Historia de Barcelona

Categoría: LIFE

  • Dibujos revolucionarios de José Luis Rey alias Sim

    Revolution in Barcelona

    Early in the morning of July 19, 1936, José Luis Rey [Vila, aka Sim], a commercial artist living in Barcelona, was awakened by the sound of gunfire. Rushing out into Corcega Street, he saw the first skirmishes of the battle between the rebelling army adherents of Fascist General Franco and the citizens of Barcelona. Back to his room dashed José Rey, grabbed his pencil and paint, and spent the rest of the day crouching in the precarious shelter of doorways, sketching Barcelona’s successful defence against the army. These sketches and others made in and around Barcelona have been published by Leftist organizations [ie CNT-FAI] which rule Barcelona in Impressions of the Spanish Revolution of July 19. From this book the water colors and the captions on these pages have been taken. Frankly propaganda, the book tries to show that «the revolution is not all one mass of grey. It also possesses its moments of color … youth, joy, enthusiasm.» The color if vivid but bloody, and the joy is grim. But the artist has caught, with splashing colors and urgent lines, the overpowering enthusiasm of a people fighting for a Cause.

    [22/2/1937]

  • Llegan en el Semíramis repatriados republicanos y de la División Azul

    TEARS SALUTE

    Barcelona mobs Blue Division

    After absence of a decade and more, 286 Spaniards came home from Soviet prison camps and were greeted amid scenes of delirious emotion. Most of them were hard-bitten veterans of Franco’s Blue Division, captured when fighting for Hitler on the Russian Front. There were also a few sailors, some supporters of the old Spanish republic, even four wizened little old-young men who were children when they were sent to Russia during the Spanish civil war. All, friends and foes of Communism alike, had been in slave labor camps for periods ranging from 10 to 16 years. There were probably 200 Spaniards still left in the camps.

    From the Liberian ship Semiramis, carrying them from Odessa to Barcelona, the returning prisoners made radio-telephone calls to relatives, and these heartbreaking conversations were broadcast to the country. Spain’s tears welled up. When the ship docked, a hysterical mob stormed aboard.

    It was a truly Spanish scene, wild and emotional. Men fell into each other’s arms and sobbed. Women fainted. A cameraman [Carlos Pérez de Rozas y Masdeu] dropped dead of excitement. But it was just as truly Spanish in the irony that came out amid the emotion. «Communism?» mused a repatriated Socialist of the old Popular Front days. «Cabbage, hard work and everyone for himself.» And a veteran of the Blue Division, peering into the sobbing face of Minister of War Agustín Muñoz Grandes who commanded the division in Russia, murmured wryly, «My general, you don’t know how much we missed you.»