Wednesday, February 15, 2017

Andres de Irujo Ollo

Andres de Irujo Ollo (1907 - 1993) was the son of lawyer Daniel Irujo y Urra, pioneer of Basque nationalism in Navarre and defender of Sabino Arana and the brother of Manuel de Irujo y Pello Irujo .
He joined the Basque Nationalist Party at age 16 and studied Law at Madrid.
Andres de Irujo Ollo was one of the signatories of the "Republican Manifesto" of the Ateneo de Madrid which was headed by Manuel Azana.
At the beginning of the Spanish Civil War he moved to San Sebastián and was named commissioner of the Interior on the Board of Defense and participated in reorganizing the Brigade of Public Order where he was responsible for guarding prisons of Ondarreta and Kursaal, avoiding arbitrary executions. He supervised the orderly evacuation of San Sebastian before the Nationalist columns entered the city.
In 1937 when his brother Manuel was Minister of Justice, he was secretary of the ministry.
Initially he went into exile in France and became there the Basque Government representative. After the German occupation of France, he left for Argentina .
He participated in the founding of the American Institute of Basque Studies and Eusko Kultur Etxea - House of Basque Culture.

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