Grimau García, Julián

Born Feb. 18, 1911, in Madrid; died Apr. 20, 1963. Figure in the Spanish workers’ movement.

By trade a print shop worker, Grimau Garcia was involved in the workers’ movement from the age of 16. From 1936 he was a member of the Communist Party of Spain (CPS). During the National-Revolutionary War of 1936–39 he fought in the ranks of the republican army, and during 1940–47 he worked among Spanish émigrés in Cuba and the Dominican Republic. Grimau García worked in the organization of the Central Committee of the CPS. At the Fifth Congress of the CPS in 1954 he was elected a member of the Central Committee. In 1957 he was sent to Spain to participate directly in the fight against the Franco dictatorship, and in 1962 he was arrested and sent before a military tribunal. Tortured and maimed, Grimau García showed extraordinary courage. Despite the protests of world society, he was executed under the sentence of the Franco court.