Putting names to the faces in iconic Civil War photographs

A police officer is pictured shooting his rifle from behind a barricade of dead horses in Barcelona, on July 19, 1936 - just a few hours after the beginning of the military uprising that led to the Spanish Civil War (1936-1939). The shot was taken by Agustí Centelles, Spain's answer to Robert Capa, and soon became an iconic image of the war, making the cover of foreign media such as Newsweek .

The photo caption, however, only talked about "a man behind a barricade" and "a defender of the Republic." Now we know that his name was Mariano Vitini, and that Centelles' children, Sergi and Octavi, have given a copy of the famous photo to Vitini's daughter and grandchildren, 75 years after the event, at the very same spot where it was taken.

"The photograph circled the globe, but nobody knew it was my grandfather"

"Both my mother and my aunt are very excited about it. The photograph circled the globe as an icon of the Spanish Civil War, but nobody knew it was my grandfather. We'd seen [the picture] in shows, books, the media..." says Ana Vitini. Now they have their own copy, to put up in their living room.

Mariano Vitini was 28 years old on July 19, 1936. He had already met Ana's grandmother María Luisa, but did not marry her until nearly 40 years later. "My grandmother was going to get a divorce, but the war broke out and she couldn't any more. She had two daughters with my grandfather and they didn't get married until much later. All their grandchildren went to the wedding," recalls Ana Vitini.

Mariano did not like to talk about the war. "He always said it had cost him two brothers." José and Luis were executed by Francoist forces in 1944 and 1945. The first was 33 and after fighting in Spain, he also fought the Nazis in World War II. After the liberation of France, he returned to Spain to try to help do the same here, but was arrested for organizing an attack against a Falange delegation in Madrid and was executed at Carabanchel penitentiary. Luis was 21 and tried to follow in his brother's footsteps. He was also caught, while breaking into a beer factory to obtain funds for weapons, and was executed after a court-martial at Camp de la Bota. Both brothers have a street named after them in Paris.

The children of Agustí Centelles are trying to identify all the people that his father captured on film. Not long ago they managed to put a name to a black man who served in the International Brigades' Lincoln Battalion. He turned out to be Cuban, and went by the nickname of Cuba Hermosa.

"Mariano Vitini and my father were republicans to the core - they were on the same side," explains Octavi Centelles. "By bringing both families together, we are also bringing 1936 closer to 2011, and turning a document into a story."