Historia de Barcelona

Etiqueta: francia

  • Exhibición de una «tribu de Aschantis» en el día de Inocentes

    Noticias de espectáculos
    ELDORADO.—Del programa de la funciónde Inocentes que se verificará esta noche, forman parte «La Viejecita», con sorpresas en su cuadro segundo; «Lo pessebre de don Pau», capricho cómico del señor Molas y Cosas, que todos los años tiene aplausos en semejante cita; exhibición de una tribu de «Aschantis»; un baile grotesco de aparato y otras excentricidades: «El bigote rubio», «Agua, azucarillos y aguardiente» y el cuadro primero de «La Viejecita» serán representados con la formalidad de los demás días.

  • Estreno en italiano de Los Pirineus, ópera nacionalista de Víctor Balaguer y Felipe Pedrell

    Més de deu anys feya que la trilogía Els Pireneus havía sortit de la ment del séu creador, sense que ‘l públich de la terra que té la cordillera pirenaica per corona hagués pogut assaborir sas musicals bellesas… Y no ‘s dirá qu’ en Pedrell, terminada la séva obra descansés, que ja es sabut qu’ en materia de óperas, costa menos compóndrelas que ferlas posar en escena, fins quan l’ autor gosa de una reputació tan ben sentada com la del mestre tortosí, avuy sens dupte la primera figura musical del nostre país.

    Avants, durant y després del séu part, el mestre Pedrell no sossegava, erigintse en campeó de l’ ópera espanyola constituhida ab la riquesa musical que possehim, tant en las deus puríssimas de la musa popular, com en las olvidadas creacións dels mestres antichs… verdaders tresors recóndits que sols esperan qui ‘ls esploti y ‘ls presenti en tota sa hermosura, revestits ab las galas de la técnica moderna. Furgant y desenterrant, en persuassius escrits y en admirables resurreccións, el mestre Pedrell ha vingut dihentho sempre:-Espanya posseheix una música séva, propia y característica.

    Y la séva veu trobava més eco al extranger que á casa nostra.

    […]

    En uns concerts de Venecia va executarse un día ‘l prólech de Els Pirineus, ab un éxit extraordinari. Ja fou el públich llavoras – pero un públich extranger – qui vingué á confirmar plenament l’ opinió dels mestres.

    Y ab tot, aquí á Espanya, ahont tant deuría interessarnos l’ existencia de una institució musical característica, respectable y respectada, aquí á Espanya ‘ls Pirineus permaneixían embolcallats ab la néu de la més freda indiferencia.

    Un acaudalat marqués s’ oferí un día á rompre ‘l gel, costejant la representació á tot rumbo de l’ ópera d’ en Pedrell. Pero li féren notar – perque ell no havía tingut temps d’ enterarse’n – que ‘l llibre d’ en Balaguer versava sobre epissodis de la guerra dels albigesos, qu’ era molt lliberal y que fins tenía ‘ls séus punts y ribets d’ herétich, y l’ acaudalat marqués, que ab tot menos ab el negoci es un home sumament escrupulós, va ferse enrera y va tancar la bossa. Pera deixarlo content hauría sigut precís falsificar l’historia.

    Passaren anys. Estancada la partitura en el Real de Madrit, ahont havía sigut admesa en concurs públich y ab grans elogis, no sé cóm á la fi ha vingut á raure en el Liceo de Barcelona. L’ empresa Bernis y la Junta de propietaris li han obert las portas del Gran Teatro, y encare que no li han donat tot lo qu’ ella mereix en punt á decorat escénich, riquesa indumentaria y nutrició de la massa coral, … Més val poch que res.

    […]

    Notém ademés que Els Pirineus, escrits en catalá sobre ‘ls robustos y armoniosos versos d’ en Víctor Balaguer, han hagut de cantarse, per primera vegada á Catalunya, traduhits al italiá. Aixó que no es poch quan se tracta de una composició feta á istil modern, en que la lletra y la música compenetran sos íntims accents, no ha impedit que l’ obra si imposés desde ‘l primer día.

    Hi ha qui, al visitar per primera vegada ‘l Museo de pinturas de Madrit, volentho veure tot en un día, ne surt marejat; pero si repeteix las visitas acaba pera gosar lo que no pot dirse, ab la contemplació atenta de cada una de aquellas obras mestras. Tal els succehirá á molts ab el primer acte de Els Pirineus, qu’ es tot un museu de música espanyola, felisment restaurada pel geni y ‘l talent del mestre tortosí.

