The Spanish Civil War - pg. 77

The fascist and military attitude to intellectuals showed itself to be one of deep distrust at the least, and usually consisted of an inarticulate reaction mixing hate, fear and contempt. The most famous victim of 1936 was undoubtedly the poet, Federico Garcia Lorca. Lorca had returned to his home town of Granada just before the rising. (With the start of the summer holidays many on both sides were saved or killed simply by their travel plans.) He realized immediately that he was in danger because of his liberal sympathies even though he belonged
to no party. His brother-in-law, the socialist mayor, and five of the university's professors had been shot in the first days. Yet even taking refuge with an old friend in the Falange did not save him. On 16 August he was arrested by a former CEDA deputy, Ruiz Alonso, who later
asserted that Lorca 'did more damage with his pen than others with their guns'. He was condemned on the orders of the new governor, Colonel Valdes Guzman, the commander of the Falangist militia. The precise details of his execution on 19 August remain unclear, but members of the CEDA group, Popular Action, claimed responsibility. H. G. Wells, the president of PEN, demanded details on the fate of Lorca as soon as the news reached the outside world, but the Nationalist authorities denied knowing what had happened to him. Lorca's death
remained a forbidden subject in Spain until the death of Franco in 1975.