Melitón Manzanas
Template:Short description Template:Family name hatnote Template:Use dmy dates Script error: No such module "infobox".Script error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters".Script error: No such module "Check for clobbered parameters".Template:Wikidata image Melitón Manzanas González (9 June 1909 – 2 August 1968) was a high-ranking police officer in Francoist Spain, known as a torturer and the first planned victim of ETA.[1][2][3]
Background
Manzanas entered the police force in 1938, in Irun, where he established one of his infamous interrogation centres and collaborated with Nazi Germany[1] — he helped the Gestapo to arrest Jews who were trying to escape from occupied France.[3] He was assigned to Donostia-San Sebastián in 1941, eventually becoming commander of the Brigada Político-Social (BPS), the francoist political police division, in San Sebastián. A Basque himself, he was a vehement opponent of Basque nationalism, which had been revived in the 1960s, and, in particular, to the then fledgling organisation ETA.
Death and aftermath
On 2 August 1968, he was murdered in the first planned killing committed by ETA in response to the killing of Txabi Etxebarrieta.[4][5][6] His killers waited for him at his residence and shot him seven times.[7]
Thirty years after his death, Manzanas was awarded the Medal of Civil Merit dedicated to the victims of terrorism by José María Aznar. Manzanas' service under Franco's regime, the fact that he was known for having used police torture,[1] and the fact that he was not the first torturer rewarded by the Spanish Government raised some controversy about this award.[2][3]
See also
Notes
- ↑ a b c Iglesias, María Antonioa. "Hablan las víctimas de Melitón Manzanas" (The victims of Melitón Manzanas speak), El País, 2001-01-28. Retrieved 2011-10-23.
- ↑ a b "El Gobierno condecora al policía torturador Melitón Manzanas por ser víctima de ETA" (Spanish Government decorates torturer police agent Melitón Manzanas, because he was victim of ETA), El Mundo, 2001-01-20. Retrieved 2011-10-23.
- ↑ a b c "España: no deben tolerarse las recompensas a torturadores" (Spain: rewards to torturers should not be tolerated), Amnesty International. 2001-01-30.
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- 1909 births
- 1968 deaths
- Antisemitism in Spain
- Assassinated police officers
- Deaths by firearm in Spain
- People from Francoist Spain
- People from San Sebastián
- People killed by ETA (separatist group)
- People murdered in Spain
- Spanish collaborators with Nazi Germany
- Spanish military personnel of the Spanish Civil War (National faction)
- Spanish police officers
- Spanish terrorism victims
- Spanish torturers
- Unsolved murders in Spain
- Perpetrators of political repression in the Second Spanish Republic
- Perpetrators of political repression in Francoist Spain
- Prisoners and detainees of Spain
- War criminals of World War II