War, repression and exile (II)

The Spanish Civil War (1936 - 1939) was caused by a military revolt against the 2nd Spanish Republic. As a consequence, Spain became a divided country, one part in favor of the Republic and the other under the orders of the military forces that led the revolt . But the civil war was a social war as well, since as a response to the military revolt, a social revolution started which caused the Republic to lose certain institutional power and eased the access to power by the anarchist movement that fought for the Republic.

Josep Sunyol Garriga (1898-1936) belonged to a wealthy family dedicated to trade. He studied Law at the University of Barcelona and got his degree in 1920. In 1925 he became a member of Footbal Club Barcelona and, in 1928 he joined the club’s management team. In 1927 he started cooperating with the newspaper La Nau, directed by Rovira i Virgili and, in 1929 he worked for La Nau dels esports, a Catalan weekly magazine linked to La Nau.

From 1929 to 1930 he chaired the Catalan Federation of Football. Sunyol was connected to Acció Catalana, when Rovira left and founded Acció Republicana de Catalunya in 1930; he continued in the party and founded La Rambla, a newspaper about sports current events. However he was suspended in April 1930 and he reappeared in La Rambla de Catalunya, and spoke about topics such as the revision of the Garraf matter and the amnesty for prisoners and exiles.

In 1931, once the 2nd Spanish Republic was declared and before the Spanish general elections in June, Sunyol withdrew from Acció Catalana Republicana (a result of the merger of Unió d’Acció Catalana and Acció Republicana) and he became a candidate for Esquerra Republicana de Catalunya (ERC). He was elected member of the Parliament of the Spanish Republic (1931-1933) as part of the Catalan delegation. In 1933, he was elected again representing ERC.

From 1933 to 1934 he chaired the Reial Automòbil Club de Catalunya. In 1934 he was elected chair of Footbal Club Barcelona, although he resigned for healthy reasons;  in 1935 he was elected again and he held office until he died. At the beginning of the Civil War (July 1936) he went to Valencia and Madrid. From Madrid he went to Guadarrama in order to visit the front lines and encourage the republican soldiers, but he was arrested by the pro-Franco troops; together with two of his companions he was shot immediately without any previous trial.

Bibliography:

1. “Josep Sunyol. The other murdered president” (1996), Solé i Sabaté.

2. “Sunyol, the murdered Barça chair” (2011), Carles Llorens.

3. “Josep Suñol i Garriga, to live and to die for Catalonia” (2011), Jordi Badia.  

Francesc Bonastre