0:00:02 > 0:00:04Actor Martin Sheen is embarking on a journey
0:00:04 > 0:00:06into both sides of his family history,
0:00:06 > 0:00:08where he discovers two ancestors...
0:00:08 > 0:00:11..And the suffering that they endured.
0:00:11 > 0:00:14..who help him understand the true meaning of activism.
0:00:14 > 0:00:16You do it because you cannot NOT do it.
0:00:16 > 0:00:18And before his search is over...
0:00:18 > 0:00:21My God, it's cavernous, like an old cathedral.
0:00:21 > 0:00:23..Martin will uncover a family connection
0:00:23 > 0:00:25he never could have imagined.
0:00:25 > 0:00:26Oh, my God!
0:00:55 > 0:00:57With a career spanning more than half a century,
0:00:57 > 0:01:02Martin Sheen is one of Hollywood's most versatile actors.
0:01:02 > 0:01:05After achieving world-wide recognition
0:01:05 > 0:01:07for his role in Apocalypse Now,
0:01:07 > 0:01:10Martin began to let his passion for political activism
0:01:10 > 0:01:12influence the roles he chose,
0:01:12 > 0:01:16most notably in his Golden Globe-winning portrayal
0:01:16 > 0:01:20of President Jed Bartlet on the hit series The West Wing.
0:01:20 > 0:01:24Martin's four children - Charlie, Emilio, Ramon, and Renee -
0:01:24 > 0:01:27all work in the entertainment industry.
0:01:27 > 0:01:30Born Ramon Estevez to Spanish and Irish immigrants,
0:01:30 > 0:01:34Martin and his wife of 50 years, Janet,
0:01:34 > 0:01:36live in Malibu, California...
0:01:36 > 0:01:37Hola, Emilio!
0:01:37 > 0:01:40..just a stone's throw from his son, Emilio Estevez...
0:01:40 > 0:01:44who is carrying on the family tradition of winemaking.
0:01:44 > 0:01:47- What have you got today? - Well, nothing you can have.
0:01:47 > 0:01:49Nothing I can have, but I can look.
0:01:49 > 0:01:51This is the new brew. New label.
0:01:51 > 0:01:56- New label.- Yeah.- In Pop's vineyard in Galicia.- Yes.
0:01:56 > 0:01:59- This is the photograph we took in the vineyard...- Yeah.- ..in 1969.
0:01:59 > 0:02:04- Right. Amazing.- And if you see, you are credited...
0:02:04 > 0:02:05- Ah.- ..with taking the photo.
0:02:05 > 0:02:08Ramon Gerard Antonio Estevez.
0:02:08 > 0:02:11- The photographer.- Yeah.
0:02:11 > 0:02:14'I'm going on this journey for myself,
0:02:14 > 0:02:17'but the residual effect could very well be beneficial
0:02:17 > 0:02:20'to my children and their children. That would be'
0:02:20 > 0:02:23a wonderful gift for them, I think.
0:02:23 > 0:02:26I don't, uh, know very much about
0:02:26 > 0:02:28my father's ancestry in Spain.
0:02:28 > 0:02:30I have less information about
0:02:30 > 0:02:33my father's side than my mother's.
0:02:33 > 0:02:36My mother's name was Mary-Ann Phelan,
0:02:36 > 0:02:38and she was born in Borrisokane,
0:02:38 > 0:02:41County Tipperary, in Ireland, of course.
0:02:41 > 0:02:43Unfortunately, she died very young.
0:02:43 > 0:02:46She was just 48
0:02:46 > 0:02:48when she died in 1951,
0:02:48 > 0:02:53and I was almost 11. So a lot of her memory has faded over the years,
0:02:53 > 0:02:55but she had a brother named Michael Phelan,
0:02:55 > 0:02:57who I've always been fascinated with.
0:02:57 > 0:03:00He was an Irish volunteer with the Irish Republican Army
0:03:00 > 0:03:03in the war of independence from Great Britain.
0:03:03 > 0:03:08But I don't know the extent of his, uh, activity
0:03:08 > 0:03:11in the Civil War in Ireland in the 1920s.
0:03:11 > 0:03:15So that intrigues me immensely,
0:03:15 > 0:03:17because I've spent a good number of years
0:03:17 > 0:03:19protesting for peace and social justice,
0:03:19 > 0:03:21and I've been tossed in jail
0:03:21 > 0:03:24more than a couple of times because of it.
0:03:24 > 0:03:25So I'm really curious to know
0:03:25 > 0:03:28where that committed spirit comes from.
0:03:28 > 0:03:32Did my Uncle Michael, or anyone else in my family,
0:03:32 > 0:03:33have similar convictions?
0:03:37 > 0:03:40Here we go.
0:03:40 > 0:03:43Uh, I see his death record here,
0:03:43 > 0:03:46which tells me he died in Tipperary, but not much else.
0:03:46 > 0:03:47Martin is travelling to Ireland
0:03:47 > 0:03:51to see if he can find out more about Michael Phelan.
0:03:51 > 0:03:54He's starting his search in Dublin.
0:04:04 > 0:04:06Martin has come to the military archives
0:04:06 > 0:04:08to see if there's any record
0:04:08 > 0:04:12of his uncle Michael Phelan's involvement in the Irish Civil War.
0:04:15 > 0:04:20Now, Mr Sheen, we found Michael Phelan's application
0:04:20 > 0:04:22under the 1934 Act. So if you want to have a look,
0:04:22 > 0:04:25and if you wouldn't mind wearing these gloves, please.
0:04:25 > 0:04:27- I will.- Thank you.- Thanks so much. OK.
0:04:32 > 0:04:34Oh, my.
0:04:34 > 0:04:38Whoa. It's amazing. This is all in his hand.
0:04:38 > 0:04:42This is an actual document that he filled out
0:04:42 > 0:04:46in order to get his, uh, pension for service in the army.
0:04:48 > 0:04:52All right, it's saying here, uh,
0:04:52 > 0:04:54"Continuous act of service period
0:04:54 > 0:04:59"from 12th July 1921 to June 30th 1922."
0:04:59 > 0:05:01Michael's record proves that
0:05:01 > 0:05:04he served from the beginning of the Civil War,
0:05:04 > 0:05:06which began in Ireland on June 28th 1922,
0:05:06 > 0:05:09as a result of political conflict
0:05:09 > 0:05:12born out of Ireland's freedom from Great Britain.
