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INPRIMATU
The monolith of Félix Goya, disappeared in 1936, is attacked in Eulate
  • The memory of the War of 36 still frequently collects the mordiscs of the heirs of the executioners of the time. One of them is the monolith of Félix Goya in Eulate. Arrested and killed by Franco at the age of 51 in 1936, the descendants of the murderers have once again attacked their memory.
Xabier Letona Biteri @xletona 2023ko uztailaren 20a
Felix Goyaren omenez monolitoa Eulaten. (Argazkia: familiak utzitakoa)

As we have just known, a few weeks ago they realized that the monolith that their relative had put Félix Goya was attacked. The monolith was installed in 2012 by its grandchildren in Eulate, a town located at the base of Urbasa, with municipal authorization, where it was also honoured.

Felix Goya married Martina Ruiz de Galarreta and lived in Eulate. In August 1936, in the face of the brutal repression that was taking place in Navarre and the threat of death, they had to flee the village with their four sons of 16, 13, 10 and 7 years, and two daughters of 4 and 10 months. A few weeks passed before arriving at Tolosa while there in the villages here, and upon arriving at Tolosa, he was arrested by the Carlists that had the town occupied.

After two months in prison in Tolosa, in November he was transferred to Ondarreta prison in San Sebastian along with 19 other prisoners. From what they have later learned, two days later everyone was killed in San Sebastian. As with thousands of other people, Félix Goya has not appeared until today.

With his six children, Felix Goya, threatened with death, and his marriage traveled from Eulate to Tolosa.

“Guilty Reds”

In December 1936, Martina got permission from the civil governor to return to Eulate with the younger children of the couple, but the new Navarran leaders kidnapped the house raised by her husband, who had to go home from his stepmother. Insufficient with the murder of her husband, from that moment on she would have to prove her death, as her deceased or living husband was not the same to make a living. He had to make several attempts to get the death certificate.

In one of them, in 1938, Martín requested documentation from Judge Berazi of the Seizures of Tierra Estella, to whom he replied that the family should prove that he was killed in Ondarreta on the night of 14 to 15 November 1936.

Martina therefore addressed his request to Ondarreta prison in San Sebastian and received an unquestionable response from the director of the centre: “Felix was arrested by the Red-Separatists and imprisoned in this prison (...), but in this establishment we have no history of the detainees at the time of the Reds, when the Reds fled for the attack of the National Troops, because they destroyed files and files.”

A while later, and after all and five, Martin finally got his husband's death certificate. Decades later, the grandchildren of Félix and Martin built a monolithic memory of Eulate's grandfather. And recently, once again, the heirs of the executioners have hit the memory of the Goya-Ruiz family of Galarreta. But this last blow has also served to bring the steps of Martina and Felix to the line and rekindle their memory.