The bombings of Mallorca at the beginning of the Civil War, which originated from Catalonia, did not precisely contribute to a favorable attitude among Majorcans towards their brothers across the sea. As Josep Massot recounts, hotels displayed signs in Spanish, “Speaking Catalan is prohibited,” and some shops put up notices saying, “We do not sell to Catalans.”According to one witness, in a pharmacy, a Catalan traveling salesman was asked to leave when his street was pointed out. In a café, someone hung a sign above the restrooms that read ‘Generalitat de Catalunya,’ a joke that was greatly applauded. Business associations had decided not to buy products from Catalonia. Llorenç Villalonga – who would have thought it, with his metamorphosis years later – had announced that the first Catalan to knock on his door he would throw down the stairs.The coup d’état caught Catalans living in or vacationing in Mallorca by surprise: it should be remembered that it was July, so some of the young couples enjoying their honeymoon had to stay there for three years. The mere fact of being Catalan became suspicious. Arrests were made, with charges of being spies or deserters from Bayo's expedition, and the risk of execution. Even the seminarist from Tarragona, Ramon Muntanyola, whose father and brother had been shot by the Republicans, had to suffer that Catalanophobia.Doubts had to be erased, by any means necessary. Thus, it is not surprising that a group of Catalans who were in Mallorca drafted a text addressed to the military commander expressing their “adherence and homage to the saving Army of Spain,” which was reproduced in the local press. An artillery soldier of the same origin published a letter speaking of “the good Spaniards of the Catalan region” and announcing that he was also donating twenty-five pesetas to “the saving cause.” Monetary arguments are always convincing.
Mallorcans and Catalans: a dangerous friendship?
90 years are completed of the 'Message' from Catalonia and the 'Response' from Mallorca, which would complicate life for a good part of the signatories
PalmaYes, Majorcans and Catalans, brothers, without a doubt… But, even in the best of families, relationships often become complicated. Between May and June 1936, a Message to the Majorcans from Catalonia, and the consequent Reply to the Catalans from Mallorca, for common cultural cooperation, would end up complicating the lives of a good part of the signatories, upon the sudden arrival of the coup d’état and the victory of the rebels on the island. We remember this as we mark ninety years since that episode.
The II Republic, which arrived in 1931 in a climate favorable to autonomist claims, favored the rapprochement between Mallorca and Catalonia, where the political forces of this tendency – Lliga and Esquerra Republicana – were hegemonic. But the revolutionary events of 1934 and the intervention of the Generalitat by the State government cut short that initiative.
It was in May 1936, with the Generalitat re-established, that the Message to the Majorcans appeared in the Barcelona press, proposing initiatives to strengthen ties between both territories. It was supported by an honorary committee, headed by President Lluís Companys, and a board that brought together the main cultural entities of the Principality, with names such as Pere Bosch Gimpera, Francesc Cambó, Pompeu Fabra, and Josep Puig i Cadafalch.
In this initiative, two Majorcans residing in Barcelona and closely linked to Catalan politics played a fundamental role: the journalist Joan Estelrich and the former student leader Antoni Maria Sbert. They had coincided as deputies in Madrid, Estelrich for the Lliga and Sbert for Esquerra Republicana, and they would soon find themselves on opposite sides: Sbert as a councilor of the Generalitat, with the war already begun, and Estelrich as delegate of Francoist Spain to Unesco.
In a polarized political environment – as we say now – the Message sought to focus on the cultural and linguistic aspect, without getting involved in politics, so to speak. It highlighted the names of those Majorcans distinguished for their contribution to the common language and expressed wishes for that consciousness of belonging to the same community, then only felt by “the intellectual elites on both sides of our sea,” to extend to the entire population.
The Villalonga brothers, in attack
The Resposta als catalans, which from then on would be known as the Manifest, by definition, arrived the following June. Following the same line, it essentially spoke of language and culture. There were attempts to add more political aspects to it, which complicated the process of reaching a consensual text. Even so, it included the expression ‘moral, social and patriotic cohesion’, which could make one doubt which homeland was being spoken of.
It was signed by the ‘who’s who’ of the culture and public life of Mallorca at the time: Pau Alcover de Haro, the two Gabriels Alomar –the politician and the architect–, the two Guillems Colom –the poet and the geologist–, Emili Darder, Miquel Dolç, Félix Escalas, Bartomeu and Miquel Ferrà, Gabriel Fuster and Mayans Gafim, Salvador Galmés, the precursor of feminism Maria Mayol, Francesc de Borja Moll, Joan Mascaró, Félix and Joan Pons i Marquès –father and uncle of the future president of the Cortes–, Bartomeu Rosselló-Pòrcel, Maria Antònia Salvà, Joan Maria Thomàs... In total, 153 signatories, 82 of whom, according to Joan Pons, the probable author of the text, were right-wing, 42 left-wing, and 29 centrist.
