Francoist Catalonia
[3] Francoism meant, in Catalonia as with the rest of Spain, the cancellation of democratic freedoms, the prohibition and persecution of political parties (except the Falange Espanyola Tradicionalista i de les JONS), the closure of the free press, and the elimination of leftist organisations.
A close friend of Franco, Victor Ruiz Albéniz, published an article in which he demanded that Catalonia receive "a Biblical punishment (Sodom and Gomarrah) to purify the red city, the headquarters of anarchism and separatism as the only remedy to remove these two cancers by relentless cauterisation" ("un castigo bíblico (Sodoma y Gomorra) para purificar la ciudad roja, la sede del anarquismo y separatismo como único remedio para extirpar esos dos cánceres por termocauterio implacable"), while for Serrano Suñer, brother-in-law of Franco and Minister of the Interior, Catalan nationalism was "an illness" ("una enfermedad.")
The man appointed as civil governor of Barcelona, Wenceslao González Oliveros, said that "Spain was raised, with as much or more force against the dismembered statutes as against Communism and that any tolerance of regionalism would again lead to the same processes of putrefaction that we have just surgically removed."
In short, the most diverse forms of repression: political, social, labor, ideological, and in the case of Catalonia, in an attempt of cultural genocide that sought to do away with its specific national personality...The confluence between Spanish regenerationism and the degenerationist theories originated in France and Great Britain must also be considered.
The Catalan industrial wealth cannot be tolerated either, and Catalonia is accused of having a favorable treatment, impoverishing the rest of the Spaniards, in a behavior that is described as Semitic (according to the National-Socialist ideology to use work as a means to exploit and subjugate nations).
Franco i els artifex de l'odi",[6] a number of characters theorized about "anti-Spain", pointing to enemies, and in this sense accused politicians and republican intellectuals of being of Jewish race or servants of the same as masons.
The degeneration of individuals calls for a cleansing if it wants a prosperous and leading nation, capable of building an empire, one of the obsessions of Franco (as well as other totalitarian regimes of the time).
The use of Catalan language was further reduced due to migration of Spanish speakers in the 20th century, particularly in the 1960s and 1970s, from the rest of Spain, especially Andalusia and Extremadura, who were for the most part concentrated around metropolitan Barcelona.
The Catalan-Valencian-Balearic Dictionary began publication in 1949 and was completed in 1962 by the philologist Francesc de Borja Moll, who became a campaigner in Catalan-speaking territories, to defend the unity of the language and affirm Catalan identity.
In 1936, André Breton expelled Dalí from his surrealistic circle due to his fascist tendencies, leaving the artist as one of the few intellectuals who supported Franco after the Spanish Civil War.
Juan Antonio Samaranch, a member of the FET y de las JONS from a very young age, began his political career on the Barcelona City Council when he was appointed Sports Councilor in 1955.
[16][17] Josep Gomis i Martí of Montblanc (1934), had broad and prolific career: twenty-five years at the Montblanc Town Hall, sixteen as mayor (1964–1980), provincial deputy, Solicitor in the Cortes, President of the Provincial Council of Tarragona (1980–88), Member of the Cortes for the Convergència i Unió (CiU), (1982 and 1986 legislatures), Government Minister of the Generalitat de Catalunya (1988–92), delegate of the Government of the Generalitat in Madrid (1993–2002) and president of the Social Council of the Rovira i Virgili University (2002–04).
In contrast, Josep Sunyol, also president of FC Barcelona and a prominent militant of the Republican Left of Catalonia, was shot on August 6, 1936, in the Sierra de Guadarrama without trial by Francoist troops.
Two months before the International Eucharistic Congress, held in Barcelona, there were still five executions in Camp de la Bóta (1952) and for years the Law on Political Responsibilities and the repression of masonry and communism would continue in force.
The network of police and judicial repression was put in place to face workers' protests, and to carry out the control and censorship of publications, theatre, cinema and teaching.
Repression of the movement was extremely difficult due to the peaceful nature of the strike, the involvement of several and new social sectors, participation in the boycott of some Falangists, the weakness of the governor, Eduardo Baeza Alegría, and the explicit refusal by the general captain to intervene, arguing that he "could not shoot on citizens who simply did not take a means of transport".
[20] A similar strike was repeated in 1957, which lasted for 12 days and had the support of the intellectual world headed by Jaume Vicens i Vives, and also featured characters such as Josep Benet, Maurici Serrahima, Edmon Vallès, Santiago Nadal, Salvador Millet, and Rafael Tasis.
[21][22] The maquis were French Resistance groups who, hidden in sparsely populated regions, forests, or mountains, fought against the German occupation of France during World War II.
By extension, the Spanish Maquis,[23] refers to armed groups in Spain, especially in the Cantabrian Mountains, the Pyrenees, Catalonia, Valencia, Aragon and Andalusia, who opposed Franco's regime after the Civil War.
At the end of the sentence he returned to Spain on December 30, 1959, accompanied by four other companions: Antoni Miracle Guitart, Rogelio Madrigal Torres, Francesc Conesa Alcaraz and Martí Ruiz Montoya.
On the night of August 6/7, he was shot dead by the Guardia Civil at the abandoned farmhouse of La Creu del Perelló, between Castellnou de Bages and Balsareny.
Total repression was counterproductive to the government's image because it demonstrated that only force guaranteed stability, but a certain level of tolerance was equivalent to weakness and only favoured the expression of discontent.
[29] The festival of the palace took place at the Palau de la Música Catalana on May 19, 1960, during the tribute to the centenary of the birth of Catalan poet Joan Maragall organized by the Orfeó Català with Franco's Ministers.
[32] The main reason given by the Minister of Interior, Camilo Alonso Vega, to adopt these measures was a "conspiracy" by the so-called "Contuberni de Munic", a meeting of 118 opponents of the regime that took place in Munich within the framework of the IV Congress of the European International Movement.
The state of emergency served the regime to deal with a series of strikes, the consolidation of ETA and to stop the rebellion of the student movement against the Spanish University Union.
[35] The origin of the Nova Cançó was an article by Lluís Serrahima titled "ens calen cançons d'ara" (we need songs from now), published in January 1959 in the magazine Germinábit, later Serra d'Or.
On December 19, 1961, at The Center for Female Catholic Influence of Barcelona, where Miquel Porter and Josep Maria Espinàs sang, the term Nova Cançó was coined.
More than 500 people, especially students, but also teachers and 33 intellectuals and artists such as Jordi Rubió, Joan Oliver, Salvador Espriu, Antoni Tàpies and Maria Aurèlia Capmany, met at Sarrià.
On December 12, 1970, in the Abbey of Montserrat, 300 Catalan intellectuals gathered: writers, singers, journalists, painters, actors, filmmakers, thespians, editors, cultural professionals, and other people with a recognized political commitment.
On November 25, 2015, Òmnium Cultural organised a condemnation of crimes of Francoism and a homage to its victims, supported by the Democratic Memorial (Generalitat de Catalunya) and the City Council of Barcelona.
