View source for Lluís Companys

{{Short description|Catalan lawyer and politician (1882–1940)}}
{{family name hatnote|Companys|Jover|lang=Catalan}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=October 2024}}
{{Infobox officeholder
| honorific_prefix = [[The Right Honourable]]
| name = Lluís Companys
| honorific_suffix = 
| image =Lluís Companys i Jover (1-E-6412).jpg
| caption = 
| birth_date = {{birth date|1882|06|21|df=y}}
| birth_place = [[El Tarròs]], [[Urgell (comarca)|Urgell]], [[Catalonia]], Spain
| residence =
| death_date = {{death date and age|1940|10|15|1882|06|21|df=y}}
| death_place = [[Montjuïc]], [[Barcelona]], Catalonia, Spain
| death_cause = [[Execution by firing squad]]
| nationality = Spanish
| order = 123rd<ref>{{cite web |title=Presidents of the Generalitat |url=https://catalangovernment.eu/catalangovernment/government/presidents |website=catalangovernment.eu |publisher=[[Generalitat de Catalunya]] |access-date=10 July 2020}}</ref>
| office = President of the Government of Catalonia
| president = [[Niceto Alcalá-Zamora]]<br/>[[Manuel Azaña]]
| term_start = 25 December 1933
| term_end = 15 October 1940<br/>{{small|[[Acting (law)|Acting]] until 1 January 1934<br/>[[Government-in-exile|In exile]] from 23 January 1939 to 15 October 1940}}
| predecessor = [[Francesc Macià]]
| successor = [[Josep Irla]]
| office2 =  4th [[List of Presidents of Catalonia|Acting President]] of the [[Catalan State (1934)|Catalan Republic]]
| term_start2 = 6 October 1934
| term_end2 = 7 October 1934
| predecessor2 = [[Francesc Macià]] {{small|(1931)}}
| successor2 = Himself<br/>{{small|as President of the Government of Catalonia}}
| office3 = [[Ministry of the Navy (Spain)|Minister of the Navy]]
| primeminister3 = [[Manuel Azaña]]
| term_start3 = 20 June 1933
| term_end3 = 12 September 1933
| predecessor3 = [[José Giral]]
| successor3 = [[Vicente Iranzo Enguita]]
| office4 = 1st [[List of Presidents of the Parliament of Catalonia|President of the Parliament of Catalonia]]
| term_start4 = 14 December 1932
| term_end4 = 20 June 1933
| predecessor4 = ''Office established''
| successor4 = [[Joan Casanovas i Maristany]]
| party = [[Catalan Republican Party (1917)|Catalan Republican Party]]<br>[[Republican Left of Catalonia]]
| religion = 
| spouse = Mercè Micó (div.) <br /> Carme Ballester
| children = Lluís (1911–1956)
| website =
| footnotes = 
}}
'''Lluís Companys i Jover''' ({{IPA|ca|ʎuˈis kumˈpaɲs}}; 21 June 1882 – 15 October 1940) was a [[Catalans|Catalan]] politician who served as [[List of presidents of the Government of Catalonia|president of Catalonia]] from 1934 and during the [[Spanish Civil War]].

Companys was a lawyer close to the [[labour movement]] and one of the most prominent leaders of the [[Republican Left of Catalonia]] (ERC) political party, founded in 1931. He had a key role in the events of the proclamation and first steps of the [[Second Spanish Republic]]. Appointed [[president of the Generalitat of Catalonia]] in 1934, after the death of the previous president, [[Francesc Macià]], his government tried to consolidate the recently acquired Catalan self-government and implement a progressive agenda, despite the internal difficulties. Opposed to the inclusion of the right-wing [[CEDA]] party  in the coalition Spanish government during the [[events of 6 October|strikes and insurgency in October 1934]], on 6 October he proclaimed a new [[Catalan State (1934)|Catalan State]]. He and Catalan government officials were subsequently arrested and imprisoned. 

After the left-wing [[Popular Front]] won the Spanish national election in 1936, Companys was pardoned, and he returned to head the fractious Catalan government.  He remained president during the Spanish Civil War, loyal to the [[Republican faction (Spanish Civil War)|Republican]] faction. A refugee in France after the Republican defeat in 1939, he was arrested in 1940 by the secret police of [[Nazi Germany]], the [[Gestapo]]. Extradited back to [[Francoist Spain]], he was executed on 15 October 1940.

