José Sabín Pérez was an Andalusian anarchist militant who served during 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 ...

Biography

A native of the

Sevillian Seville ( ; , ) is the capital and largest city of the Spanish autonomous community of Andalusia and the province of Seville. It is situated on the lower reaches of the River Guadalquivir, in the southwest of the Iberian Peninsula. Seville ...

town of Carmona, he was a

bricklayer A bricklayer, which is related to but different from a mason, is a craftsperson and tradesperson who lays bricks to construct brickwork. The terms also refer to personnel who use blocks to construct blockwork walls and other forms of maso ...

by profession and a member of the

National Confederation of Labor National may refer to: Common uses * Nation or country ** Nationality – a ''national'' is a person who is subject to a nation, regardless of whether the person has full rights as a citizen Places in the United States * National, Maryland, ce ...

(CNT). After the outbreak of the

he joined the confederal militias, operating in the downtown area. Sabín organized the Spartacus battalion with

anarcho-syndicalist Anarcho-syndicalism is an anarchist organisational model that centres trade unions as a vehicle for class conflict. Drawing from the theory of libertarian socialism and the practice of syndicalism, anarcho-syndicalism sees trade unions as both ...

volunteers, taking part in the defense of Madrid. Later he joined the new

Spanish Republican Army The Spanish Republican Army () was the main branch of the Spanish Republican Armed Forces, Armed Forces of the Second Spanish Republic between 1931 and 1939. It became known as People's Army of the Republic (''Ejército Popular de la República'' ...

. In February 1937 he was appointed commander of the 77th Mixed Brigade, a newly created unit that guarded the subsector of the

University City of Madrid The University City of Madrid (), also called the Campus de Moncloa, is a complex in the Moncloa-Aravaca district of Madrid, Spain, that holds buildings of two universities and several related organizations. The campus was built between 1929 and 1 ...

. The brigade was assigned shortly thereafter to the 16th Division. He left this position in April 1937. Between March and June 1938, he served as commander of the 33rd Division, on the inactive Guadalajara front. On 15 August of that year he received command of the 37th Division of the VII Army Corps, which had been profoundly reorganized after the

battle of Merida pocket The battle of the Mérida pocket, also known as the closing of the Mérida pocket (), was a military engagement which took place during the Spanish Civil War in July 1938 in La Serena zone of Badajoz Province, Extremadura. The Nationalist comm ...

—during which the unit was severely broken. He left command of the division in February 1939. He was captured by the

nationalists Nationalism is an idea or movement that holds that the nation should be congruent with the state. As a movement, it presupposes the existence and tends to promote the interests of a particular nation, Smith, Anthony. ''Nationalism: Theory, Id ...

at the end of the war and was taken prisoner, passing through the

concentration camps A concentration camp is a prison or other facility used for the internment of political prisoners or politically targeted demographics, such as members of national or ethnic minority groups, on the grounds of national security, or for exploit ...

of Los Almendros and Albatera, thus as for various prisons. In 1942, he was

court-martialled A court-martial (plural ''courts-martial'' or ''courts martial'', as "martial" is a postpositive adjective) is a military court or a trial conducted in such a court. A court-martial is empowered to determine the guilt of members of the mili ...

and was sentenced to 30 years in prison.

References

Bibliography

* * * * {{cite book, first= Cristóbal , last= Zaragoza , title= Ejército Popular y Militares de la República, 1936-1939 , publisher= Ed. Planeta , location= Barcelona , year= 1983 , language = es Confederación Nacional del Trabajo members Spanish military personnel of the Spanish Civil War (Republican faction) Anarchists from Andalusia