Lanaja - History

History

In the 19th century Lanaja suffered raids from various groups of bandits which operated from their hide-outs in the nearby Sierra de Alcubierre. The town was the scene of the death of the celebrated bandit Mariano Gavín Suñén «Cucaracha», which occurred 28-2-1875, shot by the Guardia Civil having been poisoned along with four members of his band in the village of Peñalbeta.

In the early days of the military uprising of July 1936, Lanaja fought off an initial attack of the Zaragoza 'falangists'. The town was occupied at the end of July by the Arquer-Piquer column of the POUM, which upon entering found the corpses of five murdered republicans, assassinated by the fascists prior to their final retreat. (“Josep Rovira, una vida al servei de Catalunya i del socialisme”, de Josep Coll y Josep Pané, page 92, published Ariel. Barcelona, 1978).

To stabilise the front in the Sierra de Alcubierre and bring the population behind the government forces, Lanaja suffered heavy bombardment at the hand of the Franco airforce causing numerous deaths amongst the civil population. The collapse of the Aragón front provoked an exodus of part of the population to Cataluña. While the town was occupied by the rebel troops, a brutally repressive regime descended causing indeterminate but in any case numerous deaths and repression. This continued into the post war years, creating a climate of fear and silence around these events that lasted decades.