Antoine Nieto Sandoval

My name is Antoine Nieto Sandoval, I was born in Madrid, and when I was only three years old, my family emigrated to France, where I live now. I am retired civil engineer. Now that I have more free time, I have dedicated myself to writing about the odyssey of my parents, Spanish Republicans, in a book published in France. They talked about writing one but never did. It is a micro-history, that is letting humble people talk sot hey can tell the story of their Civil War. With the support of many archives, relatives, soldiers, and help from friends in a number of countries. Also, working with Adrian Shubert and Antonio Cazorla Sánchez, I have had the great honour of translating the texts in the Virtual Museum of the Spanish Civil War into French. A topic of great interest in France, where many descendants of Republicans live. Our children should know about their origins and get high quality, accurate and direct information. 

This letter, written in September 1938, crossed the French border in February 1939  during the Retjrada, survived exile, returned to Spain, Igualada to be exact, with my parents once they retired. This was the same place the Young Women’s Association of the town received the letter. It came to me 67 years later, among the documents of my parents’ archives, when they died in Igualada, where they had met each other. It was with photographs of pilots, names, dates, crosses of disappearances in combat, more letters, more photos. 

The letter is on Air Force letterhead and with an Air Force stamp, written and signed by my father at the Los Monjos airfired near Vilafranca del Penedès during the Battle of the Ebro in September 1938.  It gives thanks for the delivery of a pennant of the 3rd fighter squadron made by Young Women’s Association of Igualad. It was accompanied by « a subscription of 640 pesetas ». In 2001, the pennant was given to the Montjuich Militray History Museum in Barcelona. 

My mother, the daughter of the mayor of Igualada during the Civil War, belonged to the Young Women’s Association. She met my father then. They met again in Igualada, and then in France… The letter represents something like the origin story of our family. Origin in the midst of catastrophe. That it has survived time, exile, the war, refugee camps, disciplinary batallions, prisons, etc… This encounter has been written about by authors like Antoni Dalmau i Ribalta and David Iñiguez. In my book, my father talks about the letter and his painstaking signature on it.