0:05:12 > 0:05:15Just six months before, the Anglo-Irish peace treaty was signed,
0:05:15 > 0:05:18dividing the region into two territories -
0:05:18 > 0:05:22Northern Ireland and the newly created Irish Free State,
0:05:22 > 0:05:24which was deemed a self-governing dominion
0:05:24 > 0:05:25under the British Crown.
0:05:28 > 0:05:30For years before, the old IRA,
0:05:30 > 0:05:33under the leadership of Michael Collins,
0:05:33 > 0:05:36had been fighting for a truly free and entirely independent Ireland.
0:05:36 > 0:05:38And when the treaty was offered,
0:05:38 > 0:05:41Michael Collins felt it was a step toward their ultimate goal
0:05:41 > 0:05:42and accepted.
0:05:42 > 0:05:45But many of the staunch activists
0:05:45 > 0:05:48who fought alongside Collins for years felt betrayed
0:05:48 > 0:05:49and continued to push for
0:05:49 > 0:05:51an Irish Republic,
0:05:51 > 0:05:53resulting in the Irish Civil War.
0:05:55 > 0:05:56All right, here looks like a letter.
0:05:56 > 0:05:59"A statement in support of my application for a pension.
0:05:59 > 0:06:03"After an armed attack on Free State troops
0:06:03 > 0:06:08"with land mine laid on July 20th near Roscrea,
0:06:08 > 0:06:12"I was captured with others and taken to Maryborough Prison
0:06:12 > 0:06:17"and released there on December 23rd 1922.
0:06:17 > 0:06:21"Whilst in Maryborough, I assisted to burn the prison."
0:06:21 > 0:06:24Oh, my God, he burned down the prison.
0:06:24 > 0:06:27"I continued with a small company
0:06:27 > 0:06:29"in my own area to be active,
0:06:29 > 0:06:33"blocking roads, cutting telegraph poles, etc.
0:06:33 > 0:06:36"I was arrested on March 10th by Free State troops
0:06:36 > 0:06:42"and served in Birr, Athlone, and Kilmainham jail.
0:06:42 > 0:06:45"Released from latter in October 1923."
0:06:46 > 0:06:48Michael's testimony has revealed
0:06:48 > 0:06:51that he was captured by Irish Free State troops,
0:06:51 > 0:06:54which means he was fighting against Michael Collins.
0:06:54 > 0:06:57It's interesting, because I had thought
0:06:57 > 0:06:59he was on the other side during the Civil War,
0:06:59 > 0:07:02that he was supporting Mick Collins.
0:07:02 > 0:07:04But evidently, he was on the other side,
0:07:04 > 0:07:07supporting the Republic.
0:07:07 > 0:07:09I didn't know this.
0:07:09 > 0:07:12I'm inclined to become more and more interested
0:07:12 > 0:07:14in the mystery of Michael Phelan
0:07:14 > 0:07:17because, you know, he was a great mystery to all of us,
0:07:17 > 0:07:19and particularly those in the States.
0:07:19 > 0:07:24We only heard rumours about his involvement with the Civil War,
0:07:24 > 0:07:26but until now, I didn't realise what side he was even on.
0:07:26 > 0:07:29I thought it was the other one!
0:07:29 > 0:07:32So this makes quite a big difference in understanding
0:07:32 > 0:07:34where he stood and what it cost him,
0:07:34 > 0:07:36because he was in prison on several different occasions,
0:07:36 > 0:07:40and it leads me to want to know more.
0:07:42 > 0:07:44To try and understand why his Uncle Michael
0:07:44 > 0:07:46rejected the Anglo-Irish peace treaty
0:07:46 > 0:07:49and to find out more about Michael's motivation
0:07:49 > 0:07:51to continue the fight for
0:07:51 > 0:07:53a fully independent Ireland,
0:07:53 > 0:07:55Martin has arranged to meet with
0:07:55 > 0:07:57historian Dr Edward Madigan,
0:07:57 > 0:08:00who specialises in the Irish Civil War.
0:08:03 > 0:08:05I was surprised to learn
0:08:05 > 0:08:08this morning that he opposed the Free Staters.
0:08:08 > 0:08:12And, uh, what really fascinated me was,
0:08:12 > 0:08:16- uh, his imprisonment, and the number of times.- Mm.
0:08:16 > 0:08:18What happens is that
0:08:18 > 0:08:22very staunchly anti-treaty IRA men and IRA officers,
0:08:22 > 0:08:25especially in the south, places like Tipperary and Cork, say,
0:08:25 > 0:08:27"We will never accept this treaty.
0:08:27 > 0:08:30"We've sworn to fight for Irish independence,
0:08:30 > 0:08:32"and that's what we're going to continue to do."
0:08:32 > 0:08:35The people who are in favour of the treaty,
0:08:35 > 0:08:37they form the National Army,
0:08:37 > 0:08:40what Michael here refers to in his pension record as
0:08:40 > 0:08:41the Free State army.
0:08:41 > 0:08:45And the Free State army go to war against the anti-treaty IRA.
0:08:45 > 0:08:47So you can understand the...
0:08:47 > 0:08:50motivations of a very idealistic young man like your uncle.
0:08:50 > 0:08:53This is something that he committed his life to.
0:08:53 > 0:08:56And now he's been told, "Well, it was all in vain.
0:08:56 > 0:08:58"We haven't established a republic,"
0:08:58 > 0:09:02or, "We haven't defended the republic that we swore to die for."
0:09:02 > 0:09:05So he's a committed republican. He's part of the movement.
0:09:05 > 0:09:08He's active in it. And the sort of activity we see him involved in,
0:09:08 > 0:09:10uh, in the pension records -
0:09:10 > 0:09:13raiding barracks, um, getting in prisons, arrested,
0:09:13 > 0:09:16this is very typical of IRA activity.
0:09:16 > 0:09:17So he's right in the middle of it?
0:09:17 > 0:09:21He's at the epicentre of what's going on. And when he's in prison,
0:09:21 > 0:09:24it's not simply, "OK, I'm in jail now, and that's it."
0:09:24 > 0:09:26He continues to serve. This is active service as well,
0:09:26 > 0:09:29so he continues to resist the regime from inside the prison walls.
