Diego Gimenez Moreno (1911-2010)

On June 6 2010, Diego Giménez Moreno, veteran of the Spanish Civil War, has passed away in the city of São Paulo, Brazil. He was 99 years old and had Parkinson's syndrome.

Diego Giménez was born on April 10 1911 in Jumilla, Murcia, and entered the Spanish anarchist movement after the death of his father, when he was 17. Through the Federación Ibérica de Juventudes Libertárias he got in touch with the ideas of libertarian naturism, adopting vegetarianism and drug-free living. In 1931, Diego joined the CNT and became the secretary of the local Syndicate of Graphical Arts. Five years later, he would participate in the most successful event in anarchist history, the Spanish Revolution, joining the legendary Columna Durruti in the fight against fascism. After the defeat of the popular front to the Fracoist forces, Diego was arrested and sent to the concentration camp of Mauthausen, Austria, from which he managed to escape to France. He moved to São Paulo in 1942 and became a militant of the local anarchist groups Sociedade Naturista Amigos de Nossa Chácara (Friends of Our Farm Naturist Society) and Centro de Cultura Social (Center of Social Culture).

Diego was very dear to the Brazilian anarchist movement. His speeches on the civil war and his defense of minimal consumption and sobriety had a huge influence on younger and older anarchists and anarcho-syndicalists. Some of his thoughts can be found in the books Mauthausen: Campo de Concentração e de Extermínio, Três Depoimentos Libertários, and Anarquistas: Ética e Antologia de Existências. Diego also wrote articles to the French anarchist journal Le Combat Syndicaliste. The history of his struggle remains an inspiration to the entire movement. His experience, moral strength, and character will be missed.

We must give up today's unhealthy behaviors. We are not defending our interests, but those of the capital. We must be like the snake who gets rid of her old skin in order to have a new one.

Diego Giménez Moreno

You can read an interview Diego Giménez gave to FOSP/COB-AIT here:
http://fosp.anarkio.net/cmanarca/Entrevista_Diego_Gimenez_Moreno.pdf (In
portuguese)

http://cob-ait.net/index.php/infos/50-anarcos/233-diego-moreno