Rafael Sánchez Mazas
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Rafael Sánchez Mazas was a Spanish writer and an important leader of Falange, a radical right-wing political movement created in Spain before the Civil War.
Sánchez Mazas was born in Madrid on February 18, 1894, and received a degree in law at the Real Colegio de Estudios Superiores de María Cristina, El Escorial.
In 1915 he published Pequeñas memorias de Tarín. He wrote in the magazine Hermes and in the newspapers ABC, El Sol and El Pueblo Vasco. In 1921 he worked in Morocco as a correspondent for El Pueblo Vasco and in 1922 in Rome for ABC.
Sánchez Mazas lived in Italy for seven years and married Liliana Ferlosio. He identified with the fascist movement that was developing at that time.
Sánchez Mazas returned to Spain in 1929 and became an advisor for José Antonio Primo de Rivera, the main ideologist of Falange. In 1933, he helped to create the weekly newspaper El Fascio, which was quickly banned by the authorities after only two issues were published.
After the creation of Falange Española on October 29, 1933, Sánchez Mazas was appointed a member of the Council, and he remained an active member up until the breakout of the Civil War (July 1936-April 1939). In February 1934, he wrote "Oración por los muertos de Falange". He also co-wrote "Cara al Sol", the anthem of Falange Española.
Sánchez Mazas was arrested and imprisoned in Madrid in March 1936, as Falange was outlawed. He was given a short leave on the occasion of the birth of his fourth son, but he failed to report back and instead took up political asylum at the Embassy of Chile in Madrid. In 1937 he attempted fleeing the country, but was arrested in Barcelona in November. He was confined in the prison-ship Uruguay until January 24, 1939, when he was taken for execution with about 50 other inmates to the Monastery of Santa María del Collel in Girona (Northern Catalonia). The execution was carried out on January 30, but as the squad was firing at the prisoners Sánchez Mazas managed somehow to leap out of the group and run into the forest. A manhunt was organised and Sánchez Mazas was found out hiding under some bushes shortly after. However, the loyalist soldier who found him decided not to report him and spare his life. After a few days Sánchez Mazas joined again the nationalist lines.
In 1940 he was appointed a member of the Real Academia Española de la Lengua, but he failed to attend his inauguration ceremony.
He inherited a fortune and had many political appointments.
Sánchez Mazas died in Madrid on October 1966.
His life story inspired Javier Cercas to write Soldados de Salamina. A movie of the same name was directed by David Trueba. His sons Rafael Sánchez Ferlosio and Chicho Sánches Ferlosio and his grandson Máximo Pradera are known artists.