0:09:29 > 0:09:32He's still active. He sees himself as a prisoner of war.
0:09:32 > 0:09:36It's his duty to keep annoying the, um, the establishment.
0:09:36 > 0:09:38- I heard he burned one down. - Yeah, I mean, he was active.
0:09:38 > 0:09:42There was organised disobedience and resistance to the prison regime
0:09:42 > 0:09:44and destruction of the whole prison.
0:09:44 > 0:09:47- Yeah.- Uh, so... His activity during this period
0:09:47 > 0:09:50definitely suggests that he was a man of commitment,
0:09:50 > 0:09:52- a man of conviction and a brave man.- Mm-hmm.
0:09:52 > 0:09:55In a very real way, Michael Phelan's story
0:09:55 > 0:09:58is the story of the Irish revolution.
0:10:05 > 0:10:08I have a very great appreciation and admiration
0:10:08 > 0:10:13for his idealism and his courage and his commitment
0:10:13 > 0:10:16to a cause that he believed in, the cause of freedom,
0:10:16 > 0:10:20and, uh, what he was willing to pay for that.
0:10:20 > 0:10:23And so I'm looking forward now
0:10:23 > 0:10:25to visiting one of the jails
0:10:25 > 0:10:30that my Uncle Michael was confined to, and that would be
0:10:30 > 0:10:33Kilmainham jail, here in Dublin.
0:10:33 > 0:10:35- Hello.- Hello, there.
0:10:35 > 0:10:37- You're Will.- I am. Welcome.
0:10:37 > 0:10:39Good to meet you. Thank you so much.
0:10:39 > 0:10:41- So this is it. - This is Kilmainham.
0:10:41 > 0:10:44Wow. Oh, my God.
0:10:46 > 0:10:48Draconian, to say the least.
0:10:48 > 0:10:52This is probably the most iconic prison of the revolutionary period.
0:10:52 > 0:10:56So was my uncle held in this very...compound?
0:10:56 > 0:11:00As far as we know, your uncle was held in this wing.
0:11:00 > 0:11:03Our best guess is that he was held up on this floor here.
0:11:03 > 0:11:07- The second floor?- Would you like to go up and have a look at that cell?
0:11:07 > 0:11:11- Yes, I would. Yes, thanks so much, yeah.- OK.- Here we go. Wow.
0:11:11 > 0:11:16- This is the cell where we think, perhaps, your uncle was held.- Wow.
0:11:16 > 0:11:18So you can see the conditions here.
0:11:18 > 0:11:21Uh, they're not very pleasant. Very small cells.
0:11:21 > 0:11:24You've got very poor sanitation here.
0:11:24 > 0:11:27It's quite overcrowded during the Civil War period,
0:11:27 > 0:11:29and you've got very basic bedding.
0:11:29 > 0:11:31And there would be one person in here?
0:11:31 > 0:11:34- He would've been alone in here? - Um, it varied.
0:11:34 > 0:11:36So the ideal was that there would be one person here,
0:11:36 > 0:11:39but the Civil War is a period when you have,
0:11:39 > 0:11:42you know, a lot of people in prison.
0:11:42 > 0:11:45Come the end of the Civil War, we think there were about 12,000 people
0:11:45 > 0:11:48- in various prisons and camps around Ireland.- Wow.
0:11:51 > 0:11:53I'm enormously proud of him.
0:11:53 > 0:11:57I would like to hope that, if I had been here
0:11:57 > 0:11:58in Ireland at the time,
0:11:58 > 0:12:02I would've followed him, and I'd have been as committed as he was.
0:12:02 > 0:12:04I've been involved
0:12:04 > 0:12:07in a lot of campaigns for peace and social justice.
0:12:07 > 0:12:09And I had the same kind of,
0:12:09 > 0:12:12uh, commitment in those areas
0:12:12 > 0:12:14that he had here,
0:12:14 > 0:12:16and that is that you really do it for yourself.
0:12:16 > 0:12:18You don't expect to change the world.
0:12:18 > 0:12:22You don't expect to even influence your family or your friends.
0:12:22 > 0:12:25You do it because you cannot NOT do it and be who you are
0:12:25 > 0:12:27or who you're meant to be.
0:12:29 > 0:12:33This part of the journey is over.
0:12:33 > 0:12:37And now we're headed, uh, to my father's side in Spain,
0:12:37 > 0:12:44and I'm enormously curious about what, uh, awaits me there.
0:12:45 > 0:12:49Martin is travelling to the Spanish capital of Madrid
0:12:49 > 0:12:52to start investigating his paternal Estevez lineage.
0:12:57 > 0:13:00And we'll be visiting one of my favourite people
0:13:00 > 0:13:02in all the world, my sister Carmen.
0:13:02 > 0:13:04She has a lot of information
0:13:04 > 0:13:08because she's lived here for so long and worked here.
0:13:08 > 0:13:11And so she has a lot more knowledge
0:13:11 > 0:13:12and a better understanding
0:13:12 > 0:13:16of our father's Spanish heritage than I could ever have.
0:13:23 > 0:13:25You were going to do this without me!
0:13:27 > 0:13:29Before we talk about Pop,
0:13:29 > 0:13:32I just thought it might be nice to look at us.
0:13:32 > 0:13:35Sons and daughter of immigrants.
0:13:35 > 0:13:36See, at a very early age,
0:13:36 > 0:13:39you obviously didn't want much to do with the rest of us.
0:13:39 > 0:13:42- Hiding over here, trying... - I removed myself from...
0:13:42 > 0:13:45You've already got that James Dean pose.
0:13:45 > 0:13:46- Before HE had it.- Before he had it.
0:13:46 > 0:13:50"Oh, God, don't look at me. Don't look at me!"
0:13:50 > 0:13:52I think I had a big, uh, safety pin
0:13:52 > 0:13:56holding up my overalls.
0:13:56 > 0:13:59- This is our grandmother... - Oh, my God. That's her...
0:13:59 > 0:14:01In Parderrubias. Yes.
0:14:01 > 0:14:03- That's the old homestead. - Yes, yes, yes.
0:14:03 > 0:14:05We think we were poor, but they were really poor.
0:14:05 > 0:14:08I mean, really poor.