==Early life==
Lluís Companys i Jover was born in [[El Tarròs]] near [[Lleida]] in western Catalonia on 21 June 1882. His parents, Josep Companys and Maria Lluïsa de Jover, were peasants with aristocratic roots.<ref name="Sapiens121companys">{{cite journal |last= Finestres |first= Jordi |date= October 2012 |title= Lluís Companys. El president màrtir |language= ca |location= Barcelona |journal= [[Sàpiens]] |issue = 121 |pages = 46–49}}</ref> The second child of ten, Companys was sent to [[boarding school]] in Barcelona at the ''Liceu Poliglot''. He obtained his law degree from the [[University of Barcelona]], where he met [[Francesc Layret]], another Catalan nationalist with an interest in politics.  

Companys participated in the political life of Catalonia from a young age. In 1906, the military pressured and attacked the offices of Catalan newspapers ''[[Cu-Cut!]]'' and ''[[La Veu de Catalunya]]'', events which were followed by the passage of the repressive ''[[Law of Jurisdictions|Ley de Jurisdicciones]]'' ("Law of Jurisdictions"), making speech against Spain and its symbols a criminal offense.  In response to these events, he participated in the creation of the successful coalition [[Catalan Solidarity (1906)|Solidaritat Catalana]].<ref>Mata, Jordi. «Solidaritat Catalana: la gran il·lusió». Serra d'Or', num. 555 (March 2006), pp. 20–21. {{ISSN|0037-2501}}</ref> Later, he became affiliated with the ephemeral [[Republican Nationalist Federal Union]] (''Unió Federal Nacionalista Republicana''), where he was president of the youth section. He was investigated for his intense youth activities and was jailed fifteen times. After the violent confrontations in Barcelona during [[Tragic Week (Spain)|Tragic Week]] in 1909, he was classified as a "dangerous individual" in police records.

With Francesc Layret, Companys represented the left-wing labour faction of the [[Partit Republicà Català]] (Catalan Republican Party), for which he was elected local councilor of Barcelona in 1916. In November 1920, he was arrested together with [[Salvador Seguí]] (known as ''El Noi del Sucre''), [[Martí Barrera]] and other [[trade unionist]]s, and he was deported to the ''Castell de la Mola'' in [[Mahón]], [[Menorca]]. While Layret was preparing Companys' legal defense, he was assassinated by gunmen of the [[Sindicatos Libres]]. In the [[1920 Spanish general election|1920 Spanish legislative elections]] Companys took the place of Layret, who would likely have won that election,<ref>{{harvnb|Abelló|2006|p=118}}</ref> and despite having been deported, Companys was elected member of parliament for [[Sabadell]].  As a member of parliament he had legal immunity, which secured his release from prison.

In 1922 Companys was one of the founders of the peasants' trade union [[Unió de Rabassaires]], where he worked as lawyer and director of the ''La Terra'' magazine during the years of the [[Miguel Primo de Rivera|Primo de Rivera]] regime in the 1920s. Detained again, he was unable to attend the ''Conferència d'Esquerres'' (Conference of Leftists), held from 12 to 19 March 1931. The conference produced the political party Esquerra Republicana de Catalunya (ERC, [[Republican Left of Catalonia]]) by merging [[Estat Català]] (led by Francesc Macià), the Partit Republicà Català itself, and the journal [[L'Opinió]]. The latter included [[Joan Lluhí]] as prominent figure. Nevertheless, Companys was elected as an executive member of ERC, representing the Partit Republicà Català. Thanks to the bonds between the Spanish labor movement and the Spanish trade union movement, the election of Companys to this position gave the ERC great prestige in left-wing public opinion, as it would otherwise have been regarded as a party of the progressive petty bourgeoisie.

