Spanish Civil War Memory Project

Summary

Fernando Macarro Castillo was born in Alconada in 1920. He adopted the pseudonym Marcos Ana in prison and began writing poetry as a struggle to liberate political prisoners. Marcos recounts that his parents were poor peasants. His family migrated to Alcalaá de Henares in 1929. He became president of the Juventud Católica (Catholic Youth) and a member of the Juventudes Socialistas Unificadas (Unified Socialist Youth) in 1936. During the Civil War, he enlisted in the Batallón Libertad (Liberty Battalion) to defend the Republic. Marcos relates joining the Communist Party of Spain (PCE) to pay homage to his father who died during Nazi bombings. He details Coronel Casado's coup d'état and the end of the war. Marcos was detained but escaped from the Albatera concentration camp. In 1939, he was arrested, brutally tortured, and sent to the Porlier prison. Marcos received the death sentence for his political activities, was pardoned, condemned for clandestinely creating the newspaper Juventud (Youth) in prison, and incarcerated in the Ocaña and Burgos prisons. He recalls being the first political prisoner supported by Amnesty International and by a widespread campaign in Latin America. He was liberated in 1961 and traveled through Europe and Latin America speaking on behalf of political prisoners in Spain. Marcos comments on the legalization of the PCE, the transition to democracy, and the politics of memory after 2000