    […]

    Enorgullimnos de que sigui un catalá, qui en els temps presents de trista decadencia, haja sabut colocarse á tan gran altura, elevant ab ell al públich, pera senyalarli horisons plens de llum, de art y de gloria… Enorgullimnos sobre tot de que sigui un catalá, no dels que ‘s recluheixen á casa seva, com el trist y peresós cargol dintre la closca, sino dels que prenent el pich més alt del Pirineu per punt de apoyo, de la primera esbranzida logran pendre ‘l vol segur y magestuós de las águilas, que per lo mateix que s’ enlayran molt saben bé, que ‘l mon es molt gran… molt ample…

    P. del O.

  • «Carnicería y conflagración» después de la huelga de Solidaridad Obrera

    WOMEN FIGHT SAVAGELY.

    Witnesses Describe Scenes of Carnage and Conflagration in Barcelona.

    CERBERE, France, July 30. — The first direct dispatch from Barcelona since the fighting began there reached this place to-day, and is without date. It says:

    «Barcelona has been a perfect hell. Half the population is terrorized, and the other half is mad with blood. The troops of the garrison, amid shouts of approval from the mob, repeatedly refused to fire on the people, and the work of repression fell upon the police and civil guard. They charged the revolutionaries and used their firearms freely everywhere, but numbers were against them. As this dispatch is sent the streets are in possession of the barricaded insurgents. The destruction of property has been great. Barcelona is completely isolated and running short of food.»

    Exactly what stage of the proceedings this dispatch covers it is impossible to say.

    The officers of the steamer Scutari arriving at Marseilles to-day from Barcelona, which port they left Wednesday afternoon, say the collision between the troops and the rioters began on Monday morning immediately after the declaration of a general strike. The rioters tore up the pavements and built barricades behind which they fought desperately. The troops and civil guard took many of the barriers by assault, and by night had brought about some semblance of order. Rigorous orders were issued by the authorities, the people being instructed to remain in their homes on penalty of being shot on sight after dark.

    On Tuesday morning, the Scutari’s officers say, the streets were filled with cavalry, infantry, and artillery, who gradually cleared the principal streets and squares, notably the Rambla Santa Monica and [Plaza de Cataluña], placing the batteries and machine guns so as to command the adjacent streets. The loss of life during these operations was heavy. The rioters, as they were driven back, built new barricades as fast as the old ones were captured, and entrenched themselves in the suburbs of San Andre, San Antonio, [Badalona], and elsewhere, holding the troops at bay in spite of the raking fire of the artillery.

    Everywhere flames broke out from churches, convents, and factories, and the skies at night were scarlet with the reflections of the fires. During Tuesday night the rattle of musketry, the drumming of machine guns, and the booming of cannon were ceaseless, and fierce fighting was in progress when the Scutari sailed.

    All Convents Burned But One.

    Passengers just arrived at Cerbere from Gerona, who went to San Felice from Barcelona by sea and then on foot to Gerona, where they took passage on a train, say the revolution was in full swing when the left the City of Barcelona. The «House of the People,» the headquarters of the rioters, was razed to the ground by artillery, and all of the convents except one in Calle Caspe, which was defended by Jesuits and a civil guard, were burned.

    The Montjuich forts bombarded the Rambla and the Paseos. Ten thousand revolutionists were daily fighting in the streets under the direction of a Revolutionary Committee, which had charge of the movement. The Caldos Bridge was blown up by dynamite. At Lesomatin an armed civil body had thrown its fortunes with the revolutionaries and was holding the troops and civil guards at Barcelona.

    From other towns on the Franco-Spanish frontier come many reports confirming what has been said of the terrible fury of the women throughout Catalonia. At Barcelona they fought behind the barricades with the men, urging them to fight to the death. Everywhere they resisted searches by gendarmes for recruits for the reserves, barring the doors of their houses and firing at the soldiers from the windows.

  • La situación en Barcelona vista desde Francia

    CERBERE, France, July 27. — Travelers just arrived here report the situation at Barcelona grave. The civil Governor, when ordered to proclaim martial law, resigned his office. A regiment of infantry has arrived in the city from Tarragona to reinforce the garrison.

    Many deserting reservists are fleeing across the frontier. They say they are deserting because the war against the Riff tribes is solely in the interest of Spanish mining speculators.

    A train which arrived at the frontier this evening from Barcelona, escorted by soldiers, was attacked and stoned at Figueras…, where the rails have been restored. The troops fired into the attacking party, wounding serveral. The railroads have been cut between Gerona and Barcelona.

  • «Muchos extranjeros muertos, Ferrer también»

    FOREIGNERS AMONG VICTIMS.
    Many French and Italians Reported Among Dead, Wounded, or in Prison.

