Pere Puig Subinyà (Sant Hipòlit de Voltregà, Spain 1914 – La Paz, Bolivia 1999) was a Catalan politician and businessman. He was a member of Unió de Rabassaires and

Republican Left of Catalonia The Republican Left of Catalonia (, ERC; ; generically branded as ) is a pro-Catalan independence, social democratic political party in the Spanish autonomous community of Catalonia, with a presence also in Valencia, the Balearic Islands and t ...

( Catalan:

Esquerra Republicana de Catalunya The Republican Left of Catalonia (, ERC; ; generically branded as ) is a pro-Catalan independence, social democratic political party in the Spanish autonomous community of Catalonia, with a presence also in Valencia, the Balearic Islands and th ...

)

Biography

Second Republic and Spanish Civil War

He was mayor of the municipality of Sant Hipòlit de Voltregà from 4 September 1936 until 17 February 1937 for the Unió de Rabassaires of Catalunya. He was a councillor of the municipality of Barcelona in the consistory of Carles Pi i Sunyer, and soon after he took charge of the supplies council of that municipality. He actively participated in the events of October 1934 (the 1934 revolution in Spain - in Barcelona, the government of the

Generalitat of Catalonia The Generalitat de Catalunya (; ; ), or the Government of Catalonia, is the institutional system by which Catalonia is Self-governance, self-governed as an autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Spain. It is made up of the Parli ...

, chaired by

Lluís Companys Lluís Companys i Jover (; 21 June 1882 – 15 October 1940) was a Catalan politician who served as president of Catalonia, Spain from 1934 and during the Spanish Civil War. Companys was a lawyer close to the labour movement and one of the mo ...

from

, proclaimed the Catalan State within a non existent Federal Spanish Republic in the night of 6 October), for which he was subjected to martial court. When the

Spanish Civil War The Spanish Civil War () was a military conflict fought from 1936 to 1939 between the Republican faction (Spanish Civil War), Republicans and the Nationalist faction (Spanish Civil War), Nationalists. Republicans were loyal to the Left-wing p ...

broke out, he joined the army and asked to be sent to the front as a soldier. He enrolled in the column of Macias-Companys and he was the political commissar from the Catalan Republican parties that reached the highest rank, finally ascending to colonel. His ideological fervor created him bitter enemies amongst communist elements, which largely dominated the army. In December 1938 he issued a report to the standing committee of his party,

, as Deputy Commissioner Brigadier, occupying the position of commissioner of the 62nd division, part of the XXIV corps. This report sought to picture the political composition of the authorities of the

Spanish Republican Army The Spanish Republican Army () was the main branch of the Spanish Republican Armed Forces, Armed Forces of the Second Spanish Republic between 1931 and 1939. It became known as People's Army of the Republic (''Ejército Popular de la República'' ...

. The predominant complaint on it was that the percentage of chiefs, officers and commissioners who had communist sympathies, or were members of the

Communist Party of Spain The Communist Party of Spain (; PCE) is a communist party that, since 1986, has been part of the United Left coalition, which is currently part of Sumar. Two of its politicians are Spanish government ministers: Yolanda Díaz (Minister of L ...

, was very high: up to 50 percent, and this high percentage could negatively affect the morale of Republican soldiers of the

. Following this report, which was distributed among Communists and others, he was accused in 1939 of high treason against the Republic, being detained for 12 days and released after in Arenys de Munt.

Exile

For that reason, with the support of his party he went to France, where he stayed as a refugee in the internment camps, first in Argelès and after in Agde. From his time in these camps Anna Murià (wife of Agustí Bartra) wrote in her biographical notes on Bartra: "Pere Puig was a leader, mentor and protector, brother and father of the Catalans in the concentration camps. He understood everyone and cared about everyone". During this stage he maintained frequent communication with Carles Pi i Sunyer. Thereafter he went to Montpellier and stayed in the residence of his party. In the early years of the exile in France he was one of the most important leaders of

. On 20 August 1944 he entered Barcelona clandestinely with his wife (Montserrat Puig Torrents- “a modern young woman with very clear ideas”), as the first representative of the leadership of

in exile in Paris, under the chairmanship of

Josep Irla Josep Irla i Bosch (; 24 October 1874 – 19 September 1958) was a Catalan businessman and politician.

