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Title
Testimony of Luis Pérez Lara, interview with Scott Boehm and Jessica Plautz; January 15-27, 2009
Contributor
Boehm, Scott
Plautz, Jessica
Pérez Lara, Luis, 1936-
Asociación de Ex-presos y Represaliados Políticos
Asociación para la Recuperación de la Memoria Histórica
Federación Estatal de Foros por la Memoria
University of California, San Diego
Date Created and/or Issued
January 15-27, 2009
Contributing Institution
UC San Diego, Special Collections and Archives
Collection
Spanish Civil War Memory Project
Rights Information
Under copyright
Constraint(s) on Use: This work is protected by the copyright law. Use of this work beyond that allowed by the applicable copyright statute requires written permission of the copyright holder(s). Responsibility for obtaining permissions and any use and distribution of this work rests exclusively with the user and not the UC San Diego Library. Inquiries can be made to the UC San Diego Library program having custody of the work.
Use: This work is available from the UC San Diego Library. This digital copy of the work is intended to support research, teaching, and private study.
Rights Holder and Contact
Pérez Lara, Luis, 1936-
Description
Pérez Lara was born in Madrid on Aug. 12, 1936. His father was a member of the Communist Party and joined the republican forces soon after the outbreak of hostilities. During the Spanish Civil War Pérez lived with his maternal grandmother in the small town of Orusco de Tajuña, outside of Madrid. In 1942 his father was incarcerated. Eventually his father became an exile in France, remaining active in underground work for the Communist Party. Pérez's mother was persecuted in Spain after the war, suffered greatly during the Francoist period, and died young. After the war, essentially an orphan, Pérez was labeled an "hijo de rojo, " and consequently he was unfairly singled out by teachers for special humiliations and punishments. Between the ages of 9 and 14 he worked on a farm, never receiving wages from his employer beyond room and board. As a young man he moved to Madrid, worked in a produce shop, and enjoyed a taste of independence. For his military service he was assigned to Alcalá de Henares. As one of the few literate men in the unit he was put on office duty (by his account 85% of the men were illiterate). He convinced his superior to allow him to organize literacy classes for his fellow soldiers. In the 1950s he reunited with his father in Paris. With his father's help Pérez found a job at a Citroën factory. Already involved with the Communist Party , Perez read widely and became ever more engaged politically. He gives some account of the Spanish exile community in Paris in the 1950s, their hopes and efforts. He also engaged in underground political work in Spain, such as smuggling anti-Franco propaganda across the border. Eventually he returned to Spain permanently to work as an underground militant for the Communist Party. By 1965 he became a member of the Central Committee of the Communist Party in Spain. Pérez describes how propaganda was printed on small stencil presses, and then distributed in creative ways during the Franco era. In one instance he devised a special balance weighted with a slowly leaking bucket of water in order to delay a large stack of bulletins from dropping from the Torre Madrid skyscraper. In April of 1967 he was detained by Francoist authorities and tortured by the infamous Roberto Conesa. Sentenced to thirteen years and a day, he was sent to Carabanchel prison. He was released after seven years. Pérez describes life at Carabanchel, the organization of communists inside the prison, the extraordinary level and range of courses available there, amounting to a "University of Carabanchel." In prison he created his own daily newspaper which was a handwritten summary of the previous night's radio news. Two days after his release in December 1973 Pérez found himself near the scene of the ETA car bombing that killed Luis Carrero Blanco. He gives a brief account of the transition to democracy in the late 1970s, including the first elections, and his work with the Communist Party. During this period Pérez campaigned for the Party in the province of Zamora, among other places. In the 1980s he traveled internationally for Party business, including to Iraq, North Korea and the Soviet Union. More recently he has been very active with the founding and running of a cultural center in Madrid, the Centro Cultural Blas de Otero
