page_title: Republican repression in Madrid (1936–1939)
section_title: Protagonists
hierarchical_section_title: Republican repression in Madrid (1936–1939) / Protagonists
caption_attribution_description: Español: Fotografía del político español Ángel Galarza publicada en 1931 ilustrando un artículo sobre parlamentarios juristas
context_page_description: The Republican repression in Madrid of 1936–1939 was a series of measures applied against the presumed enemies of the Second Spanish Republic. Repressive actions were organised by state services, party militias and hybrid structures. Some activities were carried out as part of legal procedures and might have involved various judiciary, but others remained on the verge of legal framework or clearly beyond it. Legally-sanctioned repressive actions included execution, expropriations, fines, dismissal, jail, relocation, forced labour or loss of civil rights. Extrajudicial violence included execution, rape, mutilation, torture, humiliation, incarceration, destruction or the takeover of property. The climax of repressions took place in 1936, but they continued also during the following years. Their total scale remains unclear; fragmentary figures indicate that one institution detained at least 18,000 people in 1936. The number of the executed is disputed; two personal lists produced contain around 9,000 and around 11,500 names. Historians do not agree on most issues related to the Civil War repressions, including the ones of Madrid in 1936-1939.
context_section_description: During the first few weeks of the war the person responsible for public order in Republican Spain was Sebastián Pozas Perea, the Minister of Interior; scarcely involved in local Madrid issues, he nevertheless demonstrated complacency towards the revolutionary groupings. His second in command, the DSG head José Alonso Mallol, tried to preserve integrity of state structures yet overwhelmed by events, he resigned on July 31, 1936. His replacement was Manuel Muñoz Martínez, who since early September reported already to the new minister, Angel Galarza Gago. The two remained key public order officials in Madrid until early November 1936, when they left the capital. From this moment onwards both Galarza and Muñoz, but also their successors at ministry and DSG retained less influence over state public order structures in Madrid. Their role was about initiating and overseeing some structural changes, yet implementation and local public order policy remained largely in hands of Junta de Defensa de Madrid (JDM) and later other local bodies.
  JDM was set up in early November 1936; its branch responsible for public order, Consejeria de Orden Público, was assumed by Santiago Carillo Solares and his deputy José Cazorla Mauré. When a month later Carillo left Madrid, it was Cazorla who became the most potent man in security forces of the capital, the post held almost until the dissolution of JDM in April 1937. For a few months various individuals competed for power, like e.g. David Vázquez Baldominos, Cazorla's nominee as inspector general of Madrid police. In the summer of 1937 Gustavo Durán Martínez was appointed head of the Madrid SIM. His tenure lasted few months; in October 1937 he was replaced by Ángel Pedrero García, former deputy head of the Atadell Brigade and a personal Prieto's trustee. Pedrero was the most important man in Madrid policing structures for 17 months; during the Casado coup in March 1939 he greatly assisted the rebels by leading SIM to arrest a number of Communist personalities in Madrid. He left the capital in late March; at that time the key man behind forces of order was Vicente Girauta Liñares, since mid-1938 Comisario General de Seguridad in the province.
  Some individuals rather briefly commanded important public order structures. This was the case of Segundo Serrano Poncela; he headed the DSG Security Council only few weeks, just in time to issue orders to extract prisoners who ended up at Paracuellos. Federico Manzano Govantes first directed MVR and effectively managed the militias manning the Paracuellos extractions; later he moved to SIM. Ramón Rascón Ramírez headed CPIP personal section, sat in DGS council and led its prison department, headed commissions selecting inmates for Paracuellos and left for the front in 1937. Manuel Salgado Moreira vigorously commanded military counter-intelligence at the turn of 1936 and 1937 and organized some spectacular scams, like the false Siam embassy. Julio de Mora Martinez since 1938 supervised the SIM labor camp structure in the province. Benigno Mancebo Martín served as secretary of CPIP and then was member of provincial board which reconstructed new security forces, apart from leading a unit himself. Melchor Rodríguez García was briefly Delegado General de Prisiones and with limited success tried to stop the Paracuellos extractions.
  There are individuals who did not hold top positions in power structures yet made themselves known as particularly efficient when implementing new order. Agapito García Atadell became iconic celebrity as head of CIV squad until he defected in October 1936. Valero Serrano Tagueña and Marcos García Redondo gained names as leaders of Brigada de Amanacer and Los Linces de la República respectively. Carmelo Iglesias Muñoz was particularly active as head of a tribunal in 1936. Felipe Sandoval Cabrerizo worked as member of revolutionary tribunal and squad leader; instrumental during both Modelo and Paracuellos actions, he joined new Seguridad and until 1938 operated as member of Mancebo's unit. Fernando Valenti Fernandez engaged in counter-esp
caption: Ángel Galarza
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