0:14:09 > 0:14:12Martin knows that his grandparents, Manuel and Dolores,
0:14:12 > 0:14:14had seven children.
0:14:14 > 0:14:17But he knows very little about his father's youngest brother,
0:14:17 > 0:14:19his Uncle Matias.
0:14:21 > 0:14:23- You remember the Spanish Civil War? - Sure.- Yeah, well...
0:14:23 > 0:14:25Matias was arrested as a communist,
0:14:25 > 0:14:28and he was in jail in Tui.
0:14:28 > 0:14:30Every time he would go by that,
0:14:30 > 0:14:33what is now a cultural centre,
0:14:33 > 0:14:35he would say,
0:14:35 > 0:14:38"Oh. They had me in there, and they were going to kill me.
0:14:38 > 0:14:41"And now they're all dead, and I'm still alive."
0:14:41 > 0:14:45This is news to me because I only heard kind of rumours and stories.
0:14:45 > 0:14:48I didn't know about, uh, Matias's background.
0:14:48 > 0:14:51I knew that he was forbidden to travel.
0:14:51 > 0:14:56- Yeah, yeah. I mean, that's when he was marked as a communist.- Yeah.
0:14:56 > 0:15:01Matias's home in Galicia was where the Spanish Civil War began.
0:15:01 > 0:15:06In 1936, General Francisco Franco and his rebel forces
0:15:06 > 0:15:09launched a violent coup
0:15:09 > 0:15:12against the democratically elected Spanish Republic.
0:15:12 > 0:15:14Anyone who opposed Franco's regime
0:15:14 > 0:15:16and fought to restore the elected government,
0:15:16 > 0:15:20like Matias Estevez, was imprisoned.
0:15:20 > 0:15:23The resulting civil war raged for three years
0:15:23 > 0:15:25until Franco emerged victorious.
0:15:25 > 0:15:27Franco's fascist dictatorship
0:15:27 > 0:15:32remained in power for nearly 40 years until his death in 1975.
0:15:33 > 0:15:35- And this is Matias.- Oh, my God.
0:15:35 > 0:15:38This is Matias with Joaquina and his daughters,
0:15:38 > 0:15:41Angelita and Lola.
0:15:41 > 0:15:43It's so interesting because there were civil wars
0:15:43 > 0:15:45in both of our parents' countries.
0:15:45 > 0:15:48- Yeah, and we had no idea.- Yes.
0:15:48 > 0:15:50And the suffering that they endured.
0:15:50 > 0:15:56I'm particularly interested in Matias and his background.
0:15:56 > 0:15:59He, uh, went through the Civil War
0:15:59 > 0:16:01and I'm interested in finding out
0:16:01 > 0:16:04specifically what happened to him and why.
0:16:09 > 0:16:12According to Martin's sister, Carmen,
0:16:12 > 0:16:15their Uncle Matias served in the Spanish Civil War
0:16:15 > 0:16:19and was imprisoned under General Franco's brutal regime.
0:16:19 > 0:16:22To find out more about when his uncle joined
0:16:22 > 0:16:25the fight against fascism,
0:16:25 > 0:16:28what he did and where exactly he was imprisoned,
0:16:28 > 0:16:31Martin has come to the national library in Madrid.
0:16:32 > 0:16:34He's arranged to meet
0:16:34 > 0:16:36with historian Alejandro Quiroga,
0:16:36 > 0:16:39who has uncovered some records on Matias's Civil War activity.
0:16:42 > 0:16:44I'm hoping, Alex, that you can enlighten me
0:16:44 > 0:16:45with some truth about Matias.
0:16:45 > 0:16:48Yeah, he had, um, a very interesting life
0:16:48 > 0:16:51and, um, and a very difficult life.
0:16:51 > 0:16:57The first reference of, uh, your Uncle Matias
0:16:57 > 0:17:02is a reference in this book that was written by a pro-Franco priest.
0:17:02 > 0:17:05So this is a propaganda book.
0:17:05 > 0:17:09So this is the actual translation.
0:17:09 > 0:17:12"By mid-July 1936, armed groups
0:17:12 > 0:17:15"committed all kinds of abuses.
0:17:15 > 0:17:19"One of those groups was led by Matias Estevez Martinez,
0:17:19 > 0:17:22"also known as El Rato. The Mouse.
0:17:22 > 0:17:24"His gang went on a van to the house
0:17:24 > 0:17:29"of the mayor of the village, Mr Jose Gonzalez Gonzalez.
0:17:29 > 0:17:31"The group required the mayor to join them
0:17:31 > 0:17:35"in an attack on a local military police barracks
0:17:35 > 0:17:39"and threatened to kill him if he was not to obey."
0:17:39 > 0:17:42So basically, he was fighting against the rebels.
0:17:42 > 0:17:44Yeah. The thing that's quite important are the dates.
0:17:44 > 0:17:48The dates are the 20th and the 21st of July 1936.
0:17:48 > 0:17:50That's very near the start of the Civil War.
0:17:50 > 0:17:53That's the very, very beginning, exactly.
0:17:53 > 0:17:56So he is actually attempting to stop the coup d'etat,
0:17:56 > 0:18:01and what we know is that he was arrested after that
0:18:01 > 0:18:06and was put in front of a military tribunal.
0:18:06 > 0:18:11And they charged him with military rebellion.
0:18:11 > 0:18:13They weren't even a legitimate government.
0:18:13 > 0:18:15- No, of course not. - They were a military coup,
0:18:15 > 0:18:18and they were already holding tribunals.
0:18:18 > 0:18:19- So these fascists...- Mm-hmm.
0:18:19 > 0:18:23..were forcing their form of law
0:18:23 > 0:18:26on people who were law-abiding.
0:18:26 > 0:18:28That's the bottom line, isn't it?
0:18:28 > 0:18:30- That is the bottom line.- Yeah.
0:18:30 > 0:18:33And you can read this sentence.
0:18:34 > 0:18:37"We do declare that Matias Estevez Martinez
0:18:37 > 0:18:40"must be condemned to life imprisonment."
0:18:43 > 0:18:46So... My God, huh?
0:18:46 > 0:18:48Life imprisonment?
0:18:48 > 0:18:51- Do you know where he was...- Yes. - ..in prison?
