The University of Salamanca has awarded the posthumous honoris causa to the famous intellectual Miguel de Unamuno, who was its rector three times, in reparation for the exile in Fuerteventura imposed on him by Primo de Rivera and which celebrated one hundred years in February.
The honoris has been received in his name by three of his grandchildren, who have thanked this recognition as an “act of reparation for the unjust exile” that their grandfather suffered on February 20, 1924 due to his criticism of the dictatorship of Primo de Rivera. .
“This honorary has been his for a century, when he was facing repressive power,” said, visibly moved, Miguel de Unamuno Adarraga, one of the only two grandchildren who got to know him and who are still alive.
Another of his granddaughters, Salomé de Unamuno Adarraga, has expressed how important this recognition is for the family of the former rector, who managed to meet six grandchildren of the thirteen he had.
The youngest of all, Pablo de Unamuno, acted as sponsor of the event and therefore gave the laudatio – the speech on merits -, a defense of his grandfather’s freedom of thought, his civic and social commitment, as well as as well as his extensive and complete intellectual activity.
“He did not like being given labels. As a prominent representative of the generation of ’98, he was a free thinker, independently of political parties, something that did not distance him from concern for the collective good,” he highlighted.
The University of Salamanca was the only destination in the academic life of Unamuno, who prioritized his teaching activity over all others and was rector for a total of 16 years separated into three periods between 1900 and 1936, always dismissed by the rulers of the moment.
“When he arrives here he finds a dormant, stagnant, lazy institution. He goes so far as to comment in a letter that everything goes to this university in commissions, masses, masquerades and ceremonies,” said his grandson, to also remember that he was He pointed out “for being Basque and for being a socialist” when he confronted “the illiberal right with his liberal style.”
In his speech, the current rector, Ricardo Rivero, solemnly stated that “Unamuno saved the University of Salamanca.” “We must remember the situation that he found, with a law that had harmed the study and had concentrated the doctorate in Madrid,” said the rector.
“Today we recognize in this university the most coherent of its professors, its most complete rector, the most audacious intellectual of his time, personal traits that would cost him exile and many other regrets, but that also made him a hero in capital letters and That’s why we continue to remember him,” he said.
Rivero has spoken of Unamuno as the “perpetual rector” of the University of Salamanca, where the campus is named. The rectory is his house-museum and even the sports center is named after him, something that the writer “would have liked” because of his love for physical activity.
“Perhaps (this honoris) could have been approved earlier, but there has been unanimity and we have expressed our respect and admiration for Don Miguel to this day,” he stressed in reference to this recognition, the highest honor that the university can give.
