Abstract
When Catalan author Joan Oliver returned from exile in 1948, the police authorities of Francoist Spain began to monitor him, often searching his home, arresting him or fining him. This article analyzes the reports issued by the Barcelona Police Headquarters from then until 1977, which labeled Oliver’s background as “subversive.” Considered a “red separatist” by the repressive forces, Oliver was actively committed to political and cultural resistance against Francisco Franco and his regime.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Notes
- 1.
Nationalists often referred to the Spanish Civil War as a “Crusade.”
- 2.
“Red” (Spanish: rojo) was a disparaging term that the Francoist regime and Nationalists used to refer to Republicans.
- 3.
The cited report referred to “Pesebre político”, i.e. a Spanish translation of the original Catalan title “Pessebre polític.”
- 4.
During Franco’s dictatorship, Catalan given names were prohibited. Official documents would show Spanish names, even if the person used Catalan names in private. For this reason, Joan Oliver i Sallarès was referred to as “Juan Oliver Sallarés” in documents written by the Franco-era authorities.
- 5.
That is, the Republican Left party in Catalonia.
- 6.
Democratic Union, a conservative Catalan nationalist party.
- 7.
Or “New Catalan Renaissance”. The original Renaixença was a movement in the early 19th-century to revive Catalan language and literature following a period of decline in Catalan culture that began more than a century earlier.
- 8.
“Palacio de la Música” is a Spanish translation of the Barcelona concert hall known in Catalan as the “Palau de la Música Catalana.”
- 9.
A Castillianization of the name of Jordi Pujol i Soley, who would become president of Catalonia in 1980.
- 10.
A student assembly held in a Capuchin friary in the Sarrià district of Barcelona.
- 11.
Known today by its Catalan name, Terrassa.
- 12.
As one undated report (probably from the late 1960s) concluded, hyperbolically, Oliver had taken part in “every type of campaign for Catalonia’s independence.”
- 13.
That is, Josep Solé i Barberà.
- 14.
This was not Oliver’s first attempt at obtaining a passport. The head of the JSPB had already rejected one application in the spring of 1962, a decision that he communicated to the head of the Passport Office on March 28.
- 15.
Interestingly, the JSPB archives also contain a file dated a few months later (November 13, 1975) referring to Report 6721 (dated November 5, 1975) of the Catalonia Social Investigation Division, which recorded that Oliver was receiving “anonymous death threat phone calls.” The Barcelona police did not seem to show any interest whatsoever in the origin of those threats, or if they did, there is no documentary evidence.
References
Benguerel, X., & Oliver, J. (1999). Epistolari. In L. B. i Grabulosa (Ed.), Proa, Barcelona.
Foguet, F. (2015). Joan Oliver: “De ideología catalano-separatista, contrario al Régimen” (1963–1971). Franquisme & Transició. Revista d’Història i de Cultura (vol. 3, pp. 175–287), Barcelona.
Pons, A. (1975). Carta de Barcelona: Joan Oliver, Joan Vinyoli y Martí i Pol. Suplemento de Informaciones de las Artes y las Letras, 362 (June 19), Mexico, 6.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2019 Springer Nature Switzerland AG
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Foguet i Boreu, F. (2019). Joan Oliver Under Francoist Police Surveillance (1948–1977). In: Casanovas, P., Corretger, M., Salvador, V. (eds) The Rise of Catalan Identity. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-18144-4_9
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-18144-4_9
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-030-18143-7
Online ISBN: 978-3-030-18144-4
eBook Packages: Religion and PhilosophyPhilosophy and Religion (R0)