0:18:51 > 0:18:54We know that because this book is, um,
0:18:54 > 0:19:00Episodes Of Terror During The Civil War In The island Of San Simon.
0:19:00 > 0:19:03And this is the list of, um, prisoners.
0:19:03 > 0:19:06Wow, there were a lot of Estevezes.
0:19:06 > 0:19:08I probably had a whole...
0:19:08 > 0:19:12a whole bunch of, uh, relatives there with him.
0:19:12 > 0:19:14My God. So here he is.
0:19:14 > 0:19:16He's... It would he be 611?
0:19:16 > 0:19:18Is that his prison number?
0:19:18 > 0:19:20His prison number, yeah.
0:19:20 > 0:19:23This is a place of extermination, place of terror,
0:19:23 > 0:19:26a place created with the idea of, um,
0:19:26 > 0:19:30in a very fascist manner, of purifying the nation.
0:19:30 > 0:19:35The idea is to put as many people as possible there.
0:19:35 > 0:19:37If they die out of starvation
0:19:37 > 0:19:40or, uh, lack of sanitary conditions,
0:19:40 > 0:19:41it doesn't matter.
0:19:43 > 0:19:48Prior to the Civil War, Spanish prisons held some 12,000 convicts.
0:19:48 > 0:19:52But after the war's end, the number of detainees
0:19:52 > 0:19:55swelled to more than one million.
0:19:55 > 0:19:58Nearly 100,000 of them died behind bars.
0:19:58 > 0:20:02Matias Estevez served a year of his life sentence in San Simon,
0:20:02 > 0:20:04before he was transferred in 1937
0:20:04 > 0:20:07to Franco's largest and most notorious prison,
0:20:07 > 0:20:10San Cristobal, near Pamplona.
0:20:10 > 0:20:15We have found the, uh,
0:20:15 > 0:20:18actual register of, um, San Cristobal.
0:20:18 > 0:20:21This is the sort of, uh, clase de penas, sort of sentence,
0:20:21 > 0:20:23life imprisonment.
0:20:23 > 0:20:29He is actually sentenced on 24th September 1936.
0:20:29 > 0:20:33But I know he didn't serve a life sentence.
0:20:33 > 0:20:37Does it say anything about when he is to be released, or...?
0:20:37 > 0:20:40He is to be...released here.
0:20:40 > 0:20:42Oh, my God. 1966?
0:20:42 > 0:20:45- Did he serve that whole time? - He didn't.
0:20:45 > 0:20:48He was released in 1940.
0:20:48 > 0:20:50Thank God.
0:20:50 > 0:20:52- Yeah.- And what does this say?
0:20:52 > 0:20:54"Prision atenuada,"
0:20:54 > 0:20:57which means that he was released
0:20:57 > 0:21:00but still under, uh, surveillance.
0:21:00 > 0:21:02He was, like, uh, under house arrest.
0:21:02 > 0:21:04And it says here until 1966.
0:21:06 > 0:21:12It's astonishing. So he spent a total of four years in prison -
0:21:12 > 0:21:14one year on San Simon island
0:21:14 > 0:21:17and three years in San Cristobal in Pamplona.
0:21:17 > 0:21:19Mm-hmm.
0:21:19 > 0:21:25And they kept records of all these people that far...
0:21:25 > 0:21:28after the war? That's, like, 30 years.
0:21:28 > 0:21:31I had no idea
0:21:31 > 0:21:33that he suffered this gravely.
0:21:33 > 0:21:35What a brave guy.
0:21:38 > 0:21:42He survived four years in two different concentration camps.
0:21:42 > 0:21:45They were instituted
0:21:45 > 0:21:49to break people's will and to create fear in the populace,
0:21:49 > 0:21:51and that's what they did.
0:21:51 > 0:21:53So I'm just anxious
0:21:53 > 0:21:57to get to Pamplona and discover his circumstances
0:21:57 > 0:22:00in San Cristobal.
0:22:00 > 0:22:01Martin is meeting
0:22:01 > 0:22:05with Spanish Civil War historian Julius Ruiz.
0:22:07 > 0:22:10Matias would've arrived by bus or by van.
0:22:10 > 0:22:13He would've been driven through those gates,
0:22:13 > 0:22:16and then he would've been driven through this tunnel.
0:22:16 > 0:22:19Oh, my God, it's cavernous, like an old cathedral.
0:22:19 > 0:22:23- Extraordinary.- Amazing, yeah. - Absolutely extraordinary.- Yeah.
0:22:23 > 0:22:24How many were confined here?
0:22:24 > 0:22:27When it was used before the Civil War,
0:22:27 > 0:22:30um, to hold, um, the prisoners for the revolution,
0:22:30 > 0:22:33maybe 600, 700 prisoners were here.
0:22:33 > 0:22:35But by the time your uncle arrived,
0:22:35 > 0:22:40um, prisoners were arriving en masse from all over Spain.
0:22:40 > 0:22:44- And, uh, so in 1938, there were 2,500.- Wow.
0:22:44 > 0:22:48If we walk here, what we're going to see
0:22:48 > 0:22:51is something that's Dante-esque.
0:22:51 > 0:22:56We're now entering the worst of the very worst.
0:22:56 > 0:22:57Wow.
0:22:59 > 0:23:02This is kind of what it would've been like,
0:23:02 > 0:23:05uh, at night down here.
0:23:05 > 0:23:07Well, or even in high noon, huh?
0:23:07 > 0:23:08- Yeah.- Oh, my.
0:23:10 > 0:23:13So here we are. This is just one of the cells
0:23:13 > 0:23:17- in which 25 to 50 prisoners would have been held.- What?
0:23:17 > 0:23:19This is the only source of light?
0:23:19 > 0:23:22This is the only source of light that they had.
0:23:22 > 0:23:24- Do you see, there's no glass? - Yeah.
0:23:24 > 0:23:28Uh, so you know, they were... it was open to the elements.
0:23:28 > 0:23:30We're very close to the Pyrenees,
0:23:30 > 0:23:35so in winter, we're talking subzero temperatures, uh, biting winds.
0:23:35 > 0:23:37This is a reasonably warm sunny day,
0:23:37 > 0:23:39so you can just imagine.
0:23:39 > 0:23:41This is where, you know,
0:23:41 > 0:23:45he was expected to serve his 30 years' sentence.