. His mission was to reorganize the internal leadership of the party and to form a unity government of the Generalitat. He adopted the clandestine names of Esteve Serra or Esteve Serrallonga Mono. During this period he was also in charge of the organization and propaganda of

, and of the publication of the clandestine journal "La Humanitat". Furthermore, he was responsible for and director of the internal party newsletters "Butlletí" and "Butlletí d´Informació", in the edition of which his wife also actively participated. On 24 January 1947 he was arrested by

Francisco Franco Francisco Franco Bahamonde (born Francisco Paulino Hermenegildo Teódulo Franco Bahamonde; 4 December 1892 – 20 November 1975) was a Spanish general and dictator who led the Nationalist faction (Spanish Civil War), Nationalist forces i ...

´s police and escaped. Some characters of the time consider this escape was facilitated by the police due to the pressure they were receiving from the civil governor, the consuls of the foreign democratic powers (which kept conversations and relationships with

) and other Catalan personalities such as Jose Maria Pi i Sunyer, Dean of the Faculty of Law of the University of Barcelona. He entered again clandestinely in Barcelona several times in 1947, to take over the party’s crisis and to connect with Pous i Pages and the National Council of Catalan Democracy (in Catalan: Consell Nacional de la Democràcia Catalana). His task was to redirect the existing difficult relationship between the Council and the government in exile, and between the Council and

. Moreover, he represented President

Josep Irla Josep Irla i Bosch (; 24 October 1874 – 19 September 1958) was a Catalan businessman and politician.

to see the possibilities of creation of a unity organism of the inside Catalan political forces, contrary to

´s regime, and to connect them with the government of Catalonia. To this end he held several meetings and interviews. He was in charge of the information service of the

in exile (1947–49). In 1949 he left to

Bolivia Bolivia, officially the Plurinational State of Bolivia, is a landlocked country located in central South America. The country features diverse geography, including vast Amazonian plains, tropical lowlands, mountains, the Gran Chaco Province, w ...

, where he held various management positions in private companies, founding also his own. In this country he was president of the Association of Spanish (1953-1959) an apolitical institution of Cochabamba, and member of social and economic institutions such as the House of Spain and the Spanish Chamber of Commerce in Bolivia, of this last one for a period of eighteen years of which six (1978-1984) he was president. During his exile he wrote several articles in the Catalan newspaper ''Avui''. In 1983 he was appointed Commander of the

Order of Civil Merit The Royal Order of Civil Merit (; Abbreviation, Abbr.: OMC) is a knighthood and one of the three preeminent Order of merit, orders of merit bestowed by the Kingdom of Spain, alongside the Order of Charles III (established in 1771) and the Order ...

by His Majesty King

Juan Carlos I of Spain Juan Carlos I (; Juan Carlos Alfonso Víctor María de Borbón y Borbón-Dos Sicilias, born 5 January 1938) is a member of the Spanish royal family who reigned as King of Spain from 22 November 1975 until Abdication of Juan Carlos I, his abdic ...

for his full support for the work of rapprochement between Spain and Bolivia. The character Puig of the book "Xabola" of Agustí Bartra is Pere Puig.

Bibliography

* La humanitat. Number 626. November 14, 1933 * Molas i Batllori, Isidre, Diccionari dels partits politics de Catalunya segle XX (Spain, Enciclopedia Catalana, 2000) Page 78. * Pi i Sunyer, Carles, 1939: Memories Del Primer Exili (Spain, Fundacio Carles Pi i Sunyer d'Estudis Autonomics i Locals, 2000) * Pi i Sunyer, Carles, Memories De L'Exili, El Govern De La Generalitat Paris 1945-1948 (Spain, Curial, 1979). * Puig, Pere, Informe sobre el ejercito. December 1938. Biblioteca Pavelló de la Republica,

Universidad de Barcelona The University of Barcelona (official name in ; UB), formerly also known as Central University of Barcelona (), is a public research university located in the city of Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain. It was established in 1450. With 76,000 students, ...

. * Quaderns de l´Arxiu Pi i Sunyer. Number 3: Des dels camps. Cartes de rufiagts i internats al migdia francés l´any 1939. ( Fundación Carles Pi I Sunyer, 1998). http://pisunyer.org/arxiu-historic/publicacions/quaderns-de-larxiu-pi-i-sunyer/3-des-dels-camps-cartes-de-refugiats-i-internats-al-migdia * Subirats Piñana, Josep, Entre vivencias. (Spain, Viena, 2010). * Viladot i Presas, Albert. Nacionalisme i prensa clandestina (1939-1951) (Spain, Curial, 1987). * Vilanova i Vila-Abadal, Francesc, Als dos costats de la frontera. Relacions politiques entre exili i interior a la postguerra, 1939-1948. (Spain, Publicacions de l´Abadia de Montserrat, 2001)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Puig Subinya, Pere 1914 births 1999 deaths Mayors of places in Catalonia