Manuel Muñoz Martínez facts for kids

Manuel Muñoz Martínez (born March 13, 1888 – died December 1, 1942) was a Spanish army officer and a Republican politician. He served as a diputado (which means a member of parliament) in the Spanish parliament, called the Cortes, during the Second Spanish Republic. After the Spanish Civil War ended in 1939, he escaped to France. However, he was later sent back to Francoist Spain by the French government at the time, known as Vichy France. He was then put on trial and died there.

Manuel Muñoz Martínez's Life Story

Manuel Muñoz Martínez was born in Chiclana de la Frontera. His father, Agustín Muñoz Rodríguez, was a soldier and a local judge. Manuel decided to join the army too. He trained at the Academia de Infantería de Toledo and became a second lieutenant. He was later promoted to lieutenant and then captain.

In 1912, he was hurt during a military operation. After recovering, he went to Madrid to learn about machine guns. During World War I, King Alfonso XIII saw him in action and asked for him to join a special military group that would work with the French army in France.

Manuel married María Dolores Pérez Martín-Arroyo, and they had three children: Manuel, Agustín, and María Dolores. After the war, he continued his army career and became a commander in 1926. He supported a plan in 1926 to try and change the government led by Miguel Primo de Rivera. He was also an active freemason, which is a member of a social and charitable organization.

His Time in Politics

When the monarchy (rule by a king or queen) ended in Spain, Manuel Muñoz Martínez became involved in politics. He worked with the Partido Republicano Autónomo in Cádiz. When the Second Spanish Republic began, he helped create the Partido Republicano Radical-Socialista. He was elected as a diputado (parliament member) for Cádiz.

Over time, he joined different political groups, including the Partido Radical Socialista Autónomo and later the Partido Republicano Radical Socialista Independiente. In 1934, he was chosen for the Consejo Nacional de Izquierda Republicana, a national council. In February 1936, he was elected as a diputado again for Cádiz, this time with the Izquierda Republicana party, which was part of a larger group called the Frente Popular (Popular Front). He was not seen as a very famous politician.

Head of General Security

In July 1936, Manuel Muñoz Martínez took over as the head of the Dirección General de Seguridad (DGS), which was like the main security and police department. This happened because the previous director resigned when the government struggled to keep public order.

The DGS building was almost empty, and Muñoz felt that the police forces were not reliable. Political parties and unions were doing their own searches, arrests, and sometimes even killings. To try and bring some order, Muñoz and the new Interior Minister, Sebastián Pozas Perea, decided to ask left-wing parties and unions for help.

They created the Comité Provincial de Investigación Pública (CPIP) on August 4. This committee was made up of about thirty left-wing politicians and union members. They acted like temporary police officers with special permission from the DGS. However, some members refused to work with regular police and wanted to make security decisions on their own.

During this time, many people who were arrested were later taken from prisons and killed by groups that were supposed to be replaced by the CPIP. These killings of prisoners were called sacas. Muñoz tried to get help from the leaders of the Confederación Nacional del Trabajo (CNT), a large union, to bring order, but he was not successful.

He then organized two armed groups under the CPIP. These groups, called Los Linces de la Republica ('the Lynxes of the Republic') and the Escuadrilla del Amanecer ('Dawn Squad'), were mostly made up of 'Assault Guards' and were supposed to be under his control.

During this period, his hometown of Chiclana was under attack. His father was told to leave government buildings. Eight of Muñoz's family members stayed with a friend before they were arrested and put in prison, first in Cádiz and then in Seville.

Challenges with Moving Prisoners

On August 11, some anarchists found out that hundreds of right-wing prisoners were being moved by train from a crowded prison in Jaén to a prison in Alcalá de Henares. The governor of Jaén wanted to move them to avoid more violence against prisoners.

On August 12, another train carrying prisoners was stopped by anarchists. They separated the train cars and set up machine guns. The Guardia Civil (police) on duty were told to leave, and they got permission from Muñoz to do so. After they left, many prisoners were killed by the anarchists. Muñoz later said he didn't know about the plan to move prisoners on August 11. He also said he let the Guardia Civil leave to prevent the police from being seen as unable to control armed civilians.

On August 21, Muñoz allowed two CPIP groups to question prisoners at the Cárcel Modelo (Model Prison) in Madrid. This happened because there were rumors that some prisoners were planning to escape. A crowd had gathered outside the prison, demanding that Republic-supporting prisoners be released. Many prisoners inside were abused and robbed. The next day, after an air raid, the crowd and prisoners became more agitated. A machine-gun attack killed some prisoners and injured others. Muñoz tried to get help from political parties to calm the crowd. He also asked the Prime Minister for permission to free common criminals, but many had already been freed by a group leader. Over thirty inmates were then chosen by the militias, questioned, and killed. When Muñoz returned and saw the situation, he went back to his office, saying he was ill.

As Madrid faced more threats from the Nationalist forces, and prisoners were being killed more often, Muñoz approved moving prisoners to Alcalá de Henares in October and November. On November 6, one of the convoys of prisoners was stopped at the village of Paracuellos del Jarama, and many prisoners died there. The killings continued.

That afternoon, the government decided to move to Valencia because they thought Madrid would fall to the Nationalist rebels. A defense committee for the capital was set up. Muñoz's last orders for moving about 8,000 Nationalist prisoners were taken over by Segundo Serrano Poncela, who was acting as the head of the DGS. It's not clear if Muñoz or his deputy signed the original orders, but in the chaos that followed, many prisoners were killed in what became known as the Paracuellos massacres. When Paracuellos del Jarama became overwhelmed, more prisoners were killed at Torrejón de Ardoz. Muñoz's actions during this time have been described as "passive," meaning he didn't do enough to stop the armed groups.

After His Resignation

Manuel Muñoz Martínez left his role as head of security on December 30, 1936. The next day, he was promoted to lieutenant-colonel. After this, he kept a lower profile.

He learned that his father had died during the war. His 16-year-old son, Manolo, also passed away from a lung illness after being in prison for many months. His family was taken to La Línea de la Concepción, where they boarded a British ship. The ship went to the port of Grao in Valencia, but it did not dock. Instead, his remaining family members were exchanged for a sister of a Nationalist general and the children of some important noble families.

He went to Barcelona with his family. There, he became the chairman of the board of directors for the Banco de Bilbao, a bank. He also represented his political party, Izquierda Republicana, in a group that dealt with other Republican parties.

Life in Exile and His Death

In 1939, Manuel Muñoz Martínez became a political refugee and went to France with his family, first stopping in Perpignan. His cousin helped him. In Paris, plans for his family to travel to Mexico did not work out. His family returned to Spain from southern France because the refugee camps were full. Manuel stayed in Paris with a relative of a Spanish philosopher.

In June 1940, before Nazi Germany occupied Paris, he hid in a castle in Brittany. He was arrested there by German military police on October 14, 1940, because the Spanish police asked them to. He was taken to the Santé prison in Paris, where he stayed for almost a year.

In January 1942, a court in Paris agreed to send him back to Spain. This decision was approved by Maréchal Pétain in April. The German police handed him over to the Spanish authorities on August 26, 1942. Two days later, he gave a statement to the Brigada Político Social de Madrid, which was the secret police of the new Spanish government.

He was accused of being involved in the Paracuellos massacres and other killings of right-wing people. He was also accused of being a "high-degree freemason," which was true. In September, he was sent to the Cárcel de Torrijos prison. After a trial by a military council, he died at the Cementerio de la Almudena on December 1, 1942.

See also

In Spanish: Manuel Muñoz Martínez para niños