0:23:45 > 0:23:48Wow. Boy, oh, boy.
0:23:54 > 0:23:59There's a great similarity here on this journey, uh,
0:23:59 > 0:24:03to San Cristobal from Kilmainham.
0:24:03 > 0:24:07The idealism of both of these young men,
0:24:07 > 0:24:10both uncles the same age, a year's difference maybe.
0:24:10 > 0:24:13Idealistic, tough, deeply human.
0:24:13 > 0:24:15And they suffered greatly for...
0:24:15 > 0:24:20I... This place is like, I've never seen anything like this.
0:24:20 > 0:24:23I can only imagine what being confined here
0:24:23 > 0:24:27at that time and never knowing how it was going to end
0:24:27 > 0:24:30and how he must have felt when he was released,
0:24:30 > 0:24:32because he really wasn't released.
0:24:32 > 0:24:36He was on a tether. He was out from behind these walls,
0:24:36 > 0:24:38but he was confined to the walls of his own village.
0:24:38 > 0:24:41And, you know,
0:24:41 > 0:24:44these scoundrels denigrated him
0:24:44 > 0:24:48by calling him El Rato, which means The Mouse.
0:24:48 > 0:24:52He outlived all of these fascists.
0:24:52 > 0:24:55So in the end, he was the mouse that roared,
0:24:55 > 0:24:56and I say, "God bless him."
0:24:59 > 0:25:01Martin has found out as much as he can
0:25:01 > 0:25:04about his Uncle Matias's political past.
0:25:04 > 0:25:10Now he wants to dig further back into his paternal Spanish ancestry.
0:25:10 > 0:25:12Martin's sister Carmen has sent him
0:25:12 > 0:25:15their father Francisco's birth certificate
0:25:15 > 0:25:17and he's come to the town of Tui,
0:25:17 > 0:25:20where he's meeting with genealogist Matthew Hovius
0:25:20 > 0:25:23to see what information the birth certificate contains.
0:25:25 > 0:25:29So, Matthew, this is my father's birth certificate. The problem is,
0:25:29 > 0:25:33it's in Galego, and, uh, not only do I not speak Spanish,
0:25:33 > 0:25:36I don't speak Galego either. So if you could help me, I'd be grateful.
0:25:36 > 0:25:38Sure, I'd like to just go through the text here.
0:25:38 > 0:25:42Now, let's see, we've got your father Francisco.
0:25:42 > 0:25:46So it says, um, he is the legitimate son of Manuel Estevez Fernandez,
0:25:46 > 0:25:49and that would be your grandfather,
0:25:49 > 0:25:52and of Dolores Martinez, that would be your grandmother.
0:25:52 > 0:25:55And, uh, the maternal grandparents of the child
0:25:55 > 0:26:00are Carmen Martinez and grandfather unknown.
0:26:00 > 0:26:01Martin has discovered
0:26:01 > 0:26:03that his great-grandmother
0:26:03 > 0:26:05was called Carmen Martinez.
0:26:05 > 0:26:07With Matthew's help, he's been able
0:26:07 > 0:26:08to trace his family back
0:26:08 > 0:26:11a further three generations to the 1700s,
0:26:11 > 0:26:13to his four-times great-grandparents,
0:26:13 > 0:26:18don Diego Francisco Suarez and Maria Gonzalez.
0:26:18 > 0:26:22Matthew's research has also found something intriguing
0:26:22 > 0:26:25about don Diego and Maria Gonzalez
0:26:25 > 0:26:28in the marriage record of their daughter Paula.
0:26:28 > 0:26:31This gives us a lot of interesting information,
0:26:31 > 0:26:34but there's one particularly important aspect of the record.
0:26:34 > 0:26:37Um, if you notice here where it describes Paula, it says,
0:26:37 > 0:26:41"Hija natural de don Diego Suarez y de Maria Antonia Gonzalez."
0:26:41 > 0:26:43And what that means is
0:26:43 > 0:26:47that Paula was the natural daughter of don Diego...
0:26:47 > 0:26:51- Of don Diego Suarez and Maria Gonzalez.- That's right.- Uh-huh.
0:26:51 > 0:26:54Why is it important to say that?
0:26:54 > 0:26:57Well, because what that means is that she's the natural daughter.
0:26:57 > 0:26:58You notice that, um,
0:26:58 > 0:27:03Pelayo, her husband, is described as the legitimate son of his parents.
0:27:03 > 0:27:07If, uh, Paula is described as the natural daughter of don Diego,
0:27:07 > 0:27:11um, that means that her father wasn't married to her mother.
0:27:11 > 0:27:15- Her father don Diego was not married to...- To Maria Gonzalez.
0:27:15 > 0:27:18Now, let's take a look at Diego's own marriage record.
0:27:18 > 0:27:22Everything we've seen so far have been books from Parderrubias.
0:27:22 > 0:27:24This register is actually from the cathedral in Tui.
0:27:24 > 0:27:29This is in 1740, and what the priest is telling us is,
0:27:29 > 0:27:32"I celebrated the marriage contracted by...
0:27:32 > 0:27:37"don Diego Suarez Delago, who married Manuela de Alfaya."
0:27:37 > 0:27:41- We have Paula Suarez's mother as Maria Gonzalez...- Yes.
0:27:41 > 0:27:46- And here we see don Diego marrying Manuela de Alfaya.- Whoops.
0:27:48 > 0:27:50According to the church records,
0:27:50 > 0:27:53don Diego was not married to Maria Gonzalez,
0:27:53 > 0:27:57but was actually married to a woman named Manuela de Alfaya.
0:27:57 > 0:28:01But don Diego didn't stop there.
0:28:01 > 0:28:04In addition to Martin's three-times great-grandmother Paula,
0:28:04 > 0:28:07don Diego and his mistress Maria
0:28:07 > 0:28:11went on to have five more illegitimate children together.
0:28:11 > 0:28:16And, uh, this is the baptism book covering...
0:28:16 > 0:28:20- 1739 to 1780.- But they also used the baptism register
0:28:20 > 0:28:22- for some other sacraments, such as confirmation.- I see.
