Instituto Cervantes receives legacy of Manuel Azaña, president of the Second Spanish Republic

The Diplomat The Caja de las Letras of the Instituto Cervantes received this Friday the legacy in memoriam of the former president of the Republic between 1936 and 1939, Manuel Azaña (Alcalá de Henares, 1880-Montauban, 1940). Luis García Montero, director of the Instituto Cervantes; María José Navarro Azaña, grandniece of Manuel Azaña; Isabelo Herreros, writer and journalist, and José Morilla, president of the Foro del Henares, participated in the act. The act was closed by the Minister of Foreign Affairs, José Manuel Albares. Emilio Cassinello, director of the Toledo International Centre for Peace and ambassador of Spain, acted as the witness of honour for the legacy. Also in attendance were Susana Sumelzo, Secretary of State for Latin America and the Caribbean and Spanish in the World, and Carmen Noguero, Secretary General of the Instituto Cervantes. Manuel Azaña, in addition to being one of the great intellectuals of his time, was Minister of War, President of the Council of Ministers (from 1931 to 1933) and the last President of the Second Spanish Republic (from 1936 to 1939). This legacy, which includes, among other documents, a miniature of the historic speech that the writer also gave in Campo de Comillas in 1935 or several first editions of some of his most emblematic works, such as 'El jardín de los frailes' or 'La velada en Benicarló', is part of the 12th edition of the Conference on the life and work of Manuel Azaña, which is being held from this past Thursday, January 9, until next Tuesday, January 14, at the Instituto Cervantes headquarters in Alcalá de Henares (Madrid) and which the Institute is organizing together with the Foro del Henares. In his speech, García Montero claimed the figure of Manuel Azaña as “a fundamental heritage of all Spaniards,” “an indisputable representative of democratic values and the defense of human rights in a very complicated world.” For this reason, he continued, this legacy allows us to remember and recognise Azaña's work as a correspondent from France and Italy during World War I, "with a great feeling of support for the Allies", and as an essayist, a defender of Cervantes, National Literature Prize (1926), president of the Ateneo de Madrid and "a fundamental figure from the head of state in the Second Spanish Republic". "Our present is unthinkable without our memory, and if today instead of peace, mercy, forgiveness", words that Azaña pronounced in one of his symbolic speeches, "we can claim peace, concord and equality, it is because we have known how to inherit the historical commitment of people like Azaña", he added. For this reason, his legacy "is the inheritance of someone who has allowed us, through memory, to transform Spanish society, to become a democratic reference in the world and to feel proud of the country in which we live", he concluded. For his part, José Manuel Albares stated, during the closing ceremony, that “Azaña convinced us that words and reason are the only legitimate tools of politics.” Therefore, “this event is an essential exercise in democratic health at a time when those values that he so defended are under attack.”

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