Joan Pujol Garcia

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Joan Pujol Garcia : biography

14 February 1912 – 10 October 1988

Works cited

Spanish Civil War

Pujol in the 7th Light Artillery’s uniform, 1931 In 1931, Pujol did his six months of compulsory military service in a cavalry unit, the 7th Regiment of Light Artillery. He knew he was unsuited for a military career, hating horse-riding and claiming to lack the "…essential qualities of loyalty, generosity and honor".Pujol (1985). p. 19

Pujol was managing a poultry farm north of Barcelona in 1936 when the Spanish Civil War began. His sister Elana’s fiancé was taken by Republican forces, and later she and his mother were arrested and accused of being counter-revolutionaries. A relative in a trade union was able to rescue them from captivity.Pujol (1985). p. 24

He was called up for service on the Republican side but opposed the Republican government due to their treatment of his family. He hid at the home of his girlfriend, but was captured in a police raid and imprisoned for a week, before being freed via the resistance group Socorro Blanco. They hid him until they could produce fake identity papers that showed him to be too old for military service.Pujol (1985). p. 25 "Meanwhile my girlfriend got in touch with one of the units of Socorro Blanco, a secret organization which endeavored to assist those who are being persecuted for idealistic or religious reasons. One of their girl helpers posed as a revolutionary and arranged for me to be let out of prison at dead of night. Free, I join the ever-growing number of those leading a clandestine existence. I went into hiding again."

He started managing a poultry farm that had been requisitioned by the local Republican government, but it was not economically viable. The experience with rule by committee soured him on Communism further.Pujol (1985). p. 29 "I was not prepared to keep being told off while they did nothing to put the business on a sounder economic footing."

He re-joined the Republican side using the false papers with the intention to desert as soon as possible, volunteering to lay telegraph cables near the front lines. He managed to desert to the Nationalist side during the Battle of the Ebro in September 1938.Seaman (2004). p. . "He was a reluctant participant in the Spanish Civil War, being persecuted by the Republicans in his native Catalonia and feeling little sympathy with the Fascist ideology of the Nationalists." However, he was equally ill-treated by the Nationalist side, disliking their fascist influences and being struck and imprisoned by his colonel upon Pujol’s expressing sympathy with the monarchy.Seaman (2004). p. .

His experience with both sides left him with a deep loathing of both fascism and communism, and by extension Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union. He was proud that he had managed to serve both sides without firing a single bullet for either. After his discharge from the Nationalist army, he met his future first wife, Araceli Gonzalez, in Burgos and married her in Madrid; they had one child, Juan Fernando.Pujol (1985). p. .

Film and television

  • Garbo: The Spy (El espía). Documentary film, Directed by Edmon Roch, Production: Ikiru Films, Colose Producciones, Centuria Films, Spain 2009.
  • The Man Who Fooled the Nazis. The 90-minute Spanish documentary re-titled and narrated in English, shown as part of the Storyville series, first shown on BBC Four, 22 February 2011.
  • Secret D-Day – US television, 1998 – portrayed by French actor Sam Spiegel.
  • Garbo-Master of Deception. 1992 Columbia House and A&E 30-minute documentary
feature films have been attempted on several occasions, but none have reached production to date. 

World War II double-agent

Independent spying

In 1940, during the early days of World War II, Pujol decided that he must make a contribution "for the good of humanity" (and to oppose the Franco regime) by helping Britain – which, with its Empire, was Germany’s only adversary at the time.