Spanish Civil War Memory Project

Summary

Antonio González Merino was born in 1932 in Montilla. Antonio comments that when the Civil War began, his father left to organize a Republican peasant resistance and later joined the front. He remembers that when the war ended his father was exiled in France, formed part of a battalion of workers in service of France, was captured by German forces, and was taken to the Mauthausen concentration camp where he died in 1942. Antonio details the hunger, suffering, and marginalization that characterized his childhood as the son of a rojo (red). He recalls moving to Barcelona at age twenty-four, working for Siemens Industry, and joining the Communist Party. Antonio narrates being fired in 1962 for participating in a seven-day strike with three thousand workers. He recounts becoming a construction worker and later working for Armco for twenty years until his retirement. Antonio relates being detained after leaving a clandestine meeting of Comisiones Obreras (Labor Commissions) in 1967 and being sentenced to three months in prison. He tells of resuming his employment at Armco after his release and becoming a union leader. Antonio describes Franco's regime as a complete prison. He speaks about the Transition and the monarchy. Antonio discusses his experience visiting Mauthausen with his wife in 2005. Antonio explains that his sentiment of rebellion and the unity of his family have helped him survive