civil war in les preses - cooltur.org€¦ · - 1936-1939 as the government of the popular front,...

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CIVIL WAR IN LES PRESES

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TOURISTIC TOUR OF COOLTUR CULTURAL TOURISM

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THE SECOND REPUBLIC

On April 14, 1931, the Second Republic was proclaimed in Spain, after King

Alfonso XIII left the country to emigrate to Italy. With the proclamation of the

new democratic regime, a new Constitution was drafted on 9 December 1931,

which marked a separation, until then non-existent, between Church and State,

and also accepted regional autonomies (with the approval of the Statutes of

Autonomy of Catalonia, 9 September 1932, Euskadi, October 1936, and

Galicia, 1 February 1938).

We can divide the Second Republic into three very clear phases:

- 1931-1933 as a Reforming Biennium, where the new government of the

Republic implemented a large number of reforms. Among these reforms are the

improvement of labour rights, a reform of the army, the creation of a law for

divorce, the secularisation of cemeteries (making cemeteries public and not

ecclesiastical places), the dissolution of the Society of Jesus, the construction of

new schools (with a change in the education law, ceasing to segregate classes

on the basis of sex), etc. All these reforms were strongly criticized by right-wing

ideological parties, as well as by the church and the army, without receiving

much support from the working classes. This Government, moreover, had to

face some attempt of military uprising.

- 1933-1936 as a Black Biennium, where the new Government of the Republic

was formed by right-wing political formations. During this biennium, the new

Government paralyzed all the reforms made during the first biennium. In

addition, this government had to deal with the uprising of the Asturian miners,

as well as the revolt, known as the October Acts, which took place in Catalonia

(in which the Statute of Autonomy was suspended, and the representatives of

the Government of the Generalitat were imprisoned after Lluís Companys

proclaimed the Catalan State within a Spanish Federal Republic).

- 1936-1939 as the Government of the Popular Front, where the left-wing

parties recover the Government, and restart the reforms begun in 1931. This is

the government that had to manage the entire Civil War after the attempted, half

frustrated, coup d'état by conservative sectors of the army.

ONSET OF WAR

On July 19, 1936, two days after it had happened with the Moroccan troops,

there was a military uprising in Catalonia. This revolt was stopped thanks to the

forces of public order and groups of the different popular militias (formed by

militants of different political parties and trade unions, as well as volunteers).

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Although in Catalonia, as in other Spanish regions, the uprising could be

stopped, it triumphed in other parts of the territory, and thus began the Spanish

Civil War.

The Government of the Republic, seeing the military uprising, signed some

decrees dissolving all the units of the Army that took part in the revolt, and the

licensing of all the troops that had been placed against the republican legality.

This government decision left the state with practically no army personnel. In

addition, most of the army chiefs who had rebelled were executed by the

popular militias.

The disappearance of the army, together with an increase in the armed civilian

population, led to a total collapse of the public administration, which was

replaced, during a brief period of confusion, local and regional, formed by

heavily armed civilian people.

During these days, the prisons of Catalonia were opened, freeing the prisoners

there were (most were common criminals) to fill them with right-wing people,

religious, military, mass people, etc (all were detained for their ideas and

beliefs). This repression was done using legal methods that existed. However,

some 8500 people were killed by the "uncontrolled" acting on their own. The

Generalitat tried to prevent these killings, as well as the destruction of religious

buildings, archives, libraries and religious treasures by giving passports and

protecting the exit of thousands of people, and using religious buildings to

prevent their destruction. In certain towns and cities, moreover, the local

committees also managed to save some buildings, such as Girona Cathedral,

La Seu d'Urgell, Tarragona Cathedral, etc. However, religious practice was

reduced to clandestinely, bringing Catalan Catholic opinion closer to Francoism.

To try to redress this situation of great disorder, on July 20, 36, President

Companys met with the union leaders to try to reach an agreement. He first

admitted to them the merit of the victory over the rebellious army, and

apologized for the repression these organizations might have suffered in the

past. In addition, he also offered them power (knowing that they could not

accept) and proposed to them to create a Central Committee of Antifascist

Militias, a body that was accepted by the CNT-FAI. On 27 November 1936,

when the CNT-FAI decided to join the Government, the Central Committee of

Antifascist Militias was dissolved, once again establishing the power of the

Government of the Generalitat. In this agreement, the Generalitat of Catalonia

was formed by three representatives of the CNT, two of the FAI, three of

Esquerra Republicana de Catalunya (ERC), three of UGT and one by Acció

Catalana Republicana, Unión de Rabassaires, PSUC and POUM.

