Spanish Civil War Memory Project

Summary

Enric Pubill Arnó was born in Barcelona in 1930. Enric explains that his father was part of the Confederación Nacional del Trabajo (National Labor Confederation), defended the Republic, was exiled in France, and was detained in the Argelès-sur-Mer camp. He describes his mother as a fighter. Enric recalls being sent to live with relatives at age five so he could attend school, but they instead made him work in a bindery. He tells of feeling exploited and returning home to his mother. Enric recounts joining the Boy Scouts and the Joventuts Socialistes Unificades de Catalunya (Unified Socialist Youth of Catalonia). He discusses producing propaganda clandestinely for the Partit Socialista Unificat de Catalunya (Unified Socialist Party of Catalonia). Enric details his detention along with forty-two other youth, specifying that some did not resist the torture. He relates being jailed without trial for five years in the Modelo Prison in Barcelona and remembers its subhuman conditions. Enric notes that his sentence was later increased to eighteen years in the Burgos Prison. He narrates what life was like in Burgos, which was known as the University. Enric speaks about Comisiones Obreras (Labor Commissions) and the legalization of the Associació Catalana d'Expresos Polítics (Catalan Association of Former Political Prisoners) in 1980. Enric comments on the Memorial Democràtic de la Generalitat de Catalunya (Democratic Memorial of the Generalitat of Catalonia)