ABSTRACT
Several of the leading clinicians whose names recur throughout the references have left memoirs that illuminate either their professional practice or the political climate in which they conducted it or both. Details of others who may have left scattered writings but little of a biographical nature are available from other sources, and often shed light on an epoch that has until recently been shrouded in darkness. And others, whether particularly eminent or not, lived through a sequence of events that were dramatic and that prompt the unspoken question, “What would I have done in such dreadful circumstances?” Some of their stories are briefly recounted here, in no particular order, since some of them owed their allegiance to one side, some to another, some had no known political views, and some of them deliberately changed sides during the war. The selection is, of necessity, rather arbitrary, and has been dictated by the availability of material and therefore omits many notable practitioners, active during the conflict, who are either already well known to the Anglo-Saxon literature or remain cloaked in obscurity. It also goes without saying that autobiographical material is even more susceptible than accounts by other observers to the charges of economy with the truth, particularly if written shortly after the events described, and of self-justification, if written in old age. Nevertheless, these stories paint vivid pictures of life during the war and often help to clarify the state of medicine in Spain both prior to and in the aftermath of, as well as during the conflict. Except where otherwise stated, they are based on the biographies or autobiographies cited in the references, and the date of their publication often reflects the comparatively recent emergence of Spain from dictatorship. No apology is offered for relating in greater detail those accounts that are less readily accessible to English-speaking readers.