In addition, from the outset, different militia groups (volunteers) went to fight in

Aragon, with the idea of recovering Zaragoza. All these columns were formed

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by volunteers who wanted to fight against fascism, and others anxious to use

the weapons taken. These groups, without military training, were advised by

some military chief, and obtained the first victories on the battlefield.

Once again the Generalitat took control of the situation, attempted to regularize

all the collectivisations of companies that the committees had made, as well as

attempting to investigate and prosecute all those murders that the

revolutionaries had perpetrated without a legal trial.

During the war, the great ideological divergences of all the political forces acting

in Catalonia (anarchists, communists and socialists), exploded on May 3, 1937,

giving way to the well-known "May Facts", creating a War within the War,

where communist groups clashed with the Generalitat, at the same time as the

CNT clashed with the POUM. These events took place in Barcelona and lasted

a week, leaving about 280 dead. Once the events of May were controlled, a

new General Council was formed, which lasted until the end of the War, when

the CNT ceased to have representation.

LES PRESES

Les Preses is a municipality of La Garrotxa that is located in the North of the

Valley d'en Bas, very close to Olot. In 1936 its main urban nucleus was Sant

Pere de les Preses (currently Les Preses), but it also included other

neighbourhoods such as Vall del Corb. The total number of inhabitants that year

was 1,142, including the village, neighbours and dispersed farmhouses. In

general it was a municipality dedicated to livestock and agriculture and, to a

lesser extent, to forestry exploitation. An entity that marked the development

and municipal policy of those years was the Agricultural Union, founded in 1907

and that when the war broke out had about 200 members. The Union was

politically linked to the Rabasaires Union. Other forces present in Les Preses

were ERC with 78 members and the CNT with 60.

From COOLTUR Cultural Tourism we want to propose you a tour through

Les Preses to discover the years of the War, as well as the seizure of the

village by the coup troops commanded by General Franco, thus initiating

the Franco dictatorship in this village.

We will begin this tour in the Major Street num. 1

Town Hall

We will begin our tour in front of the old Town Hall of Les Preses, in order to

follow the politics of those years of war.

After a period of uncertainties, on August 16, 1936 it was decided to constitute

an Anti-Fascist Executive Committee to stabilize the municipality and start the

revolution. Fortunately, a few years ago the Founding Act of the Committee was

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found in the Archives of

Salamanca. The

Document is dated August

20 and includes the list of

the 12 people who formed

it: 5 members of the Union

of Rabasaires, 2 of the

CNT, 1 of the POUM, 1 of

ERC, 1 of the UGT and

two soldiers of the 1935

Levy.

Throughout the month of

September, the Committee and the Union protected the expropriation, and

subsequent distribution, of the municipality's lands in a relatively peaceful

manner. In other nearby centres, such as La Pinya, riots were registered due to

collectivisations.

On 10 October, following the directives of the Generalitat, the Committee was

dissolved and a new Town Hall was set up, made up of 3 councillors from ERC,

3 from the CNT, 2 from the PSUC, 1 from Catalan Action and 1 from the Union

of Rabasaires (Union). The mayor, also of Union of Rabasaires, was Miquel

Castey Rovira.

That same month of October, the City Council undertook the collective

exploitation of the forests, paying 25 pesetas a day to the villagers who cut

down trees. This allowed many inhabitants to get out of unemployment and to

give subsistence to the families. Many of these forests belonged to Can Mata

but, with the escape of the owners, they were confiscated by the Town Hall.

This practice ended in May 1937. Another initiative to occupy people from

forced unemployment and refugees was the construction of the road to the

neighbourhood of Corb, one of the most populated and poorly communicated at

that time.

The calls to fifths forced to modify several times the composition of the Town

Hall.

The first calls were in December 1936 and January 23, 1937, where Miquel

Castey left the mayor's office, which passed to Miquel Serra Planella, also

member of the Rabasaires Union.

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On 26 June 1937, like

most Catalan

municipalities, Les

Preses allocated an

amount of 2,000

pesetas to the issue

of local currency to

address the lack of

liquidity. Specifically,

notes were printed

with a value of one

peseta (one thousand

pesetas in total), fifty

and 25 cents (one thousand pesetas in total), which carried the coat of arms of

Catalonia. This coin only had value in the municipal sphere, in order to avoid

the lack of liquidity provoking the exchange as a means of transaction. In this

respect, the City Council necessarily took control of the distribution of bread and

the fixing of its price (3 pounds of bread made with 10 kg of flour would be sold

for 1 peseta), the control of milk, cereal (wheat and corn) and, late in the war,

the slaughter of the pig. All these facts generated several conflicts with the

citizens, and in some occasions, having to fine them for non-compliance with

the rules. To transport supplies and other materials, the City Council

requisitioned two cars and a truck, the latter ceded to the Agrarian Union. The

truck in question was requisitioned by the People's Army in Olot on 21 June

1938.

In the military aspect, in Les Preses there were no combats or bombardments

of entity and, therefore, it was not necessary to mount an active and / or passive

defensive system. The Town Hall was in charge of communicating to the fifths

that they presented themselves in the nearest Instruction Centre to enlist in the

Republican Army. In the case of Les Preses, the corresponding centre was the

former Collell seminary. In Les Preses a municipal tax was created for the fifths,

so that each young person called to rows received 200 pesetas from the City

Council, to provide themselves with clothes or complementary material. This tax

recorded, above all, the families with deserters. The majority of right-wing or

Catholic youth fled at the beginning of the war, but there were also many who

fled from home when they were fifth graders so as not to go to the front. In Les

Preses there were many young people hidden in the forest ("the ambushes")

and in isolated farmhouses.

In general, the City Council of Les Preses undertook many initiatives to improve

the lives of its inhabitants. Examples are the Corb road and the public logging,

which we have already seen, but also the creation of a nursery, bring electricity

to the neighbourhood of Corb, create a school in that neighbourhood or build a

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sports field in a free space

between Cal Castey and Mas

Fluvià. As it is a municipal

boundary, we have received

news about the complaints of

the farmers of Sant Privat

about the balls that their crops

received when they were next

to the football field.

Miquel Castey Rovira, ex-

mayor and peasant linked to the Union of Rabasaires and ERC, was arrested

by the Franquist troops, imprisoned in Girona and condemned in a War Council.

Four more neighbours were arrested and sentenced to prison, but only one had

political affiliation and had been a councillor and soldier during the war. Miquel

Castey was shot and buried in the Girona cemetery on 12 May 1939. He was

78 years old and sick.

Move a few metres back along Major Street

Convent "Ca les Monges" (Present Town Hall)

From the autumn of 1936, a

flood of refugees began to

arrive in Catalonia. The war

pushed many people to flee

the fighting and subsequent

repression. The Generalitat

was the organism that

assumed the lodging and the

maintenance of the refugees

that arrived in Catalonia. On

many occasions, the Generalitat entrusted the local councils with the local

management of this task. In principle, in 1936 it was established that the

municipalities would receive the number of refugees corresponding to 10% of

the total registered inhabitants. Throughout the war this rule was exceeded by

far.

In the case of Les Preses, which in 1936 had 1,142 inhabitants, the maximum

was reached in April 1938 with 117 registered refugees. Surely from this date

and especially during the retreat during the winter of 1939, the number

increased. In addition, it should be borne in mind that the 1936 census

corresponds to the entire municipality, including farmhouses and

neighbourhoods. The refugees, however, were housed in the nucleus of Sant

Pere and, therefore, the feeling of having many refugees was more evident.

1 Old football field

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The first refugees arrived at the end of 1936 and there were 20 or 22 people

who were accommodated in the houses of the deserters. On the 9th of October

1937 there were already 100 or 102 refugees in the village and the Town Hall

decided to create a Refuge for the displaced. The building of the convent of

nuns (old schools), confiscated by the Committee at the beginning of the war,

was used to locate this accommodation centre. At the time of adapting them to

the refugees, only a newly created municipal nursery was located in the

building. This Centre was maintained by the Town Hall as well as possible.

There are many municipal campaigns to get potatoes, warm clothes, and wine

and even to pay for burials of children who died of diseases. As we said, in April

1938 there were already 117 refugees and it seems that the number increased.

With the capacity to the limit, the tension in the Refuge exploded the 2 of

October of 1938, causing an incident and disturbances due to the bad

distribution of the food. The Town Hall stopped the person in charge of

distributing the food and replaced it with another one.

We don't know much more about the refugees at the end of the war, but the

census of Les Preses in 1940 was 1,178 inhabitants, 36 more people. This

leads us to think that, subtracting the casualties from the war and the

subsequent repression, quite a few refugees decided to stay and rebuild their

lives in Les Preses, where they shared so many hardships with the locals.

Advance a few meters along the street Major to the square Major

Church of Sant Pere

Lawyer to Saint Peter the 922 A.D. ended up

giving name to the entire town. Consecrated in

1119, it collapsed due to the earthquakes of 1427-

28. Mostly rebuilt during the nineteenth century,

this church has a double bell tower inaugurated in

1911. Looted in July 1936, but probably little

damaged. As far as we know, during the spring of

1938 it served as a bedroom for one or two

platoons of the Special Sections of the 15th

International Brigade during their training. It was

restored after the war.

We can see Can Mata in the same square

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Can Mata

Large house that occupies part

of the Major Square,

documented in 971. Former

landowners and mayors of Les

Preses lived in this house.

During the 19th century, it was

the residence of notaries,

solicitors and Carlist generals. A

legend even attributes it to be

the origin of the village, founded

by a nobleman of the Empúries

lineage. It is a very elongated

building of considerable dimensions with a two-sided roof. On the main façade

there is a lintel doorway overlooking the street. There are also windows of

carved stone. In the part of this façade there is a gallery and a corridor - bridge

that joins the building, making some arcades, to an older part. Most of the

construction dates from the XVII-XVIII century. During the years 1937 and 1938

it housed part of the General Staff of the Air Force Camp. In spring 1938 also

resided the commanders of the XV International Brigade, it even seems that its

political commissioner Josif Broz stayed for a few weeks. During the Second

World War, Josif Broz was best known by his war name: Marshal Tito, who

presided over Yugoslavia until 1980. The soldiers housed in the various

buildings of Can Mata numbered almost a hundred people, including officers,

airmen and military "camouflaged" (special section). They had no contact with

the civilian population of Les Preses.

From the Major Square we take the street of the Hospital (left looking at the

Church) until the Hospital

92m

Hospital

Old Hospital of Les Preses, founded during the 18th century. Today it is a camp

house. During the war, the Town

Hall tried to start up the hospital.

The consistory assumed the cost

of doctors and medicines both for

people in need and for refugees.

The burials of many people were

also assumed from the municipal

coffers. In addition, it was a

municipal function to

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communicate to the families the deaths of the natural soldiers of Les Preses

fallen in the front of war.

Continue along the same street from the Hospital to the farmhouse next to the

cemetery.

56m

Cal Bord

In this house, which during

the war was dedicated to

cattle breeding, 16 members

of the Special Section of the

XV International Brigade or

"Death Section" were housed

during the spring of 1938. Of

different nationalities, they

were commanded by a

Frenchman of Spanish origin

and slept and ate in the attic

of the house. Approximately,

from March 14 to April 14, those men received guerrilla training to be deployed

on the Ebre River. Mountain marches, river crossings, blasting, hand-to-hand

combat... Every afternoon they went to Olot to distract themselves. The family

of three generations that welcomed them were breeders sympathizers of the

Republic and resided in the other floors of the house. When the war was over,

the Franquists executed two members of the family and requisitioned the

haystack to keep barbed wire, to put obstacles in the mountains, in the direction

of France. Once escaped from a work camp, the French officer escaped to

France the winter of 1940, not without spending a few days hiding in this house

that he knew well and leaving a good amount of money to the family.

Walk along the street of the Hospital to the intersection with the street Mata

56m

Continue along La Mata street until the crossroads with Sant Francesc street,

just after the La Bòbila School.

190m

Follow a few meters the street of Sant Francesc until it becomes the path of

Bellaire

600m

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Continue along the Bellaire path, which joins the Carrilet greenway until we see

the anti-aircraft shelters on the other side of the road.

850m

Airfield

Like many other Civil War airfields,

the Les Preses airfield was a

secondary or support runway. This

means that it was used to move

planes from one base to another or

to test planes or pilots. Work began

in the spring of 1937, and was

located between the river Fluvià

and the road to Olot, the Mas

Verntallat and the road to Sant

Sebastià. Most of the affected

farmhouses and fields were evicted

and confiscated. The landing strip

was made of earth and was

crossed by a drainage irrigation system made of stone, with a flow of about 2

metres. A small stream from Les Preses flowed into this irrigation and the canal

carried the water to the river Fluvià. In spite of this infrastructure, normally the

Field was very muddy. Both the construction and the maintenance of the airstrip

were the responsibility of the fascist prisoners of war in the SIM prison camp at

Hostalets d'en Bas. These prisoners were sent by the cruel captain Francisco

Martínez Hidalgo, who ordered tools from the Town Hall of Les Preses in May

1938. The only two occasions when the Camp entered service, as far as is

known, a landing plane was blocked by excessive mud on the runway. Given

that many confiscations affected fields cultivated by farmers of Sant Privat d'en

Bas, we have news that in June 1938 a farmer of this term asked to cultivate in

the football field. Let us remember that the land located between Mas Fluvià

and Can Castey was newly built, but by mid 1938 was no longer used, as the

young people of the village were all on the front.

Cross the C-152 road to the entrance of the refuge

Antiaircraft Shelter 1

The anti-aircraft shelters are part of the

Air Force Field. Initially, 4 were built to

give protection to the airfield personnel

in case of air attack. The construction

is simple but effective and the typology

varies according to its adaptation to the

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ground and the water table of the landing strip,

which rises as we approach towards the North.

This first refuge is a semi-subterranean concrete

corridor with two accesses with stairs and vaulted

roofs.

Continue a few meters next to the C-152 road to find a dirt track to the right, we

take it to reach the river Fluvià.

150m

At the edge of the river, take the path that goes along the verge to the right,

going up the course of the river and crossing it a couple of times until you find

the asphalted road. Cross the ford to the Pas de la Torre house.

1, 2 km

Pas de la Torre

Old house with an annexed

construction (today only two walls

remain). Evicted during the

construction of the airfield, a

telephone switchboard was installed to

communicate the different facilities

with the Barcelona command. The way

(Today Street) of the Pas de la Torre

that goes towards Sant Privat was very

restricted by the military, which put a

control.

Being one of the best fords of the river

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Fluvià, the sector served to prepare the Special Sections of the International

Brigades for the passage of the river Ebro.

Continue along Pas de la Torre street until we found Pintor Dalt street on the

left.

350m

Continue along Pintor Dalt street until you reach the crossroads with Pau

Casals street.

450m

Turn left into Pau Casals street and continue to Sant Sebastià street.

140m

Turn left into Sant Sebastià street until the entrance to the second anti-aircraft

shelter.

32m

Antiaircraft Shelter 2

This second refuge, the

northernmost in the airfield, is the

highest in relation to the terrain. It

consists of a single entrance at an

angle and a little-buried corridor with

an opening at the end. It must be

said that these shelters would not

withstand a direct aerial

bombardment in every rule; they are

more designed to withstand a machine-

gunning of the runway, to touch the

airplanes and ground personnel.

Therefore, the distribution of the 4

shelters along the airfield was intended

to prevent these occasional machine-

guns.

Continue along Sant Sebastià street until we see the Mas Verntallat

450m

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Mas Verntallat

Farmhouse documented in the

twelfth century, very reformed

during the eighteenth century. Its

towers with loopholes and its belfry

stand out. It was the residence of

the lineage of the famous Francisco

de Verntallat, who commanded the

Remenses peasants during the

Catalan Civil War of the 15th

century. During the Spanish Civil

War it was confiscated by the

People's Army and evicted to install the Runway Control, taking advantage of

the fact that it was at the northern

limit of the airfield. This farmhouse

housed the main plane of the air

forces destined to Les Preses. In a

nearby poplar grove the airplanes

were parked, taking advantage of

the little camouflage given by the

trees. The airplanes were always

placed in a draw, to avoid being

machine-gunned in line and in a

single pass by an enemy plane.

Turn around and continue along Sant Sebastià Street towards the centre of Les

Preses, crossing the road. Follow the street that turns right. Finally Sant

Sebastià Street becomes Major Street.

1.0km

Follow the street Major until the Town hall of Les Preses

50m

Major Street - Current Town Hall

Finally, in January 1939 Catalonia fell under the control of the Franquist Army.

We don't have much news of Les Preses as the Town Hall stopped meeting

and, therefore, no minutes were made. On February 5th the fascist planes

bombed the railway station on the outskirts of Olot and caused three victims.

The Airfield was no longer operational and the attack went unpunished. On

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February 6 the enemy artillery was placed on the

heights of the mountain range that separates the

Vall d'en Bas from Osona and opened fire to

cover the descent of Franco's soldiers. On the

seventh day the Moroccans and the 82nd Division

of the "Cuerpo del Maestrazgo" occupied Les

Preses and Olot. Some inhabitants of Les Preses

joined the Republican military staying in the

village and set out on the road of exile, which

passed through Olot and Beget, towards France.

From COOLTUR Cultural Tourism we hope that you have enjoyed this

tourist tour, and that you will have a good day.

civil war in les preses - cooltur.org€¦ · - 1936-1939 as the government of the popular front,...

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