The Manifest, deliberately moderate in tone, did not arouse suspicion at the time. Only the very conservative Acció Popular Agrària did not understand what a Catalan-Balearic cultural community consisted of, "a hybrid and unfruitful mixture". That said, they acknowledged that "Catalan" was spoken in both territories, thus proving they were right-wing, yes, but not ignorant – unlike some, now.
Everything would change with the triumph in Mallorca – not in Catalonia – of the coup d'état the following July, which was accompanied by a veritable espanyolizing apotheosis. That August, Llorenç Villalonga opened the scoring, publishing an article accusing the signatories of "having been fooled like bumpkins". Casually, he implied that the correspondence to the Resposta als catalans were those planes that, from Catalonia, dropped bombs on Mallorca.
Francesc de Borja Moll, one of the targets of the attack, considered it very suspicious that this was brought up precisely when things were not going well for the rebels: the republican landing of Bayo in Mallorca had occurred and Formentera had been recovered. It was a way of diverting attention. Joan Estelrich was not stopped by his militancy on the same side from calling Villalonga a
As if they were a dynamic duo – of far-right brothers – just a week after Llorenç's text, Miguel Villalonga published a second article, Aviso cariñoso, in which he warned the signatories that they were now in "an enemy country". So they should not be surprised, he told them, "If an unpleasant mishap befalls you". If only it were a 'avisocariñoso'!
The following September, another text was published, unsigned, but presumably also by Miguel Villalonga, in which those who had "made a mistake" by signing the Resposta were asked to "nobly acknowledge their error". If they did not do so, the alternative was quite simple: "They should start thinking about evacuating our island".
In Valladolid, to learn Spanish
The signatories of the Manifesto were now suspected of Catalanism and, what was much worse, of complicity with the enemy. Of course, the left-wingers were the most likely to suffer the consequences. Having put their signature on it was used as another argument against Mayor Emili Darder, who was murdered the following February. Joan Sanxo Tous narrowly escaped being shot and spent five years in the Formentera concentration camp. Andreu Crespí was saved from death thanks to his former students, now converted to Francoism.
Master Miquel Deià was suspended for three months from pay and position and sent to Valladolid, for another three months, to learn Spanish. Priest Francesc Sureda i Blanes, despite having published an article in praise of the new regime, was transferred to Badajoz, without the bishop's protests serving any purpose.
Even Maria Antònia Salvà, who had sung the praises of Franco, found, in a letter in Catalan addressed to Miquel Ferrà, another of the signatories, the following added note: "In Spain, Spanish is spoken and written, which is the official language. The military censor." Ferrà was subjected to surveillance, under threat of execution, an uncomfortable situation from which, believe it or not, Llorenç Villalonga extricated him.
The suspects had to do something to get out of that uncomfortable situation. And, indeed, as the anonymous text had demanded, in September they published a rectification where they distanced themselves from "the degenerate mob that violated our land" and recalled that, "from the first day of the national movement" they had expressed their "adhesion and cooperation." While still claiming the "ideal heritage" of Miquel dels Sants Oliver, the poets Joan Alcover and Costa i Llobera wanted to "collaborate in a pure atmosphere in the work of national reconstruction." It was signed by 107 out of the 153 who had supported the text from a few months earlier.
It seemed that that had been resolved. But for the Infantry Colonel Ricardo Fernández de Tamarit, the rectification was not enough – of course not: the signatories should have flogged themselves in public, like medieval penitents. It was fine for sinners to repent, he accepted in an article, but they had shown that they were not trustworthy. So they had to be “put outside the borders of Spain”, to prevent them from relapsing. Llorenç Villalonga had to respond, trying to calm spirits: precisely him, who was the one who had opened Pandora’s box. The signatories, he said, had been “more frivolous than guilty”.
Someone might think that all that was just an endless controversy, that it wasn't very clear where it was going. But it is worth remembering that, at that time, people were being killed in Mallorca. Not even those supposedly adhering – now – to the new regime could feel satisfied. A fog of repression and silence had spread over the Catalan language and culture, which they loved, which would take decades to dissipate.
Information compiled from texts by Josep Massot i Muntaner, Llorenç Capellà, Gregori Mir, Antoni Janer Torrens and Francesc de Borja Moll.