== Proclamation of Second Spanish Republic ==
{{Main|Autonomous Region of Catalonia (1931-1939)}}
[[File:Luis Companys, gobernador civil de Barcelona, en Mundo Gráfico 1931-04-29.jpg|thumb|170px|Lluís Companys as Civil Governor of Barcelona, April 1931]]
In the [[1931 Spanish local elections]], the ERC won a surprise victory in Barcelona and other municipalities of Catalonia. After he learned the results, on 14 April, Companys, who was elected a city representative, and other ERC candidates together with the Party's leader [[Francesc Macià]], decided to take over by surprise the office of mayor and entered the City Hall. After some dispute, the transitional [[Mayor of Barcelona]] was deposed, and Companys was proclaimed new mayor. Subsequently, he hung a tricolour [[Flag of the Second Spanish Republic|Spanish Republican Flag]] from the City Hall's balcony and proclaimed the Republic.<ref>«Proclamación de la República en Barcelona». La Vanguardia.[http://hemeroteca.lavanguardia.com/preview/1931/04/15/pagina-6/33162334/pdf.html] 15 de abril de 1931.</ref> Shortly after, Francesc Macià proclaimed the [[Catalan Republic (1931)|Catalan Republic]] within the Federation of Iberian Republics, a project that was later abandoned after gaining the promise of regional devolution and the restitution of the Catalan [[Generalitat of Catalonia|Generalitat]] (as autonomous government) from the new Republican government.<ref>Carr, Raymond. ''Modern Spain: 1975–1980''. Oxford University Press, 1980, p. xvi.</ref>

After controlling the Barcelona City Hall, Macià ordered Companys to take the office of "Gobernador Civil" (civil governor) of the Barcelona Province, which at that time held considerable powers such as policing. It had been controlled by [[Radical Republican Party|republican radicals]] during the proclamation of the republic. Macià probably wanted a less public office for Companys, whom he thought of as a political rival. Companys ran as a Barcelona provincial candidate in the [[1931 Spanish general election|December 1931 Spanish legislative election]]. After gaining a seat, he led the ERC representation and the Catalan minority group in the new Republican Parliament. He described his political objectives in Madrid: "We, the Catalan members of the Parliament, have come here not only to defend our [[Statute of Autonomy of Catalonia of 1932|Statute of Autonomy]] [law of self-government], and the fraternal and democratic understanding of the members of Parliament; but, also to participate in matters that affect the greatness of Spain: the [[Spanish Constitution of 1931|Constitution]], the agrarian reforms and social legislation".<ref>{{Cite book|title = Lluís Companys. Un home de Govern|last = González i Vilalta|first = Arnau|year = 2009|isbn = 978-84-92437-26-9|publisher=Editorial Base|location = Barcelona|pages = 127}}</ref> In 1932, Companys was elected the first [[Speaker of the Parliament of Catalonia]].

==Presidency of Catalonia and proclamation of Catalan State==
After the death of Francesc Macià on 25 December 1933, who was presiding over the Generalitat of Catalonia, Companys was elected the successor President of the Generalitat by the Catalan Parliament. He appointed a new coalition government composed by the Republican Left of Catalonia and the other left-wing republican and catalanist parties. Under his presidency, the Parliament passed laws to improve the living conditions of the popular classes and the petite bourgeoisie.  One example was the [[Crop Contracts Law]], which protected the tenant farmers and granted them access to the land they were cultivating.  The law increased tensions, however, after it was contested by the Regionalist League, and it provoked a legal dispute with the Spanish government led by Ricardo Samper. Meanwhile, the Generalitat established its own Court of Appeal (''[[Tribunal de Cassació]]'')<ref>Roca i Trias, Encarna. [https://web.archive.org/web/20140407101706/http://www.ajilc.cat/noticies/E.%20Roca%20article%20Puig%20Salellas.pdf ''El tribunal de Cassació de la Generalitat republicana: La història d'una tradició prohibida''], 2009, 18 pages from a conference</ref> and assumed executive powers in public order, according as the Statute of Autonomy stipulated. 

