Javier Lechuga Garcia

My name is Javier Lechuga Garcia, born in Coruña, Spain, in 1974. I am Civil engineer and PhD in fluid mechanics and computational science.

My father, Manuel Lechuga Boado, also from Coruña, was born in 1928 and passed away in 2020. When I was a kid, probably around 6 years old, I remember I saw this technical journal with my father and, as the cover looked pretty to me, the powerful lady and the lion, my father was happy to offer as a gift. He told me that it was from my grandfather, Juan Bautista Lechuga, who was from Granada.

He was a republican soldier from the Spanish Legion, born in 1900.

As the Spanish Civil War (1936-1939) was approaching, my grandfather was increasingly having more and more difficulties and finally disappeared at some point during that time. My father told me that he left a farewell letter and emigrated to America, which was a common choice at that time, but it is rather difficult to say for sure what really happened.

So then, a very young Javier, not aware at all about what that document was, kept the journal into his primary school folder, and it remained there for more than 40 years. Recently, as I was talking to some people in my home town, we came to this item again, so that I thought maybe I should not keep it any longer and find a better place for it.

This is an original copy of Spanish Republican constitution from almost 100 years ago as it was published in the technical journal of the Civil Guard. The Spanish Constitution of 1931 was approved by the Constituent Assembly on 9 December 1931. It was the constitution of the Second Spanish Republic (founded 14 April 1931) and was in force until 1 April 1939, when the Civil War ended.