Juan García Oliver (1901 - 1980)

Sun Jan 20, 1901

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Juan García Oliver, born on this day in 1901, was a Spanish anarcho-syndicalist revolutionary, affiliated with the Confederación Nacional del Trabajo (CNT), and Minister of Justice of the Second Spanish Republic.

He was a leading figure of anarchism in Spain and fought on the side of the republic against fascists in the Spanish Civil War. During the war, García organized “People’s War Schools”, set up work camps for political detainees, abolished court fees, and wiped criminal records.

With the end of the Spanish Civil War in 1939, he settled in Sweden, Venezuela, and finally Mexico. In 1978, two years before his death, García Oliver published his autobiography, “El eco de los pasos”.