On 6 October 1934, with the support of the [[Worker's Alliance]] and the pro-independence [[Escamots]], Companys led a [[Events of October the 6th|Catalan nationalist uprising]]. Companys proclaimed the [[Catalan State (1934)|Catalan State]] (Estat Català) within the "Spanish Federal Republic".<ref>Preston, Paul. ''The Spanish Civil War. Reaction, revolution & revenge.'' Harper Perennial. London. 2006. p. 78</ref>  The uprising was opposed by both the centrist and conservative Catalan representatives and the new centrist and right-wing republican government, led by [[Alejandro Lerroux]]. That government included ministers from the political party CEDA, which was considered by many left-wing sectors as nearly fascist.  The attempt to form the Catalan state was seen as an attempt at a [[coup d'état]], as Companys had revolted against the newly appointed center-right republican government and joined the [[Asturian miners' strike of 1934|Asturias miners']] attempt at revolution. Companys asked [[Manuel Azaña]], who happened to be in Barcelona during the events, to lead the newly proclaimed Spanish Republican government, but Azaña rejected the proposition. The proclamation was suppressed by the Spanish army, and the Catalan government members were arrested.<ref>{{cite journal| last1=Finestres| first1=Jordi| last2=López| first2=Manel| title = Entre la revolució i l'estelada| journal=Sàpiens| year=2014| location=Barcelona| language=ca| issn=1695-2014|pages=31–32}}</ref> Companys was sentenced to 30 years in prison.<ref>Beevor, Antony. ''The battle for Spain. The Spanish Civil War 1936–1939.'' Penguin Books. 2006. London. p. 30</ref>  After the victory of the left-wing coalition [[Popular Front (Spain)|Popular Front]] in the [[1936 Spanish general election|1936 election]], he was pardoned by the new Spanish government, and the Catalan government was restored. 

[[File:Republican troops during the July 1936 uprising in Barcelona.jpg|thumb|[[Republicans (Spanish Civil War)|Republican]] soldiers and [[Assault Guards]] fighting from the Telefónica building in [[Barcelona]] during the July 1936 uprising.]]
{{See also|July 1936 military uprising in Barcelona}}
The period after that election until July 1936 is considered a time of relative peace in Catalonia, in contrast with the rest of Spain. The Parliament restored their legislative activities.  As a response to the [[1936 Summer Olympics|1936 Berlin Summer Olympics]] held in [[Nazi Germany]], the government prepared the [[People's Olympiad]] in Barcelona, with Companys as its honorary president. The Olympiad was planned to commence on 19 July, but on that same day the Spanish Army began a [[Spanish coup of July 1936|national coup d'état]] that would fail but eventually precipitate the [[Spanish Civil War]].<ref>{{cite web |title=The Movement to Boycott the Berlin Olympics of 1936 |url=http://www.ushmm.org/wlc/en/article.php?ModuleId=10007087 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140202095138/http://www.ushmm.org/wlc/en/article.php?ModuleId=10007087 |url-status=dead |archive-date=2 February 2014 |website=Holocaust Encyclopedia |publisher=United States Holocaust Memorial Museum |access-date=16 February 2019}}</ref>  On the morning of 19 July, civil conflict began between Republican and Nationalist forces in Barcelona.

==Civil War==
{{Main|Revolutionary Catalonia}}

[[Image:Comité_Central_de_Milícies_Antifeixistes.jpg|thumb|Organization chart of the Central Committee of Antifascist Militias, 1936. As president of Catalonia, Companys governed a large number of competing and fractious political groups, while nurturing Catalan autonomy.]]
When the Spanish Civil War began, Companys sided with the [[Second Spanish Republic|Spanish Republic]] against the [[Nationalist_faction_(Spanish_Civil_War)|Nationalist faction]]. Responding to the coup attempt in Barcelona, several Catalan political and workers parties independently fought to defeat the local Nationalist forces, subsequently causing tensions in political power.  As a consequence of the independently organized resistance, by the end of the fighting on 21 July some of the political parties wielded considerably more power than the government.  These parties included: the [[Confederación Nacional del Trabajo]] (CNT), an anarchist [[syndicalist]] trade union; the [[Iberian Anarchist Federation]] (FAI), a Spanish anarchist organization; the [[POUM|Workers' Party of Marxist Unification]] (POUM), a revolutionary [[anti-Stalinist left|anti-Stalinist]] communist party; and others.<ref>Preston, Paul. ''The Spanish Civil War. Reaction, revolution & revenge.'' Harper Perennial. London. 2006. pp. 253–254</ref>  Companys was instrumental in organizing an umbrella collaboration between these diverse groups called the [[Central Committee of Anti-Fascist Militias]] (CCMA). CCMA was formed on 21 July and sponsored by his [[Catalan government]] to reconcile the political tensions, recover the control of the situation, and organize the war effort.

