A network of evasion during the Spanish Civil War 1936-39: Peramola, Organyà, Cal Roger

On Saturday, November 16, 2019, organized by the Institut d’Estudis Comarcals of l’Alt Urgell, with the collaboration of the City Council of Organyà, the Consell Comarcal de l’Alt Urgell and the Comarcal Archive from the Alt Urgell, the “V Jornada d’Estudis de l’Alt Urgell” took place in Organyà.

The conferences were from 10 in the morning at 7 pm with the presentation of 17 Communications on various aspects of the County of Alt Urgell, and with the assistance of about 100 people.

Jordi Piferrer, vicepresident of the Association of Friends of the Camí de Pallerols de Rialb to Andorra, participated with the communication “A network of evasion during the Spanish Civil War 1936-39: Peramola, Organyà, Cal Roger.” The inclusion of this paper in the “V Jornada d’Estudis de l’Alt Urgell”, which was also the closing of the commemorative activities of the tenth anniversary of the “Institut d’Estudis Comarcals de l’Alt Urgell”, shows the acceptance and the interest of our activities in the cultural complex of Alt Urgell.

Below we enclose the program of the V Jornada and a summary of the communication presented by Jordi Piferrer.

Program

9.30 Presentation of the Conference

10.00 Communications

– Carles Gascón Chopo: Els pariatges d’Organyà (any 1233).

– Montse Riu Piqué: Jordana de Caboet i Eliarda de Montellà, dues pelegrines de la vall de Cabó en època medieval.

– Francesc Subirats i Forns: Les monedes de Castellbò.

– Joan Florensa Parés; Aniol Noguera Clofent: L’Escola Pia d’Oliana.

11.30 Pause – Coffee

12.00 Communications

– Daniel Fité Erill: Apunts entorn de les bases del sostre demogràfic urgellenc de 1860: l’evolució demogràfica del poble de Gavarra [Coll de Nargó, Alt Urgell] (1750-1920).

– Guillem Martín Bellido; Josep Obiols Potensà: Localització de la toponímia del solà del Vilar de Cabó.

– Valentí Turu Michels; Carles Gascón Chopo: Ressenyes històriques sobre la fragilitat dels sòls de muntanya als Pirineus Orientals (Andorra-Alt Urgell-Cerdanya), una senyal secular de l’acció antròpica sobre el medi natural.

– Jordi Dalmau i Ausàs: Règim de nevades al refugi de la Basseta (2008-2018).

14.00 Lunch

16.00 Communications

– Jordi Pasques Canut: La tosca de la font Bordonera.

– Pere M. Parés-Casanova: El púdol (Frangula Alpinus). Retall d’una comunitat vegetal estressada.

– Carlos Guàrdia Carbonell: Una aproximació a l’estudi del viari tradicional. El cas del municipi d’Alàs i Cerc.

– Jordi Piferrer Deu: Peramola, Organyà, Bellestar. Una xarxa d’evasió durant la guerra civil espanyola 1936-39.

– Pau Chica Fernández: En nom de la revolució: el Comité Local de Milícies Antifeixistes de la Seu d’Urgell (juliol 1936- juny 1937).

17:30 Communications

– Lluís Obiols Perearnau; Aniol Noguera Clofent: Les Vistes d’Oliana.

– Carmen Xam-mar Alonso: Introducció a la societat i l’activitat econòmica de la Seu d’Urgell (segles XVII i XVIII).

– Carmen Xam-mar Alonso; Climent Miró Tuset: Els significats de la forca del Firal del quadre Hèrcules i la Ciutat.

– Daniel Fité Erill: La Seu d’Urgell en temps del bisbe Caixal: obertura urbanística i conflicte cívico-religiós (1853-1868).

19:00 Closing

A brief summary of the Communication presented by Jordi Piferrer

“A network of evasion during the Spanish Civil War 1936-39: Peramola, Organyà, Cal Roger“

1.- Exhibition on some routes of escape through Alt Urgell, to Andorra, during the Spanish Civil War of 1936-39, and on some people, also from Alt Urgell, who intervened.

2.- An evasion route that passes through Organyà, in which we find three key characters, three Joseps: Josep Ramonet Espar, Ca l’Armanté (Organyà), Josep Boix Betriu, Juncàs (Peramola) and Josep Cirera Fàbrega, by Cal Roger (Bellestar).

These, along with other people of Peramola, constituted the evasion network that I will discuss next. Indeed, it was not an evasion network, but a set of friends and relatives who wanted to help other people in extreme danger, and that most of them did not even charge anything for this service.

3.- The evasion network worked like this:

He began in Barcelona where he was Mateu Molleví Roca, from Cal Mateu de Peramola, who was connected with his brothers and nephews who lived in Peramola. The greatest nephew, Francesc Molleví Serra who was the heir of Cal Mateu, made a connection between Barcelona and the Peramola network.

Other components of the Peramola evasion network were: Antoni Bach Pallarès, “Tonillo”, and his son, Paco Bach Puig. There were also those from the house of La Mora, in Peramola.

Connected with them, there were the people of Pallerols, in the Barony of Rialb: Pere Sala Jou, of the house of Vilaró, and Lluís Campabadal Esteve, of the Ampurdanés.

All of them were coordinated by Josep Boix Betriu, from Juncàs, owner of Espluga de les Vaques, in Barranc de la Ribalera, where many refugees were hiding, also their son Josep.

When the people of Peramola had the whole group gathered in Espluga de les Vaques, Josep Boix advised his brother-in-law Josep Ramonet Espar, from Ca l’Armanté, who advised the guide Josep Cirera, who came down from Andorra to collect the group and take it to Andorra.

4.- The route that Josep Cirera made was: Juncàs, Barranc de la Ribalera, Canal de la Jaça, Aubenç, Fenollet, Ares, Baridà, Cal Roger, Mas d’Alins and Sant Julià de Lòria, in Andorra.

In all these places he had friends or relatives who helped him achieve the success of the expeditions. Those of Fenollet were relatives, since the grandmother of the Cirera was from Fenollet. Those of the town of Ares were friends, especially those of Cal Fiter (where Bullich, Esparrica lived). Those of Baridà’s house were friends and guides and smugglers: Ciscu Bentanachs Oliva -who was killed by retired militiamen in 1939- and his son Jesus. Other friends were: those of La Reula, those of La Borda del Fuster and those of La Borda del Riu. At Cal Roger their parents lived there, and finally those of Mas d’Alins, already in Andorra, who were also very friendly to him.

5.- All this information will be expanded in the two books: “El Pas dels Pirineus” and “Camí d’Andorra”, where I have collected 16 evasion expeditions, including the one of Saint Josemaría Escrivá de Balaguer that followed the the aforementioned route from Oliana to Andorra in the autumn of 1937. The latest version in Spanish of these books is entitled “Camino de Liberación“, and contains the latest research on the subject.