among others, the church collaborated with the state. So, my family was denounced and my great-grandfather thought that it was knowledge of his family which was a part of the church which denounced them. Soldiers came and fetched them at their home and took them to the square in front of the church, where they were shot with other Spanish opponents of the regime. Fortunately my great-grandfather had time to escape, he wasn’t at their home when they came and he took refuge at a friend’s home. With other Spanish refugees, he managed to cross the border secretly into France then occupied by Hitler and his Nazi Regime. He found refuge in a camp for Spanish refugees in Perpignan. From there he went to live in Chalabre, a small village in L’Aude, where at the age of 24, he met the love of his life, my great-grandmother, Maria Soccol, just arrived from Italy with her two sisters to flee from the Mussolini Regime. One year later, on April 17th, 1945, my grandfather, Hubert Rodriguez was born, followed by his sister, Ines and his brother, Patrice.