The enormous international work of the Republican Generalitat

BarcelonaIn September 1936, two months after the outbreak of the Civil War, the German consul wrote a letter to the Republican Generalitat requesting the release of two German citizens accused of espionage, not forgetting to mention that Germany had recently released two Spaniards. The two German citizens, who were on the Modelo, were released. However, in a letter, the Republican Generalitat expressed its surprise at the fact that both claimed they were hiking in the Pyrenees but were carrying no documentation and were taking photographs of the fortifications. This is just one example of all the documentation, some of it unpublished, that shows the efforts made by the Republican Generalitat in terms of foreign relations during the Civil War, and that can be seen in the National Archive of Catalonia.

Until January 30, at the headquarters of the National Archive of Catalonia, in Sant Cugat del Vallès, the exhibition The international presence of the Generalitat of Catalonia (1936-1939) It teaches through documentation how a network of agents and activities was woven in the world, formed by delegations and driven mainly from the Propaganda Commissariat and the Department of Economics. "From July 18, 1936, there was violence in the streets of Barcelona, ​​​​but we must also remember that The Republican Generalitat saved more than 40,000 people, an effort that the rebel side never made. On the contrary, it was executed," notes the exhibition's curator, Manel Manonelles.

The evacuation of more than 40,000 people

Specifically, one of the photographs shows a group of people boarding a ship at the port of Barcelona to be evacuated on a British battleship. "First, they had to pass through the fence guarded by the FAI," Manonelles emphasizes. There was a significant amount of propaganda work. The Generalitat opened delegations in London, Brussels, and Stockholm and organized actions in the United States and Mexico. These delegations often also worked as intelligence agencies, monitoring, for example, the movements of the Carlist pretender Francesc Xavier de Borbó or the activities of Francesc Cambó. The exhibition highlights previously relatively unknown facts, such as the creation of delegations abroad to promote trade relations (the precursor to today's Action delegations) or the existence of organizations such as the Board of Cultural Relations (also, to some extent, the precursor to today's Ramon Llull Institute). "With this exhibition, we also discover the figure of Rafael Closas, who was Secretary of Foreign Relations of the Generalitat (Catalan Government) and carried out invisible but very important work. Furthermore, his family has given us their archive, which has greatly enriched the exhibition," explains Pilar Cuerva, director of the National Archives.

Another propaganda tool was the visits of prominent figures, such as the French intellectual André Malraux; Jawaharlal Nehru, one of the main leaders of the Indian independence movement who became the country's prime minister in 1947; and the actor Errol Flynn. At that time, Flynn was already a celebrity in Hollywood and, after stopping in Barcelona, ​​​​wanted to go to the front in Madrid. His trip was facilitated, but a false rumor spread that he had been wounded, and the Republican Generalitat (Catalan Government) asked him to leave. He stopped in Barcelona first to demonstrate his good health. In the midst of the war, the Generalitat also organized the most important exhibition of medieval art ever held abroad: it was in Paris, at the Jeu de Paume.

Photographs by a CIA agent

When the fascist bombings intensified in Barcelona, ​​many consulates moved to different towns in the Maresme region. On January 26, 1939, when the Republicans had already lost the war in Catalonia, nine warships arrived on the beaches of the Maresme region to evacuate their citizens. Tensions arose between the ships and Franco's air force. An American radio operator, Frank de Cruz, who later became a CIA agent, produced an exceptional photographic report that his son has donated to the National Archives of Catalonia.