Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Hitler at Munich. Franco was able to call on new arms and other supplies from Germany for
a final offensive against Catalunya.
The
fall of Barcelona
came on January 25, 1939 - the Republican parliament held its last
meeting at Figueres a few days later. Republican soldiers, cut off in the valleys of the Pyren-
ees,madetheirwayacrossthehighpassesintoFrance,joinedbywomenandchildrenfearful
of a fascist victory. Among the refugees and escapees was
LluísCompanys
, president of the
Generalitat, who was later captured in France by the Germans, returned to Spain and, under
orders from Franco, was shot at the castle prison on Montjuïc in 1940.
Catalunya in Franco's Spain
Although the Civil War left more than half a million dead, destroyed a quarter of a million
homes and sent a third of a million people (including 100,000 Catalans) into exile, Franco
was in no mood for reconciliation. With his government recognized by Allied powers, in-
cluding Britain andFrance, heset up
wartribunals
that ordered executions andcreated con-
centration camps in which upwards of two million people were held until “order” had been
established by authoritarian means.
The
Catalanlanguage
was banned again, in schools, churches, the press and in public life;
only one party was permitted, and censorship was rigorously enforced. The economy was in
ruins, and Franco did everything possible to further the cause of Madrid against Catalunya,
starving the region of investment and new industry. After
World War II
(during which the
country was too weak to be anything but neutral), Spain was economically and politically
isolated.
What saved Franco was the acceptance of
American aid
, offered on the condition that
Franco provide land forUSair bases. Prosperity increased after this, fuelled inthe 1960sand
1970s by a growing tourist industry, but Catalunya (along with the Basque Country, another
thorn in Franco's side) remained economically backward. Absentee landlords took much of
the local revenue, a situation exacerbated by Franco's policy of encouraging emigration to
Catalunya from other parts of Spain (and granting the immigrants land) in an attempt to di-
lute regional differences.
Despite the
culturalandpoliticalrepression
,the distinct Catalan identity was never really
obliterated: the Catalan Church retained a feisty independence, while Barcelona emerged as
themostimportantpublishingcentreinSpain.Clandestinelanguageandhistoryclasseswere
conducted, and artists and writers continued to produce work in defiance of the authorit-
ies. Nationalism in Catalunya, however, did not take the same course as the Basque
separ-
atist movement
, which engendered the terrorist organization ETA (Euzkadi ta Azkatasuna;
“Basque Homeland and Freedom”). There was little violence against the state in Catalun-
ya and no serious counterpart to ETA. The Catalan approach was subtler: an audience at
the Palau de la Música sang the unofficial Catalan anthem when Franco visited in 1960; a
