On 12 March, the 91st anniversary of the birth of Miguel Gila was commemorated, that is to say, since only a few of us remembered this date.
His absurd, close, simple and surrealist humour, taken to the limit, made his work a point of reference. For many, he was the pioneer of the humorous monologue in Spain.
On the shooting of Miguel Gila
One of the most curious passages of his life was his execution, which many already know, as he was shot with the result of…life.
In 1938 Miguel Gila was captured in Valsequillo (Córdoba), at dusk. He was taken to the wall along with other republicans and shot by a platoon of drunken marksmen, who missed not a single shot.
Gila survived by playing dead. He was lucky that, with the onion, nobody did the “coup de grâce” round, which allowed him to escape with his life.
Another version
I have always been curious about this event. Many people claim that this execution was actually one of the many “mock” executions carried out in almost all wars. In these acts they did not kill, but caused terror, in most cases much more powerful than death.
Gila also drew about various executions, including executions by firing squad, some of which, published in La Codorniz, are collected in “El libro de quejas” (The Book of Complaints), published by SEDMAY in 1975.
In one of them, also published in La Codorniz, a man with one leg missing claimed that he was not lame, that his problem was that “he had been shot badly”.
Some of Gila’s executions
