The Secretary of State for Democratic Memory, Fernando Martínez, presented today at a press conference held at the National Library the exhibition Azaña: intellectual and statesman. 80 years after his death in exile, which will be open to the public in the library itself until April 4, 2021.
National Library, Madrid
The Government, which has organized an extensive program of activities to commemorate the 80th anniversary of Azaña’s death in exile, has promoted this anniversary, as stressed by the Secretary of State, "in order to recognize the figure and thought of Manuel Azaña, one of the most significant personalities from the intellectual and political point of view of our 20th century." "A personality," he said, "who stands out fundamentally for his ethical commitment and for the quality of his political thinking, hence he has been recognized as a great statesman."
The exhibition on Azaña, curated, in the words of the Secretary of State, "quite rightly, with great wisdom and knowledge by Ángeles Egido and Jesús Cañete" is organized by the Ministry of the Presidency, Relations with the Courts and Democratic Memory through the Secretary of State for Democratic Memory, the National Library of Spain and Spanish Cultural Action (AC/E). The exhibition covers different periods of Azaña’s life: her childhood and youth in Alcalá, her subsequent development in Madrid, and delves into three crucial stages of Spain’s history: the Second Republic, the Civil War and Exile. The exhibition has about two hundred works from both the BNE and other Spanish and foreign institutions.
In his speech, Fernando Martínez highlighted that the commemoration of the anniversary of the death of Azaña goes beyond the exhibition, and recalled that on November 3, coinciding with the date of his death, the Congress of Deputies gave him a homenaj, which had its continuation in Alcalá de Henares, city in which Azaña was born and lived his youth. He also recalled the cycle of debates that took place at the Ateneo de Madrid, "an institution that received a fundamental impulse when Azaña was its secretary" or the talk that took place at the Center for Political and Constitutional Studies and in which the first vice-president of the Government, Carmen Calvo, participated.
As Fernando Martínez has said, parallel to the celebration of this exhibition, a series of activities will be developed both in the places most frequented by Azaña in Madrid, such as the Círculo de Bellas Artes or the Student Residence, and in Alcalá de Henares. Likewise, the Cervantes Institute joins this celebration through the Café Azaña cycle. The Secretary of State explained that these activities will be developed around the intellectual and cultural facet of Azaña. Not in vain, said Fernando Martínez, "we can not forget in any of the ways that for Azaña culture and education were the keys to everything. They were the keys to the Republic, they were the keys to citizenship and they were the keys to the future of Spain."