    LONDON, Aug. 3.–In a dispatch from Barcelona yesterday the correspondent of The Daily Telegraph says:
    «Gen. Santiago has started sending out forces to restore order in the neighboring towns and villages. The officers have been ordered to take swift and vigorous measures, but Gen. Santiago thinks that no serious resistance will be offered the troops.

    «Replying to a note sent him by the foreign Consuls stating that in the event of foreigners being endangered the Consuls would ask for warships, Gen. Santiago said that such a step would be needless, as he had sufficient forces to maintain order. He has wired Madrid that he needs no further reinforcements, and accordingly the brigades now under arms intended for Barcelona, will be diverted to Melilla.»
    The Daily Telegraph’s Madrid correspondent, in a dispatch sent by way of Biarritz, asserts that many foreigners, especially Frenchmen and Italians, are among the dead. The correspondent adds that it is reported that among those killed in the fighting was Señor Ferrer, former Director of the Modern School of Barcelona, who was regarded as the instigator of the bomb outrage upon King Alfonso and Queen Victoria in the Calle Mayor on the royal wedding day. Ferrer was arrested for complicity in the outrage, but was acquitted.

    Another Barcelona dispatch says order is almost completely re-established in Barcelona proper, but the trouble continues on the outskirts of the city, and that among the victims of the military courts-martial are two members of the Chamber of Deputies and eight Aldermen of Barcelona.

    At 1 o’clock in the afternoon life in the city and its suburbs was again normal. The newspapers were being published and work generally had been resumed. At the solicitation of the authorities, the employers have agreed to offer a premium of a week’s wages to every person coming back to work.

  • Marcha de reservistas franceses y alemanes para la guerra europea; para España, neutralidad y paz

    La estación de Francia continuó ofreciendo…, á la hora de salida de los trenes de la frontera, el mismo aspecto que los anteriores.

    En los trenes de las 5 y en los de las 12’32 y 14’23, marcharon bastantes franceses, poseídos todos ellos del mayor ardor bélico y del mayor entusiasmo patrio.

    Entre los que marcharon, los había de todas las clases sociales: desde el bracero que trabajaba en el túnel de Vallvidrera, hasta el comerciante ó el industrial que tienen establecido en Barcelona un importante negocio.

    Varios de ellos, con quienes conversamos en los andenes de la estación del paseo de la Aduana, nos manifestaron que en el Consulado se les ha participado á los que forman parte del ejército territorial, que deberán concentrarse en París para defender la capital y salir al encuentro de los alemanes, si éstos la amenazasen.

    Procedentes de Madrid, Valencia y otras poblaciones llegaron gran número de reservistas alemanes, que, junto con los residentes en esta capital, forman un contingente bastante numeroso, en espera de medios para poderse trasladar á su país.

    El gobernador y la prensa

    Convocada por el gobernador, se celebró ayer tarde una reunión de directores de periódicos diarios y de corresponsales, para tratar de la actual situación. El señor Andrade les hizo una detallada exposición del estado de Barcelona ante el actual conflicto, manifestando que no existían temores de que se planteara la crisis monetaria, pues se contaba con una cantidad de plata suficiente para atender á todas las contingencias; que probablemente no se presentaría tampoco el problema de la carestía de subsistencias, ni el de falta de carbón, y que, en una palabra, á pesar de la situación anormal por que atraviesa Europa, la de Barcelona podía considerarse satisfactoria.

    Añadió el señor Andrade que en interés de todos está el vencer las dificultades que pueden originarse de la situación bursátil y de la repercusión que pueda tener aquí el malestar general que se siente en los demás países, y apeló al patriotismo de todos para que presten su concurso á los poderes públicos, á fin de sortear los peligros de los momentos actuales, sin interés político ni de partido alguno, y sí sólo inspirándose en el binestar y las conveniencias del país.

    Los reunidos ofrecieron coadyuvar dentro de la esfera de su acción á cuanto contribuya á restablecer la tranquilidad y á asegurar la paz y el orden de Barcelona.

    El gobernador ha dirigido un atento besalamano á los directores de los diarios que en estos días exponen al público pizarras con noticias del conflicto europeo, rogándoles que las retiren á fin de evitar la formación de grupos y el peligro que podría ocasionar el apasionamiento de los ánimos.

    […]

    La alarma financiera

    Ayer mañana continuó en el Crédit Lyonnais la aglomeración de público que fue á retirar fondos, formándose una cola que en ciertos momentos llegó á la calle de Lancáster. El Crédit Lyonnais satisfizo todos los talones de cuenta corriente que se le presentaron, observándose que muchos de los saldos de cuentas corrientes que se retiraban eran ingresados en las cajas de alquiler que tiene este establecimiento bancario. A la una de la tarde se cerraron las operaciones para continuar hoy a las nueve.

