Federico Borrell García (1912 - 1936)

Wed Jan 03, 1912

Image: The famous photo “Death of a Loyalist Soldier” by Robert Capa, showing a fatally shot soldier, thought by some to be Federico Garcia, falling to the ground

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Federico García, born on this day in 1912, was a Spanish anarchist and Republican militiaman who fought in the Spanish Civil War. Some believe him to be the soldier whose death is depicted in the “Death of a Loyalist Soldier”, shown.

Federico Borrell García was born in Benilloba, Spain, and founded a local branch of the anarchist “Iberian Federation of Libertarian Youth” (FIJL). When the Civil War broke out, García joined the local Loyalist militia, the Columna Alcoiana, and fought to defend the Spanish Republic against the Nationalist forces of Francisco Franco.

On September 5th, 1936, Borrell was one of approximately fifty men who arrived at Cerro Muriano in Córdoba to reinforce the militia against Francoist forces commanded by General José Enrique Varela.

Borrell was fatally shot around five o’clock on or near the hill known as La Loma de las Malagueñas. He was identified as the man in the photo by his brother, corroborated by the fact that Spanish government records state was the only member of the Columna Alcoiana to die in the fighting that day.

That García is the man in the photo has been disputed, with at least one documentary, “La sombra del iceberg”, claiming that the picture was staged and that García is not the individual in the picture.

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• Date: 1912-01-03
• Learn More: en.wikipedia.org, libcom.org.
• Tags: #Birthdays, #Anarchism, #Fascism.
• Source: www.apeoplescalendar.org