It is practically impossible to sum up the life of Jorge Semprún (Madrid, 1923 – Paris, 2011), but there are two features
that he himself considered the defining factors of his existence: ex deportee
of Buchenwald and Spanish Red. In this book, Felipe Nieto narrates the initial
stages of his exile, the experience in the French Resistance and the deportation
to Buchenwald, to then concentrate on one of the most fascinating moments of
Jorge Semprún’s life adventures: the years of
dangerous clandestine activity in Spain under the Franco regime. In order to
bring about and develop the politics of the Communist Party in Spain, Semprún entered Spain clandestinely on numerous occasions after
the year 1953 so to involve the intellectual sectors in the fight against the
dictatorship. They were years of great tension not only for the Franco regime,
but also in the Communist ranks, with the discovery of Stalinist crimes, while
in the Central Spanish Committee, Santiago Carrillo became the firm and
unquestionable party leader. At the end of this period, Semprún
began to show his doubts regarding the politics and methodology that the
Spanish Communist Party was putting to use in Spain. During the latter years of
his clandestine activity, he would begin one of the most fascinating literary
and memoir projects of the 20th Century.
Felipe Nieto became immersed in sources and files and interviewed many
of the protagonists of the time, including Semprún
himself, in order to discover for the reader a decisive moment in the recent
history of Spain when many activists and intellectuals, including Federico Sánchez-Jorge Semprún, gave the
best of themselves in order to conquer their country’s liberty.
Felipe Nieto was born in Santander in 1948. He received his Master´s degree in
International Relations from the Instituto Universitario Ortega y Gasset
(Universidad Complutense, Madrid) in 1989 and a Doctorate
in Contemporary History from the UNED (Madrid). He has worked as a high school
teacher and is now a Current World History professor in the UNED (Madrid). He
has written several works dedicated to the figure of Jorge Semprún.