    El director del Crédit Lyonnais, don Leoncio Cabrero, conferenció varias veces durante la mañana con el director de la Sucursal del Banco de España. Parece que ésta facilitará al Crédit los auxilios que de ella ha solicitado para hacer frente al conflicto en que le ha puesto el pánico que se ha desarrollado entre sus cuentacorrentistas…

    […]

    La vigilancia de los extranjeros

    En el Gobierno civil se ha recibido una Real orden del ministerio de la Gobernación, en la que se establecen disposiciones, un poco severas, sobre los viajeros extranjeros que lleguen á Barcelona y los que aquí fijen su residencia, para que los que carezcan de documentación y no cuenten con medios de vida conocidos sean sujetos á estrecha vigilancia.

    […]

    Repatriados

    Los trenes de la frontera francesa llegaron ayer abarrotados de españoles á los que les cogió en Francia la declaración de guerra. La mayoría son braceros agrícolas, de escasos recursos pecuniarios, habiendo sufrido algunos una verdadera odisea, pues estando bastante internados en Francia al ocurrir la paralización completa de todos los trabajos y la de los trenes, han tenido que recorrer largas distancias á pie para ganar la frontera.

    Como la mayoría son gente pobre, algunos llegaron aquí sin recursos y otros con billetes de grupo que no podían utilizar en determinados trenes, encontrándose muchos por este motivo en la imposibilidad de continuar al viaje hacia sus pueblos.

    Ello dio lugar anoche á varios incidentes que se solucionaron satisfactoriamente gracias á la generosidad y altruismo del Interventor del Estado, señor Pujol y del jefe de la estación, que ante la anormalidad de la situación, atendieron antes á sus buenos sentimientos que al rigorismo de las disposiciones.

    […]

    Según se nos dice, se han cometido algunos abusos con los infelices obreros que llegan de Francia, por parte de varios individuos que han tratado de cambiarles los francos en pesetas con un descuento enorme. La policía tuvo que intervenir en algunos casos, persiguiendo á los que trataban de explotar la precaria situación de aquéllos.

  • Batalla campal en un teatro barcelonés sobre la Primera Guerra Mundial, pero la guerra dice «Sí» a Barcelona

    RIOT OVER WAR IN SPAIN

    Crowd in Barcelona Theatre Fights and Policeman is Wounded

    MADRID, Nov. 15, (Dispatch to the London Morning Post).) – The friends of France in Barcelona organized an entertainment in a theatre in aid of Belgian families. On the appearance in the theatre of the British, French, and Belgian Consuls there was a loud cry of «Long life to the Allies!» One spectator, however, shouted, «Long life to Germany!»

    This caused a violent riot, and there were serious collisions between the parties, with the result that a policeman was severely wounded by a bullet and many persons were arrested.

  • La sangrienta guerra entre la patronal y el sindicalismo afecta a los directivos franceses pero no a los alemanes

    Syndicalist campaign of murder and intimidation against French managers
    LABOR TERRORISM RAMPANT IN SPAIN
    Five French Industrial Managers Murdered in the Last Two Months.
    BARCELONA PANIC-STRICKEN
    Deputy Gives Notice of an Interpellation on the Subject in the French Chamber
    By WALTER DURANTY.
    Special Cable to THE NEW YORK TIMES

    PARIS, June 28.– An amazing reign of terror in Barcelona and the surrounding region, in the course of which five Frenchmen were murdered by gunmen of the Spanish Labor Party, will form the subject of an interpellation in the near future by Deputy Emanuel Brousse. He will ask the Government, the Matin says, to take steps to insure the protection of the lives and properties of French citizens in Spain in view of the impotence of the Spanish authorities.

    The interpellation will be none the less urgent because German industrialists have been wholly untroubled by what looks like an organized campaign of murder.

    A typical case occurred only this month. François Lefèvre, the French manager of a metallurgical concern in Barcelona, had occasion to dismiss a 20-year-old employee, a Spaniard named Poch. A week later, at 11 o’clock in the morning, while work was in full swing, Poch walked coolly into Lefèvre’s office and shot him dead in front of his terrified clerks and secretary. Poch then departed without molestation and no attempt to arrest him has been made. Four other French industrial managers have been murdered in Spain for equally trivial reasons in the past two months, without any one having been arrested, and twelve others have been forced to leave the country by threats of a similar fate.

