José Antonio Aguirre (politician)
José Antonio Aguirre y Lecube (born March 6, 1904 in Bilbao , † March 22, 1960 in Paris ) was a Basque politician and the first President of the Basque Country (from 1936 to 1960, in exile from 1937).
José Antonio was born the son of a chocolate manufacturer. He later played for the Athletic Bilbao football club and studied law at the Universidad de Deusto in Bilbao. After the Second Republic was proclaimed in Spain in 1931 , he began his political career as mayor of the Basque town of Getxo in the Bay of Biscay . He later became chairman of the Basque Nationalist Party ( EAJ / PNV ) and took a tough stance on the question of enforcing the Statute of Autonomy . Although he was ideologically far to the right of the Popular Front in the Spanish Civil War (1936-1939) , he advocated intervention on the part of the Republic.
In October 1936 he became "lehendakari", President of the Basque Country. With the Euzko Gudarostea he created an independent Basque military, which led to a conflict with the central government. After the occupation of his homeland, he fled to the republican part of Spain, and later abroad from Barcelona . After the end of the Second World War , he founded a Basque parliament in exile, which was located in New York and tried to rekindle the resistance of the Basques. He died in Paris in 1960 and left behind not only a combative message, but also some valuable literary and poetic works on the culture of the Basques.
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| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Aguirre, José Antonio |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES | Aguirre y Lecube, José Antonio (full name) |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | Basque politician |
| DATE OF BIRTH | March 6, 1904 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Bilbao |
| DATE OF DEATH | March 22, 1960 |
| Place of death | Paris |