Manuel Chaves Nogales was always there where the news was: in the fratricidal Spain of 1936, in Bolshevik Russia, in fascist Italy, in nazi Germany, at a perishing Paris or at the London wrapped in flames of World War II. His job was walking and telling. At a time when you had to take sides if you didn't want to be set aside yourself, he used the written word to fight against the different forms of totalitarianism which were ravaging Europe. But Chaves always remained independent and that is precisely the reason why he was forgotten for more than half a century.