    Not long ago the French Consul and a delegation from the Chamber of Commerce demanded protection from the Military Governor of Barcelona, General Anido, who is alleged to have replied that it was all he could do to protect his own life from labor malcontents.

    His civil colleague, Mayor Domingo, was not even successful to that extent. A fortnight ago, while driving his automobile in the principal street of Barcelona, he was surrounded by a group of workers and made the target of a hail of bullets, one of which passed through his body, and he is now lying between life and death.

    The following day three well-known Syndicalists were unexpectedly released from Monjuich Prison, where they had been held since the 1st of March. On their way home all three were shot dead by persons unknown. Their labor comrades attributed the killings to police reprisals, with the result that death warnings have now been received by the majority of the municipal authorities and the principal business men.

    A state bordering on panic prevails among the population, as is illustrated by an incident which occurred outside the Lyceum Theatre, in the main street of Barcelona, a few days ago.

    The engine of a motorcycle suddenly gave vent to a series of loud explosions. Immediately there was a mad rush for shelter on every side. Café tables and flower stalls were upset by the panic-stricken mob. This increased the confusion, to which the Civil Guards and carabineers put the finishing touch by firing their rifles and revolvers indiscriminately in all directions.

    BARCELONA, June 28. — A Syndicalist leader named Bandella was shot and killed here last night while trying to escape from an escort of civil guards. The authorities declare he was one of the most dangerous and active Syndicalists in Barcelona and that he was involved in many recent outrages in this city. Another well-known Syndicalist was found in a street here yesterday morning. It is said he was one of the men who plotted an attack on Mayor Domingo a few days ago.

  • Arranca el primer campeonato de baloncesto

    El día 15 del corriente tendrá efecto el primer match del campeonato de basket-ball entre buen número de equipos.

    Por la mañana habrá doble juego entre los equipos «Americans Stars» y Laietá B. B. C.», y el «C. D. Europa» y R. C. D. Español».

    Los partidos empezarán por la tarde del mismo día 15, a las cuatro en punto, tomando parte los equipos «La Patrie» y «Catalunya». Terminando este encuentro, medirán sus fuerzas el «Barcelona B. C.» y el «La France».

  • El golpe de Macià, financiado y traicionado por Ricciotti Garibaldi, un agente de Mussolini

    Plot, pounce

    The vivid staccato name of Garibaldi is synonymous with revolution and romance. Last week it seemed that a new Garibaldi, a grandson of the Liberator, had arisen to wade in glory. He is Colonel Ricciotti Garibaldi, Italian World War hero, officer of the Legion of Honor. For some months he has resided at Paris, the swashbuckling idol of expatriate Italian and Spanish anti-Fascists. Last week he put in the field 400 armed companions disguised as mountaineers who assembled in Southern France and attempted to march in force across the Spanish border.

    Midnight March

    The field commander for Colonel Garibaldi was that famed Catalonian patriot, Colonel Francisco Macia. For years he has striven to foment a revolution which should set his native Catalonia free from the dominance of Madrid. Last week he rode at midnight toward the Spanish frontier with a glad heart. Were not the invading 400 patriots equipped with rifles, machine guns, a medical corp, and even a strong box heavy with newly designed and minted Catalan money? All was prepared….

    Suddenly operatives of the French Secret Police, re-enforced by French infantry, pounced—arrested Colonels Garibaldi and Macia and most of their supporters.

    Double-Cross

    Following these wholesale arrests, the fruit of a year and more of sleuthing by the French police, the Spanish Government expressed its gratitude and its relief at this nipping of the plot upon French soil.

    The French police, calmly industrious, continued to investigate. They discovered documents which appeared to brand Colonel Garibaldi as an agent provocateur employed by the Italian Secret Service. His role has been to pose as an anti-Fascist and thus keep his employers informed of what plots were going forward among the Italian and Spanish foes of Dictators Benito Mussolini and Primo de Rivera.

    Allegedly the Spanish Government, warned by II Duce, held troops in readiness to pounce upon the invading army of Colonel Garibaldi and Colonel Macia last week, if it had ever crossed the frontier. In that event the «invaders» would have been shot, instead of reposing as they now do safe in French jails.

  • Tras las elecciones, huida burguesa, amenazas de secesión, caos social y guerra civil

    What began last fortnight as Spain’s least bloody election in years was swelling last week into horrid crescendos of threatened social upheaval, secession and civil war. Overnight 30,000 political prisoners came bustling out of jail. They included the furious Catalonian secessionist, «President» Luis Companys, who had just begun to serve a 30-year stretch in a grim Andalusian prison for having proclaimed the industrial northeast of Spain the independent Republic of Catalonia (TIME, Oct. 15, 1934). Out of jail popped most of this suppressed Republic’s Parliament and met in Barcelona, their capital. In Madrid more or less delirious Spanish mobsters and political ex-convicts paraded around, brandishing plain red flags, singing the Internationale and shouting vaguely «Long Live Russia!»

