Federico Krutwig Sagredo (

Getxo Getxo () (Spanish: ''Guecho'') is a town located in the province of Biscay, in the autonomous community of the Basque Country (autonomous community), Basque Country, in Spain. It is part of Greater Bilbao, and has 75,430 inhabitants (2023). Getxo ...

, 15 May 1921 –

Bilbao Bilbao is a city in northern Spain, the largest city in the Provinces of Spain, province of Biscay and in the Basque Country (greater region), Basque Country as a whole. It is also the largest city proper in northern Spain. Bilbao is the List o ...

, 15 November 1998) was a Spanish

Basque Basque may refer to: * Basques, an ethnic group of Spain and France * Basque language, their language Places * Basque Country (greater region), the homeland of the Basque people with parts in both Spain and France * Basque Country (autonomous co ...

writer, philosopher, politician, and author of several books, with ''Vasconia'' standing out in the political domain for its influence in the early stages of

ETA Eta ( ; uppercase , lowercase ; ''ē̂ta'' or ''ita'' ) is the seventh letter of the Greek alphabet, representing the close front unrounded vowel, . Originally denoting the voiceless glottal fricative, , in most dialects of Ancient Greek, it ...

, and as an advocate of classic Labourdin for the standardization of Basque. He distanced himself from

Sabino Arana Sabino Policarpo Arana Goiri (in Spanish language, Spanish), Sabin Polikarpo Arana Goiri (in Basque language, Basque), or Arana ta Goiri'taŕ Sabin (self-styled) (26 January 1865 – 25 November 1903), was a spaniards, Spanish writer and the ...

's brand of Basque nationalism, emphasizing language instead of race as pivotal for the Basque nation. Along with Felix Likiniano, he tried to create some resistance to Franco's dictatorial regime after the

Spanish Civil War The Spanish Civil War () was a military conflict fought from 1936 to 1939 between the Republican faction (Spanish Civil War), Republicans and the Nationalist faction (Spanish Civil War), Nationalists. Republicans were loyal to the Left-wing p ...

. The thought of both authors, melding

Basque nationalism Basque nationalism ( ; ; ) is a form of nationalism that asserts that Basques, an ethnic group indigenous to the western Pyrenees, are a nation and promotes the political unity of the Basques, today scattered between Spain and France. Since ...

and anarchism gave birth to a minor political current known as ''Anarko abertzalism'' ( Anarcho-independentism), which eventually merged within the hybrid of

Marxism Marxism is a political philosophy and method of socioeconomic analysis. It uses a dialectical and materialist interpretation of historical development, better known as historical materialism, to analyse class relations, social conflict, ...

and

Anarchism Anarchism is a political philosophy and Political movement, movement that seeks to abolish all institutions that perpetuate authority, coercion, or Social hierarchy, hierarchy, primarily targeting the state (polity), state and capitalism. A ...

known as

Autonomism Autonomism or ''autonomismo'', also known as autonomist Marxism or autonomous Marxism, is an anti-capitalist social movement and Marxist-based theoretical current that first emerged in Italy in the 1960s from workerism (). Later, post-Marxist ...

Biography

Federico Krutwig was born on 15 May 1921 in

, the son of a

bourgeois The bourgeoisie ( , ) are a class of business owners, merchants and wealthy people, in general, which emerged in the Late Middle Ages, originally as a "middle class" between the peasantry and Aristocracy (class), aristocracy. They are tradition ...

family of German origin. He taught himself the Basque language. He joined the Basque-Language Academy in 1943, where he favoured the standardisation of Basque around the Labourdine dialect of the first printed books in Basque, and with an etymological orthography. However, the academy preferred the Guipuscoan dialect as the basis of

Standard Basque Standard Basque () is a standardised version of the Basque language, developed by the Basque Language Academy in the late 1960s, which nowadays is the most widely and commonly spoken Basque-language version throughout the Basque Country. Heavil ...

. Krutwig's Basque language standardisation proposal was not to be applied beyond the members of the ''Jakintza Baitha'' ("House of Knowledge") Hellenophile society. In 1952, after rejecting joining the Basque-Language Academy, and after his criticisms of the position of the

Catholic Church The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwid ...

in reference to the Basque language, he went into exile in France. Once in Donibane-Lohizune he contacted members of the movement . In 1963 he edited the book , in which he questioned part of the traditional Basque nationalism of Sabino Arana and proposed a new

. Krutwig collaborated with ex-militants of EGI and theorized about the use of violence for political purposes. In 1964 he was expelled from France and moved to Brussels, Belgium. Here he made contact with members of

. He elaborated some memoranda for ETA's V at Guethary, and put ETA in contact with the Czech weapon industry.
Federico Krutwig
at the Spanish-language

Auñamendi Encyclopedia The Auñamendi Encyclopedia is the largest encyclopedia of Basque Basque may refer to: * Basques, an ethnic group of Spain and France * Basque language, their language Places * Basque Country (greater region), the homeland of the Basque peopl ...

, by

Idoia Estornés Zubizarreta Idoia Estornés Zubizarreta (Santiago de Chile, 28 November 1940) is a Chilean-born Spanish historian and writer. She was honored with the "Premio Literario de Ensayo Euskadi" in 1988 and the in 2014. Early life and education Idoia Estornés Zubi ...

and Félix Ibargutxi Otermin.'' In 1975 he abandoned ETA and established his residency back in Spain in

Zarauz Zarautz (, ) is a coastal town located in central Gipuzkoa, Basque Country, in Spain. It is bordered by Aia to the east and the south and Getaria, Gipuzkoa, Getaria to the west, located about west of San Sebastián, Donostia/San Sebastián. It ha ...

