Unpublished Documents Reveal Discovery of Fernando Primo de Rivera's Body in Majadahonda

A 1939 General Cause record details the finding of José Antonio Primo de Rivera's brother's body in the municipality of Majadahonda.

Generic image of an old document with handwritten notes, evoking historical research.
IA

Generic image of an old document with handwritten notes, evoking historical research.

An unpublished document from the General Cause, dated 1939, has revealed the discovery of Fernando Primo de Rivera's body in Majadahonda, a previously unknown detail about his place of death during the Civil War.

The record, corresponding to page 101 (58) of the series «Unpublished Documents of Majadahonda in the General Cause: transcription and commentary», details the collection of nine bodies of individuals not recognized as local residents who suffered violent deaths. Among them, Fernando Primo de Rivera, brother of José Antonio Primo de Rivera and co-founder of the Falange, was identified.

It is unknown, as they were brought by the Madrid militias, but it is known that several (residents) of this locality (Majadahonda), who made up the Committee of this town, (…) members? of the City Council at that time, participated in the desecration of the bodies.

According to historian Julián Casanova's research in his work The Spanish Republic and Civil War, Fernando Primo de Rivera was executed on the night of August 22-23, 1936, during the «Massacre of the Model Prison». He was shot alongside figures such as Melquíades Álvarez, former president of the Congress, and Julio Ruiz de Alda, a Falangist aviator.
The General Cause document, signed by Mayor Victoriano Sanz and the City Council secretary on October 10, 1939, describes the discovery of Primo de Rivera's body on September 28, 1936, on the Carretera de Majadahonda al Plantío, between kilometers 10 and 11. It mentions he was wearing a light suit and had «several rifle wounds to the head and body».
In addition to Primo de Rivera's case, the record details eight other unidentified bodies, some of them security guards, found on the same road. The descriptions of the victims are generic, with ages ranging from 24 to 50 years, and phrases like «it is unknown» are repeated regarding identity and perpetrators, although names of Majadahonda residents who allegedly participated in the desecration of the bodies are mentioned.