Catalan editions as a form of resistance. Publication of testimonial narrative about French concentration camps in Catalan during Francisco Franco dictatorship

SIMÓN, PAULA

International Journal of Iberian Studies

Association for Contemporary Iberian Studies

Lugar: Londres; Año: 2021 vol. 34 p. 151 - 170

1364-971X

As part of its repressive program, Franco regime significantly limited the publication of literature in Catalan, a language that was pejoratively reduced to the category of dialect. In that context, the decision of writing and editing books in Catalan during the military dictatorship (1939-1975) was itself an act of resistance. This article aims to study some testimonial narratives that were published since the sixties in Spain about French concentration camps, as Crist de 200.000 braços. Refugiats catalans als camps de concentració francesos, by Agustí Bartra (1968); El desgavell, by Ferran Planes (1969), and Cartes des dels camps de concentració, by Pere Vives i Clavé (1972), among others. The purpose or this article is to analyse some aspects of these editions in order to consider how these testimonial narratives remain in a constant tension between two forces: Republican writers? intention to show their own version of recent history, and the Spanish government that impose its own institutional and conservative oficial discourse.