Any discussion of Victoriano Crémer's place in post-civil-war Spanish literature must take into account the two most prominent aspects of his career. First, Crémer was instrumental in founding and publishing Espadaña (1944-1951), which became one of the most important and influential poetry journals published in the years after the war. And second, Crémer, a product of the working class, was a poet of the people who stead-fastly defended the unfortunate and downtrodden with a passion and determination that were rare among his contemporaries.

Crémer was born into a poor family in Burgos, Spain, probably on 23 December 1909, though some sources place his birth as early as 1906 or as late as 1914. His father was a railwayman who later moved his large family to the city of León, where Crémer has lived and worked ever since.

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