Spanish Civil War Memory Project

Summary

Vicenç Navarro was born in 1937 in Barcelona to a Republican family. Vicenç recounts that his parents were primary school teachers who were trained during the Republic to create democratic schools. He notes being detained by the police at the age of seven for speaking Catalan in public. Vicenç explains that he later recognized this incident as his first action against the dictatorship. He tells of completing his medical studies at the University of Barcelona in 1962. Vicenç relates going into exile because of his anti-Francoist activities. He recalls attending various European and North American universities. Vicenç describes shifting the focus of his studies from medicine to public policy, in hopes that these skills would be useful when the Francoist regime fell. He discusses his sustained connection with clandestine anti-Francoist movements during his time in exile. Vicenç provides in-depth historical analyses of the Civil War, the Francoist dictatorship, and the transition to democracy