0:28:22 > 0:28:26And the way confirmation was done at the time
0:28:26 > 0:28:28was usually not every year, but every few years,
0:28:28 > 0:28:32if some prominent local churchman would happen to come through,
0:28:32 > 0:28:35like the Bishop of Tui. All the children who hadn't been confirmed
0:28:35 > 0:28:37since the last visit would be brought out for confirmation.
0:28:37 > 0:28:42If you notice, this was in September 1777.
0:28:42 > 0:28:43And I can tell you that
0:28:43 > 0:28:46your great-great-great-great grandfather don Diego,
0:28:46 > 0:28:49uh, died just three years before this.
0:28:49 > 0:28:52So this would've been the first confirmation ceremony
0:28:52 > 0:28:55in Parderrubias since Diego had passed away.
0:28:55 > 0:28:59- And she came out of the closet with this brood of children.- Exactly.
0:28:59 > 0:29:01After they put him in the ground.
0:29:01 > 0:29:03And I think what that says about her is that
0:29:03 > 0:29:05she must have been a very loyal person
0:29:05 > 0:29:08because she seems to have kept all these children out of sight
0:29:08 > 0:29:09for as long as she could.
0:29:09 > 0:29:15This is an extraordinary woman, Maria Gonzalez. Wow.
0:29:15 > 0:29:21How did don Diego come to his status as a don?
0:29:21 > 0:29:25For Galicia, the first place I would look would be the regional archive,
0:29:25 > 0:29:28known as the Archivo del Reino de Galicia in La Coruna.
0:29:28 > 0:29:33This investigation is getting curiouser and curiouser.
0:29:33 > 0:29:36We have landed on a very interesting couple,
0:29:36 > 0:29:39namely don - I want to say don Juan,
0:29:39 > 0:29:45it appears he was a bit of a don Juan - don Diego Suarez.
0:29:45 > 0:29:50And I have to go to La Coruna to find out more
0:29:50 > 0:29:54about don Diego and see just what his life was all about
0:29:54 > 0:29:57and how many relatives he left on my tree.
0:29:59 > 0:30:02Martin has discovered that his four-times great-grandfather
0:30:02 > 0:30:04don Diego Francisco Suarez
0:30:04 > 0:30:06had six illegitimate children...
0:30:07 > 0:30:12..but was also referred to in the records as a don.
0:30:12 > 0:30:17So Martin is enlisting the help of historian Edward Behrend-Martinez
0:30:17 > 0:30:20to find out who this titled
0:30:20 > 0:30:21and prominent man really was.
0:30:23 > 0:30:26I have here, um, the only document that we have
0:30:26 > 0:30:30relating to don Diego Francisco Suarez,
0:30:30 > 0:30:33your great-great-great-great grandfather.
0:30:33 > 0:30:37Um, and, uh... So I'll let you take a look at that.
0:30:37 > 0:30:40- Oh, my.- And it says...
0:30:40 > 0:30:41I translated it here for you.
0:30:41 > 0:30:44All right.
0:30:44 > 0:30:47"In the said town in jurisdiction
0:30:47 > 0:30:49"on 24th June of the said year,
0:30:49 > 0:30:53"his honour don Diego Francisco Suarez,
0:30:53 > 0:30:55"the said ordinary judge..."
0:30:55 > 0:30:58What is this all about?
0:30:58 > 0:31:01Is don Diego Francisco Suarez a judge?
0:31:01 > 0:31:03Yeah. Yeah, absolutely.
0:31:05 > 0:31:08He is the highest...authority...
0:31:08 > 0:31:11Yeah.
0:31:11 > 0:31:12..legal authority in the community?
0:31:12 > 0:31:15- Yeah, absolutely.- Unbelievable.
0:31:15 > 0:31:21So the judge, "Stated that, based on the contents of the said proceedings
0:31:21 > 0:31:25"regarding the absence of Antonia Pereira, single woman,
0:31:25 > 0:31:28"he would and did order that the following edict
0:31:28 > 0:31:32"be made public, as specified in the law."
0:31:32 > 0:31:37So please tell me, uh, this...judge,
0:31:37 > 0:31:42don Diego Francisco Suarez, has decreed
0:31:42 > 0:31:45- someone is a criminal.- Yes.
0:31:45 > 0:31:49He's going after a young woman, Antonia Pereira,
0:31:49 > 0:31:53who had had an affair with a very privileged man in the community.
0:31:53 > 0:31:56When they say "privileged", meaning he's untouchable,
0:31:56 > 0:32:01- they mean, very likely, a cleric or a priest.- Oh.
0:32:01 > 0:32:06And then it turned out in the spring of 1748, she gets pregnant.
0:32:06 > 0:32:09And then Antonia goes off to a midwife
0:32:09 > 0:32:11to seek remedies for the pregnancy.
0:32:11 > 0:32:14- An abortion.- Yeah.
0:32:14 > 0:32:18Wow, so the basic crime here, if you will,
0:32:18 > 0:32:23is not the affair or the impending birth,
0:32:23 > 0:32:25- but the abortion.- Yeah.
0:32:25 > 0:32:30So don Diego Francisco Suarez was pursuing Antonia
0:32:30 > 0:32:34with, um, as much power and, uh, vigour as he could.
0:32:34 > 0:32:37In fact, your ancestor sends out
0:32:37 > 0:32:40an order to have wanted posters put up all over, uh, the area.
0:32:40 > 0:32:45But his motivation, uh, really strikes me
0:32:45 > 0:32:48as a double standard, obviously,
0:32:48 > 0:32:51because he was engaged, while he was married,
0:32:51 > 0:32:56in an illicit affair with Senora Gonzalez
0:32:56 > 0:32:58and he had six children.
0:32:58 > 0:33:01Right, but I don't think it ever occurred...
0:33:01 > 0:33:04So in essence, he was quite above the law, we would say.
0:33:04 > 0:33:07- Yeah, he is the law.- He is the law.
0:33:07 > 0:33:09- Right.- OK.- Wow.
0:33:09 > 0:33:13Don Diego, you son of a gun.
0:33:13 > 0:33:15We've done a bit more research.
0:33:15 > 0:33:17Uh, we have a family tree for you.
0:33:21 > 0:33:24Wow. That's taking us on
0:33:24 > 0:33:26my grandmother's side
0:33:26 > 0:33:29to don Diego.
0:33:29 > 0:33:33And he is buried 6th December 1773
0:33:33 > 0:33:36in the cathedral in Tui, Galicia.
