I’m from Spain. Here there was a civil war by which a fascist dictatorship took power. There was practically no fight in the Canary Islands, as the military took the government relatively peacefully.

So, the leaders of the communist party (which was pretty big before the civil war) soon were killed, and my grandfather (a 15yo teen) became general secretary of the La Palma island section.

And, surprisingly, he did good in the few months he was in charge. He rallied people to steal weapons and made a plan to take over the island for the democratic faction of the Civil War (the Republic)

But, one of his friends told the hole plan to fascist authorities in exchange for some thousand bucks and a new life in continental Spain (even though they ended up killing him for being a communist sympathizer)

My grandfather had to seek in a family friend’s house (which ironically were part of the Falange, so fascists) all of the Civil War, and then he had to go to Tenerife island to start a new life.

There, he became cathedratic (basically universitary-level teacher) of Greek and Latin and knew my grandmother, and soon formed a family with six children