    Every train to the French frontier was jammed with taut-faced people. «Who are they?» a correspondent asked a station official at the frontier. «Dukes, marquises and millionaires!» replied the station official correctly.

  • Los judíos y la Olimpiada «Popular» que no se celebró

    Le 22 juillet 1936 doivent se dérouler dans [Barcelona] des «Olympiades du sport et de la culture», conçues comme une réplique démocratique à la tenue des Jeux Olympiques dans l’Allemagne nazie. Participent à l’évènement des délégations sportives des syndicats et partis antifascistes, principalement communistes, du monde entier. Les associations juives ouvrières, très actives en Pologne, en France et en Belgique notamment, s’y sont engagées à fond. Avante même l’arrivée de tous les athlètes en Espagne, éclate le putsch des généraux, de sorte que ces Spartakiades sont annulées. Elles fourniront les premiers volontaires étrangers quis se soient portés au secours de la République. Alors, 6 000 Juifs résident sur le territoire ibérique.

  • Llegan 10 aviones de Stalin

    Thrifty Joseph Stalin belatedly bet another blue chip on the Spanish Loyalists last week in the form of ten splendid Soviet warplanes. Tons of other Soviet war paraphernalia have reached the Leftists in the past month via France. Amid wild cheering in recently bombed Barcelona, Soviet war birds in mass formation darkened the sky and last week the Leftist Cabinet reorganized itself for a last-minute effort to crawl between the jaws of defeat and wrench out the tonsils of victory.

  • André Malraux, los nacionales, y los persas de Esquilo

    «Els perses!», va exclamar en francès André Malraux des de Montjuïc en veure els focs de les avançades de Franco, poc abans de l’ocupació. Malraux es trobava a Barcelona des de juliol del 1938, on rodava als estudis Orfea algunes escenes de Sierra de Teruel, basada en la seva obra L’espoir, i va haver d’interrompre la filmació el 24 de gener a causa de l’arribada imminent de les tropes franquistes, i marxar a França, a Joinville, on hi havia uns estudis cinematogràfics, a acabar la pel·licula. L’exclamació, recollida per Max Aub en el seu llibre sobre la pel·licula, en què també va participar, és explicada d’aquesta manera per l’escriptor: «[Malraux] recordaba la representación famosa de la tragedia de Esquilo en la que, según la leyenda, el actor que encarnaba Jerjes cayó atravesado por una flecha enemiga al denunciar la llegada de sus adversarios».

    Però no tots els barcelonins veien arribar els perses ni veien propera la destrucció de l’Acropolis. Els barcelonins que es van quedar van rebre els ocupants amb sentiments molt diversos, segons les seves simpaties polítiques.

  • Los líderes republicanos escapan del hambre, los campos, las ejecuciones

    SPAIN: Outside, Inside

    When Miguel Primo de Rivera was dictator of Spain from 1923 to 1930 many Spanish Leftist leaders cooperated with the dictatorship even though they fundamentally opposed it. Last week those opposed to Generalissimo Francisco Franco’s regime felt safest outside the country.

    Former Republican Premier Dr. Juan Negrin, Foreign Minister Julio Alvarez del Vayo, onetime Defense Minister Indalecio Prieto, General Jose Miaja and a whole host of lesser fry were in Mexico arranging for transfers of refugees. Communist Deputy Dolores Ibarruri («La Pasionaria») and Colonel Juan Modesto were in the Soviet Union. Famed Colonel Enrique Lister, onetime stonemason, leader of Madrid’s famed Communist Fifth Regiment, was thought to be in hiding in France; openly there were President Manuel Azana, onetime Premier Jose Giral, General Vicente Rojo, onetime Premier Francisco Largo Caballero, Catalonian President Luis Companys, Basque President Jose Antonio de Aguirre.

    Whittling
    Also in France still were 350,000 ordinary Spanish refugees encamped en the beaches in southern France. About 90,000 of the original 500,000 refugees who crossed over the border last February have returned to Spain, and last week about 400 daily were going back to their homes. Some 9,000 former soldiers of the Spanish Republican Army have joined the French Foreign Legion and have been sent to Morocco; aviators, antiaircraft gunners, mechanics, technicians and chauffeurs are being taken into French military organizations. French arms factories have been examining daily about 250 Spanish munitions workers, and giving employment to an average of 75. Two shiploads of 1,000 refugees apiece have gone from France to Mexico, and a third ship carrying several thousand is scheduled to leave this week. Mexico expects to take about 20,000 Spanish refugees this summer. The Basques have also chartered a ship to take their refugees to Mexico, Colombia and Chile.