Pérez Lara nació en Madrid el 12 de agosto de 1936. Su padre era miembro del Partido Comunista y se incorporó a las fuerzas republicanas poco después del estallido de las hostilidades. Durante la Guerra Civil, Pérez vivía con su abuela materna en el pequeño pueblo de Orusco de Tajuña, en las afueras de Madrid. En 1942 su padre fue encarcelado y luego se exilió en Francia. Su padre permaneció activo en el trabajo clandestino para el Partido Comunista. La madre de Pérez fue perseguida en España después de la guerra, sufrió mucho durante el período franquista y murió joven. Después de la guerra, esencialmente un huérfano, Pérez fue etiquetado como un "hijo de rojo.” Por lo tanto, los maestros lo señalaron injustamente para humillaciones y castigos especiales. Entre los 9 y los 14 años, trabajó en una granja y nunca recibió salarios de su empleador más allá de alojamiento y comida. De joven se mudó a Madrid, trabajó en una tienda de productos agrícolas y disfrutó del sabor de la independencia. Para su servicio militar fue destinado a Alcalá de Henares. Como uno de los pocos hombres alfabetizados en la unidad, fue puesto en funciones de oficina (según su relato al 85% de los hombres eran analfabetos). Convenció a su superior para que le permitiera organizar clases de alfabetización para sus compañeros soldados. En la década de 1950 se reencuentra con su padre en París. Con la ayuda de su padre, Pérez encontró trabajo en una fábrica de Citroën. Ya involucrado con el Partido Comunista, Pérez leyó mucho y se comprometió cada vez mós políticamente. Da cuenta de la comunidad de exiliados españoles en París en la década de 1950 y de sus esperanzas y esfuerzos. También se dedicó al trabajo político clandestino en España, como el contrabando de propaganda antifranquista a través de la frontera. Finalmente regresó a España para trabajar como militante clandestino del Partido Comunista. En 1965 se convirtió en miembro del Comité Central del Partido Comunista de España. Pérez describe cómo la propaganda se imprimía en pequeñas prensas y luego se distribuía de manera creativa durante la era de Franco. En un caso, ideó una balanza especial que pesaba con un balde de agua que goteaba lentamente para retrasar la caída de una gran pila de boletines del rascacielos Torre Madrid. En abril de 1967 fue detenido por las autoridades franquistas y torturado por el infame Roberto Conesa. Condenado a trece años y un día, fue enviado a la prisión de Carabanchel. Fue puesto en libertad después de siete años. Pérez describe la vida en Carabanchel, la organización de los comunistas dentro de la prisión, el nivel extraordinario de cursos disponibles allí, haciendo del lugar a una "Universidad de Carabanchel". En prisión creó su propio diario, que era un resumen manuscrito de las noticias de radio de la noche anterior. Dos días después de su liberación en diciembre de 1973, Pérez se encontraba cerca del lugar del atentado con coche bomba de ETA que mató a Luis Carrero Blanco. Hace un breve recuento de la transición a la democracia a fines de la década de 1970, incluidas las primeras elecciones, y su trabajo con el Partido Comunista. Durante este período Pérez hizo campaña por el Partido en la provincia de Zamora, entre otros lugares. En la década de 1980 viajó internacionalmente por asuntos del Partido, incluso a Irak, Corea del Norte y la Unión Soviética. Más recientemente ha estado muy activo con la fundación y gestión de un centro cultural en Madrid, el Centro Cultural Blas de Otero.
Special Collections & Archives, UC San Diego, La Jolla, 92093-0175 (https://lib.ucsd.edu/sca)
Interviews in Spanish
Pérez Lara's testimony was recorded in Madrid
Testimony of the Spanish Civil War and the Francoist dictatorship
Pérez Lara, Luis. Testimony of the Spanish Civil War and the Francoist Dictatorship. University of California, San Diego, 2009
Madrid, Spain, Spanish Civil War Memory Project
Type
moving image
Format
13 video files : digital, sound, color
Identifier
ark:/20775/bb2253684v
Language
Spanish
Subject
Communism
Exiles
Oral history
Civil War (Spain : 1936-1939)
Nonfiction films
Personal narratives-Spanish
History
Interviews
Political prisoners
Partido Comunista de España
Cárcel de Carabanchel (Madrid, Spain)
Madrid (Spain)
France
Spain
Place
Madrid (Spain)
France
Spain

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