Barcelona anarchist bought Chelsea flat with proceeds of 1936 war crimes

I haven’t seen Entre el roig i el negre (“Between red and black”) yet, but hope to soon. It’s the diary, apparently genuine, of one of the anarcho-syndicalist gunmen who, when war broke out in July 1936, set out to exterminate the clergy and the Catalan upper middle class, virtually none of whom had anything to do with the military rebellion. These terrorist gangsters–Buenaventura Durruti’s new world in their hearts and large quantities of loot in their trucks–are excused (when they are not glossed over) in the standard, left-leaning histories as chaotic incontrolats, but this book appears to add to evidence that this was not at all the case. It seems that the gent in question managed to crate a considerable proportion of his new-found wealth over to London, and attempts are being made now to restitute to victims’ relatives articles he did not fence via his British International Brigade business partner. The Vanguardia review is here (Spanglish) and the (better) Avui one here (cat-got-your-tongue?). (Thanks to TA for the info.)

Trevor @ 18 May 2005 5:33 PM

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1. kalebeul » Entre el roig i el negre
   12:52 PM on 9 June 2005

   [...]
   Last night someone passed me, and I speed-read, Entre el roig i el negre (previous ref), a historical nove [...]

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