Death and funeral of Buenaventura Durruti

Buenaventura Durruti, a Spanish anarchist revolutionary and leader of the confederal militias during the Spanish Civil War, was fatally shot on 19 November 1936 during the battle of Ciudad Universitaria and died the following day, at the age of 40.

At that time, the situation on the frontlines had deteriorated, with fierce fighting between the Nationalists and the Durruti Column over the University City's Hospital Clinic. Durruti went from the Column's headquarters to rally his men at the front, and was struck by a bullet when he got out of his car. He was subsequently rushed to the Column's military hospital at the Hotel Ritz Madrid, where doctors concluded his wound was fatal and decided not to operate. His body was embalmed and transported to Barcelona for his funeral, which was held on 23 November. The funeral procession passed from Via Laietana through the city to the Columbus Monument, where Catalan President Lluís Companys and Justice Minister Joan Garcia Oliver gave the eulogies. Half a million people attended the funeral, which slowed the pace of the procession along its way to Montjuïc Cemetery and prevented Durruti's coffin from being buried until the following day.

Rumours and conflicting testimony shroud Durruti's death in mystery. According to the eyewitnesses present, the bullet was fired from the Hospital Clinic by Nationalists. Some militiamen of the Durruti Column alleged it was fired from the Moncloa Plaza by fifth columnists. Others suspected that Durruti was assassinated by the NKVD. Stalinist historiography differs, claiming that Durruti was killed by his own insubordinate men outside the Modelo Prison on 21 November. Nationalist radio stations also spread contradictory narratives about Durruti's death. An anonymous journalist for The Times claimed he was killed by the Friends of Durruti Group on Gran Vía. A later story published by Durruti's secretary Jesús Arnal held that the bullet was fired accidentally from Durruti's own gun. Durruti's biographer Abel Paz disputes the latter three narratives but does not to come to a solid conclusion about what happened.