, to dedicate himself exclusively to literary production. His main writings are: * (1963): Published initially under the pseudonym of ''Fernando Sarrailh de Ihartza'', in which Krutwig describes an ideal Greater Basqueland comprising all the supposedly historical territories, from the

Garonne The Garonne ( , ; Catalan language, Catalan, Basque language, Basque and , ; or ) is a river that flows in southwest France and northern Spain. It flows from the central Spanish Pyrenees to the Gironde estuary at the French port of Bordeaux � ...

to the

Ebro The Ebro (Spanish and Basque ; , , ) is a river of the north and northeast of the Iberian Peninsula, in Spain. It rises in Cantabria and flows , almost entirely in an east-southeast direction. It flows into the Mediterranean Sea, forming a de ...

rivers. * (''The New Europe'', 1976): In this essay Krutwig extends his ideas on Greater Vasconia to Western Europe, claiming and hoping for an "internal

decolonization Decolonization is the undoing of colonialism, the latter being the process whereby Imperialism, imperial nations establish and dominate foreign territories, often overseas. The meanings and applications of the term are disputed. Some scholar ...

" of the continent and proposing what could be grossly taken as the

Europe of the Regions The European Union created a Committee of the Regions to represent Regions of Europe as the layer of EU government administration directly below the nation-state level. The committee has its headquarters in Brussels. Reasons given for this incl ...

. * (''Garaldea: On the origin of Basques and their relation to Guanches'', 1978): In this, maybe his most scientific and serious essay, Krutwig studies the origins of the Basques and explores a hypothetical (land of "we are" or land of the flame), extending at some time in the past through all Western Europe and the

Mediterranean The Mediterranean Sea ( ) is a sea connected to the Atlantic Ocean, surrounded by the Mediterranean basin and almost completely enclosed by land: on the east by the Levant in West Asia, on the north by Anatolia in West Asia and Southern ...

basin. In the annexes, he analyzes transcriptions of

Guanche Guanche may refer to: *Guanches, the indigenous people of the Canary Islands *Guanche language, an extinct language, spoken by the Guanches until the 16th or 17th century *''Conus guanche ''Conus guanche'' is a species of sea snail, a marine ga ...

(native

Canarian Canary Islanders, or Canarians (), are the people of the Canary Islands, an autonomous community of Spain near the coast of Northwest Africa. The distinctive variety of the Spanish language spoken in the region is known as ''habla canaria'' (Ca ...

) and

Pictish Pictish is an extinct Brittonic Celtic language spoken by the Picts, the people of eastern and northern Scotland from late antiquity to the Early Middle Ages. Virtually no direct attestations of Pictish remain, short of a limited number of geog ...

inscriptions, concluding that their two extinct languages are not just related to Basque but that they are the very same tongue. This daring claim has not been corroborated by anyone so far, and nearly all specialists in the subject consider it erroneous. * (''The New Vasconia'', 1979): a substantially enlarged re-edition of , after the death of Franco. * (1984) He spoke and read several ancient and modern languages. He translated works of

Goethe Johann Wolfgang (von) Goethe (28 August 1749 – 22 March 1832) was a German polymath who is widely regarded as the most influential writer in the German language. His work has had a wide-ranging influence on Western literature, literary, Polit ...

and

Mao Zedong Mao Zedong pronounced ; traditionally Romanization of Chinese, romanised as Mao Tse-tung. (26December 18939September 1976) was a Chinese politician, revolutionary, and political theorist who founded the People's Republic of China (PRC) in ...

into Basque. Krutwig died in Bilbao in 1998.

Influence

The Basque folk group released an album featuring collaborations with Canarian musicians. While staying in

Aosta Valley The Aosta Valley ( ; ; ; or ), officially the Autonomous Region of Aosta Valley, is a mountainous Regions of Italy#Autonomous regions with special statute, autonomous region in northwestern Italy. It is bordered by Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes, Fr ...

in the 1970s, he came into contact with , who was inspired by his ideology to create the first Arpitan movement, which Josèf (or Joseph/Giuseppe) called "Harpitan" spoken in the idealised country of " Harpitanya".

References

*
Apuntes sobre la vida de Federico Krutwig Sagredo
' by Maria Agirre *
Computer Shock·a Euskari.a +2001. Urthea
', Basque translation of Krutwig's "Computer Shock Vasconia Año 2001" by Arima −23/11/14 43°19′17′′N 1°59′8′′W

Sources

* Sudupe, Pako 2011: ''50eko hamarkadako euskal literatura I. Hizkuntza eta ideologia eztabaidak'', Donostia, Utriusque Vasconiae. * Sudupe, Pako 2011: ''50eko hamarkadako euskal literatura II. Kazetaritza eta saiakera'', Donostia, Utriusque Vasconiae. * Sudupe, Pako 2012: "Ideologia eztabaidak 50eko hamarkadan" in Alaitz Aizpuru (koord.), ''Euskal Herriko pentsamenduaren gida'', Bilbo, UEU.

External links

Comprehensive bibliography of Federico Krutwig
{{DEFAULTSORT:Krutwig, Federico 1921 births 1998 deaths People from Getxo Spanish people of German descent Basque writers Spanish male writers Basque-language writers Spanish anarchists Spanish revolutionaries ETA (separatist group) activists Spanish male essayists Spanish essayists 20th-century essayists