[[Image:Parlament per ràdio de Lluis Companys al Palau de la Generalitat ANC1-42-N-7842.jpg|thumb|Wartime radio address of President Companys from the Palau de la Generalitat, c. December 1936]]
In November 1936, the Generalitat government was the target of a [[1936 Catalan coup d'état attempt|planned coup]] by members of the pro-independence party [[Estat Català]], a break-away political party from Companys' ERC. Primarily objecting to Companys conciliation with anarchist groups, the conspirators intended to replace him with Prime Minister [[:ca:Joan Casanovas i Maristany|Joan Casanovas]]. The plot was exposed and some of its leaders jailed.<ref>Enric Ucelay-Da Cal, Arnau González i Vilalta (ed.), ''Contra Companys, 1936. La frustración nacionalista ante la revolución'', Valencia 2012, {{ISBN|978-8437089157}}</ref> Companys continued to try to maintain the unity of his fragile political coalition, but after the [[Soviet Union]]'s consul, [[Vladimir Antonov-Ovseenko]], threatened to cut off Russian aid to Catalonia for his continued collaboration with the anti-Stalinist POUM, he sacked POUM leader [[Andreu Nin]] from his post as Minister of Justice in December 1936. After [[May Days]], a series of clashes between Republican factions in early May 1937 which saw the removal of the central role played by the anarchist CNT-FAI, control of public order, defense, borders and war industries (in the hands of the Generalitat since the beginning of the war) was assumed by the Spanish Republican government. Companys could only protest, and political tensions with the Spanish Republican forces increased.  As a consequence of Soviet/[[Communist International|Comintern]] and [[Communist Party of Spain|Spanish Communist Party]] (PCE) pressures, POUM was declared illegal on 16 June 1937; Nin disappeared soon thereafter, widely viewed as having been assassinated by Soviet agents.

With the [[Fall of Barcelona (1939)|fall of Barcelona]] to the Nationalists in January 1939, Companys feared for his life and left the city, departing on 24 January, 2 days prior to the Nationalist takeover. Ten days later he joined the half-million Republican soldiers and civilians in [[La Retirada]] escaping the Nationalists of [[Francisco Franco]] by crossing the [[Pyrenees]] of Catalonia to France.  Companys crossed the French border at Coll de Lli, La Vajol with the [[Basque Country (autonomous community)|Basque]] [[lehendakari]] (president) [[José Antonio Aguirre (politician)|José Antonio Aguirre]] on 5 February 1939, thus beginning his exile.

==Exile and execution==
A refugee in France in 1939 after the Civil War, Companys passed up various chances to leave France because his son Lluís was seriously ill in a clinic in [[Paris]].<ref name="Preston, Paul 2012 p. 493">Preston, Paul. (2012). ''The Spanish Holocaust.'' Harper Press. London p. 493</ref> His position became particularly perilous after [[Battle of France|Germany took France]] in June 1940.  In collaboration with the [[Spanish police]], the [[Gestapo]] arrested him in [[La Baule-les-Pins]] near [[Nantes]] on 13 August 1940. First detained in [[La Santé Prison]] in [[Paris]], he was then extradited by [[Nazi Germany|Nazi German]] authorities to Spain in early September 1940. He was imprisoned at [[Puerta del Sol]], [[Madrid]]'s central square, in the basement of the headquarters of the Dirección General de Seguridad (General Directorate of State Security) at the Real Casa de Correos ([[Royal House of the Post Office]]). Held there for five weeks, he was kept in solitary confinement, interrogated, starved, tortured and brutally beaten. Senior figures of the Francoist State visited his cell, insulted him and threw coins or crusts of bread at him.<ref name="Preston, Paul 2012 p. 493"/><ref>Juliá, Santos; Casanova, Julián; Solé i Sabaté, Josep Maria; Villarroya; Moreno, Francisco.'' Victimas de la guerra civil''. Ediciones Temas de Hoy. 1999. