I’m curious as to the relationship–if any–between Manuel Girona i Agrafel, who has a street on one side of Avinguda de Pedralbes, and “Jordi Girona”, whose street on the other side of Av de P takes up more or less where Manuel Girona leaves off. Also as to how Jorge Girona Salgado, or, as the ruling nationalists prefer, Jordi Girona, managed to keep his street (the Avenida de la Victoria lost its to Pedralbes) despite his being one of the 1936 coup plotters. Family connections?

The council catalanises Jorge’s name according to current administrative fashion, but at least they don’t lie about him, as they have done in the case of Francesc Darder, whose street is a few hundred metres uphill. This isn’t named after an obscure eighteenth century monk at all, but after the Barcelona zoo director who purchased a stuffed African from French dealers in exotic dugup and shotdead flora and fauna and, after exhibiting him at the 1888 Exposition, donated him to a museum in conservative Banyoles. There he remained–blacked up, penis stiffened, spear at the ready–until 2000, helping visiting parties of schoolchildren understand the crucial differences between niggers, chinkies and decent white folk. Maybe that’s the kind of historical memory we’re not meant to be recuperating. How confusing.

So, any ideas re Manuel and Jorge?

Tags: Barcelona, historical memory
Categories: Languages, Les bourgeois, Splog, Theatre

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1. Nomenclator e hiperenlaces — La maldekstra kolono
   December 31st 2009 16:33

   [...] del siglo XIX, se iba a llamar Manolo). Internet es tu amigo y te da respuestas, y tu pinchas en la primera, que curiosamente es en inglés. What’s the point no lo sé, pero si buscas “jordi [...]

2. Trevor
   January 2nd 2010 21:09

   Someone who calls me a guiri–which I guess makes him a spic–has got some more info on the Girona family. Here for anyone feeling moody are some more politically incorrect street names in Barcelona:

   1. Secretari Coloma is Juan de Coloma, the man who signed the order expelling the Jews from Spain and perhaps the man principally responsible for the establishment of the Inquisition.
   2. Terç de la Mare de Déu de Montserra. The Tercio Nuestra Señora de Montserrat fought for Franco and Catalonia, featured notables like Josep Pla, Martí de Riquer, and was the only exclusively Catalan regiment in the Civil War.

   There’s also older stuff like the Duc de la Victòria etc. And then, of course, all the “good” totalitarians like Companys and Macià, who one hopes will be kicked out in the not-too-distant future.

3. Javier
   January 4th 2010 09:46

   Re Terç de Montserrat, and much more, fascinating stuff here:
   http://www.requetes.com

   Martí de Riquer joined Carlist ranks, but I don’t think Pla did the same, I find it a bit too bold for him.

4. Trevor
   January 4th 2010 12:01

   You’re right. I’m putting my wrong down to a seasonal brain infection.