    Little by little the number of refugees was being whittled down, but not fast enough to suit the French Government, which last week announced that it had spent $20,000,000 so far on the care and feeding of the Spanish refugees. In that expense lies, incidentally, the reason why France has been reluctant to return to Generalissimo Franco the $200,000,000 in gold which the former Republican Government left in French banks. The French have let it be known that they expect the Spanish refugee problem to be solved by September in one way or another.

    Justice
    While France made every effort to persuade the former Loyalists to go back home, much of the news that filtered through the tightly censored French-Spanish frontier was not calculated to encourage mass reentry. Eighteen permanent tribunals were said to be working in Madrid trying Loyalists; there were said to be 500 arrests in Barcelona and Madrid daily; 2,000 awaited trials in Madrid alone; 688 have been executed; 20,000 were in a concentration camp near Alicante. Although there were accusations still outstanding against 1,000,000 persons in former Loyalist territory, the police appealed to the public for more denunciations of those guilty of crimes against Rightists. It was calculated it would take another year before the dockets were cleared and Spain could do without her military tribunals.

    Relief
    A greater tale of woe was brought back from Spain to the U. S. last week by Alfred Cope, regional director in southeastern Spain of the American Friends Service Committee, the Quaker relief organization. Mr. Cope believed that some 500,000 Loyalist supporters were in concentration camps; he thought that at least 70,000 Italian troops remained in Spain, despite stories of withdrawals; he told one story of 20,000 Loyalist troops imprisoned in a bullring in Ciudad Real for 20 days with little food and not much water.

    More serious and more detailed were Mr. Cope’s charges that the Franco regime had seized six or seven shiploads of food that the Quakers sent to Spain for 100,000 half-starved children. As far as he could find out, the food went to the Army. In Murcia, he said, he turned over to the Spanish Social Auxiliary, the official Spanish relief organization, enough food to last the 1,000 children they were feeding there a month and three days. It was all gone in ten days.

    «While the food lasted, moreover, the official orders in the clinic were that the children had to sing the Franco Nationalist songs before they were fed,» said Mr. Cope. «We never asked them to sing Loyalist songs when the Loyalists held that territory, and we do not now like to ask them to sing Nationalist songs in thanksgiving for our food.»

    Upshot of the difficulties in Spain, Mr. Cope announced, was that the Quakers were pulling out. «It would simply be dishonest to continue in Spain to spend the money being collected abroad for this children’s relief,» he said. «Franco has assured us he would like to have us continue the work until we are ready to retire, but it is evident that he wants the food, not us. There is no way of being sure where the food is likely to go.»

    Oath
    Meanwhile, in Burgos, Generalissimo Franco moved to set up a «corporate state» on the model of Fascist Italy. A $70,000,000 subsidy was set aside to build up a merchant fleet to «display New Spain’s prestige in America and the Far East.» Curtailment of imports of gasoline, motor cars, machinery, motion picture films was announced. Syndical labor laws were ordered written, with labor unions being organized on the approved Fascist model. Strikes will be outlawed, the unions will be controlled by the Government. New contracts will be written for tenant farming, and the Spanish Phalanx’s program for redistribution of some large estates will be carried out.

    That the state will be a strictly authoritarian one could not be doubted after the oath which was sprung last week on the members of the Grand Council of the Falange Espanola Tradicionalista, the new Fascist substitute for Parliament. Raimundo Fernandez Cuesta, secretary general of Spain’s only party, demanded «blind obedience» to Generalissimo Franco, ended by proposing an oath: «We proclaim our inflexible will to obey unconditionally the orders of our Caudillo. As proof of that sacred promise, let the Councillors of the Falange swear with me before God always to obey the Caudillo and those who receive from him the power of commandment.» The Councillors swore.

  • Lluís Companys detenido por la Gestapo en Bretaña

    La Baule (la Bretanya): la Gestapo deté el president de la Generalitat de Catalunya, Lluís Companys.

  • De Gaulle y la Batalla de Normandía

    El 6 de juny de 1944, a les vuit del matí, vaig sentir directament per la ràdio, la BBC, la notícia del desembarcament dels aliats a Normandia i les arengues patriòtiques del general De Gaulle. «Honneur et Patrie» era la consigna que obria els informatius de la BBC dirigits als oients de parla francesa. «La France parle aux français…!» Aquell crit, que ressonava en un pis modest de la Travessera de Gràcia, situat en un país erm, va suposar molt en la meva vida… Aquesta passió per la política francesa llavors iniciada, ha continuat després, fins avui. Després del gaullisme, el meu mendesisme, dels anys cinquanta… Crec que aquesta base política i intel·lectual em va ajudar a crear el meu propi tarradellisme.