0:33:36 > 0:33:39- He's buried in the cathedral?- Yeah.
0:33:39 > 0:33:41Wow, he really was a big shot.
0:33:41 > 0:33:44- Yeah, he was. - Hmm, now we're going to look at
0:33:44 > 0:33:45my grandfather's side.
0:33:45 > 0:33:50His father was Augustin Estevez Martinez.
0:33:50 > 0:33:54And Augustin's father was Jose Estevez,
0:33:54 > 0:33:59and he was married to Maria Rosa Martinez.
0:33:59 > 0:34:05And her mother and father are Juan Martinez
0:34:05 > 0:34:07and his wife, Liberata.
0:34:07 > 0:34:10And her father
0:34:10 > 0:34:12is Ramon Martinez.
0:34:12 > 0:34:14Mm-hmm.
0:34:14 > 0:34:18And his wife is Antonia Pereira.
0:34:18 > 0:34:20The young girl.
0:34:20 > 0:34:22Oh, my God.
0:34:22 > 0:34:26Isn't that amazing?
0:34:26 > 0:34:31Nearly 150 years after don Diego Suarez's attempted prosecution
0:34:31 > 0:34:33of the young Antonia Pereira,
0:34:33 > 0:34:35an extraordinary thing happened.
0:34:35 > 0:34:39Two lines on Martin's family tree converged
0:34:39 > 0:34:42when his grandfather, Manuel Estevez Fernandez,
0:34:42 > 0:34:46married his grandmother, Dolores Martinez,
0:34:46 > 0:34:51which means that it was his four-times great-grandmother
0:34:51 > 0:34:53who was being relentlessly pursued
0:34:53 > 0:34:58by Martin's four-times great-grandfather.
0:34:58 > 0:35:00Unbelievable!
0:35:00 > 0:35:05It's amazing that we have one document that leads to this result.
0:35:05 > 0:35:08It's just astonishing
0:35:08 > 0:35:09that the connection...
0:35:11 > 0:35:14..is so far back and so intimate,
0:35:14 > 0:35:17and yet so spread apart.
0:35:17 > 0:35:20- Over two centuries.- Mm-hmm.
0:35:20 > 0:35:23- This is the Antonia...- Yeah.
0:35:23 > 0:35:28..that was so scandalised and brutalised and pursued.
0:35:28 > 0:35:31But apparently, she was able to come back to Parderrubias
0:35:31 > 0:35:36- and make a life for herself and get married.- Astonishing.
0:35:36 > 0:35:38This extraordinary young woman,
0:35:38 > 0:35:41pursued by this...
0:35:44 > 0:35:47..unbelievable figure,
0:35:47 > 0:35:51don Diego Francisco Suarez.
0:35:51 > 0:35:54Wait till Carmen gets a load of this!
0:35:57 > 0:36:00It makes me feel a bit more human
0:36:00 > 0:36:02to have uncovered
0:36:02 > 0:36:07what this dear woman, particularly,
0:36:07 > 0:36:11Antonia, did as a young, single girl, what she endured,
0:36:11 > 0:36:13and how she kept her life together
0:36:13 > 0:36:17and stayed in that community
0:36:17 > 0:36:20with all of this exposure falling on her.
0:36:20 > 0:36:23This disgrace makes me extremely proud
0:36:23 > 0:36:26to have been grown on the same tree as
0:36:26 > 0:36:30my great-great-great-great grandmother Antonia.
0:36:32 > 0:36:36Martin has one final thing left to do on his journey
0:36:36 > 0:36:40and that is to share everything he has learned with his family.
0:36:40 > 0:36:43He's travelling to the village of Parderrubias,
0:36:43 > 0:36:46where his father was born and raised,
0:36:46 > 0:36:51to meet with his sister Carmen and son Ramon.
0:36:52 > 0:36:54I've been on quite a journey
0:36:54 > 0:36:56these last few weeks,
0:36:56 > 0:36:59and I have a lot of information I need to share with you.
0:36:59 > 0:37:04To have uncovered information
0:37:04 > 0:37:07on two uncles,
0:37:07 > 0:37:09both of whom suffered imprisonment
0:37:09 > 0:37:12and ostracisation by the community,
0:37:12 > 0:37:13I didn't have a clue.
0:37:13 > 0:37:17It encourages me to continue my work in peace and justice,
0:37:17 > 0:37:20and, uh, now I have a sense
0:37:20 > 0:37:23of where that gene comes from.
0:37:23 > 0:37:28And then to have had this whole other section of the tree
0:37:28 > 0:37:30suddenly blossom before my eyes,
0:37:30 > 0:37:33where we go to Maria Gonzalez,
0:37:33 > 0:37:38who has this association with a don.
0:37:38 > 0:37:40If you had told me at the beginning of this journey
0:37:40 > 0:37:45where I was going, I wouldn't have imagined such a place.
0:37:45 > 0:37:47Tell me the name of the girl again.
0:37:47 > 0:37:51- Antonia Pereira. - And who prosecuted her?
0:37:51 > 0:37:55Don Diego Francisco Suarez.
0:37:55 > 0:37:58Your great-great-great-great grandfather.
0:37:58 > 0:38:04Are you ready to meet your great-great-great-great grandmother?
0:38:04 > 0:38:07- Tell me the name...- Oh, my God!
0:38:09 > 0:38:11Say her name.
0:38:11 > 0:38:13Antonia...
0:38:13 > 0:38:15Antonia Pereira.
0:38:15 > 0:38:21He is our great-great-great-great grandfather,
0:38:21 > 0:38:25- who prosecuted her... - And he prosecuted her.
0:38:25 > 0:38:28This is the Spain where these people live.
0:38:28 > 0:38:30- Oh, my goodness.- It's unbelievable.
0:38:30 > 0:38:33I mean, you couldn't...come up with this if you tried.
0:38:33 > 0:38:36- You couldn't.- I mean, this is, uh, unbelievable.
0:38:36 > 0:38:38It's astonishing
0:38:38 > 0:38:40that the tree has revealed
0:38:40 > 0:38:43what you couldn't have imagined
0:38:43 > 0:38:48and, if you'd written a novel with all these truths in it,
0:38:48 > 0:38:52they'd say, "Ah, it's a bit over the top." It actually happened.