  • Pierre Laval, ex primer ministro francés y colaborador nazi, ingresa en Montjuic

    LAVAL HELD IN SPANISH PRISON
    Suite at Ritz Reserved for Collaborationist
    By Charles S. Foltz
    Montjuich Citadel, Spain (AP)
    Pierre Laval, Vichy’s former chief of government, who sought refuge in Spain, listened to the «Voice of America» broadcast in French Thurday for outside news in this stone military prison 600 feet above Barcelona harbor.

    I saw him enter the fortress in an American automobile which brought him from the airport where he landed in a German bomber at noon Wednesday. He surveyed impassively the massive walls of the prison where he was brought to await disposition by the allies at American demand.

    Furniture Moved

    The car, belonging to Barcelona’s civil governor, took him into the citadel. There the manager of Barcelona’s Ritz hotel inspected the beds and furniture and prepared food, all brought to the prison from his hotel. This grim fortress is not famed for such luxuries.

    Laval did not expect to be treated as a prisoner. A suite at the Ritz is still reserved for him and his wife. A protest by American Consul General David M. Key on behalf of the embassy, blocked Laval’s request to go to the Ritz to rest before his imprisonment at Montjuich.

    The French collaborationist chief and four companions are housed in separate pavilions in the citadel. The first thing Laval requested was a radio and the first broadcast he heard was the «Voice of America» in French.

    Talks to Governor

    With Laval until 3 a. m. was Barcelona’s Falangist civil governor, Antonio Correa Veglisson, who met the former premier at the airport.

    The troops of Montjuich garrison, acting under orders from Madrid, kept close guard on Laval. This correspondent was refused permission to approach him.

    Laval expressed fears to Spaniards that he would be taken to France to be judged.

    The commander of the fortress, Lt. Col. Sebastian Gomila, said he was not interested in politics and was only obeying the orders of the Madrid government to keep Laval incommunicado.

  • El colaboracionista nazi, Pierre Laval, «tejiendo suéteres en la cárcel Montjuic para calmarse»

    Worried Laval Knits Woolies To Quiet Nerves

    LONDON, July 24 (UP). A Madrid dispatch to the Evening Standard said today that Pierre Laval, morbid and depressed, sits every day in the Mediterranean sunshine knitting winter woolies to quiet his nerves.

    Laval, former Vichy Chief of Government, fled to Barcelona in the last days of the European war. The dispatch said the stalemate over his status might be broken soon when Spain’s reorganized cabinet settles down to work.

    «It is believed that the new foreign minister may induce Laval to give himself up to France,» it said.

  • Pierre Laval, ex primer ministro del gobierno de Vichy, es deportado a Francia

    Laval Reported in Allied Hands After Franco Gives Him the Gate from Spain

    BARCELONA – Ordered out of Spain by General Franco, Pierre Laval and his wife left Barcelona airdrome early yesterday morning, aboard a Junkers divebomber, headed for an unannounced destination. The French quisling has been ordered to stand trial in Paris within the next eight days.

    […]

    Originally, the ancient Junkers aircraft was scheduled to leave Spain, Monday night. Laval actually got into the plane and it taxied around the Barcelona airfield three times, trying to get off the ground. When it rolled to a stop, Laval got out of the plane and sat on a camp stool while the German pilots tinkered with the engine. Finally they announced it would take several hours again to get the plane working, so the flight was postponed until the next day.

    Laval, wearing his usual white tie, himself provided a clue to his destination when he said: «If Petain can face the music, so can I?»

    Later he complained: «It’s unfair what is being done with me. I don’t understand why the Spanish Government is delivering me to my country.» Spanish officers were at the airfield to see Laval off.

    After Monday night’s flight had been postponed, the events of the day, combined with the heat, proved too much for Laval. He fainted, but revived shortly.

    From the moment that Laval and his party left the Montjuich fortress, Mme Laval was in tears. Although Spanish authorities told her that she could stay in Spain if she wished, she insisted on accompanying her husband.

    During his stay at Montjuich castle, Laval lived well on the best food and wines served by a Ritz waiter. But as an indication of Spain’s change of attitude, a Spanish official at Barcelona who once described Laval’s case as «interesting» now calls him «a dirty fellow.»

    […]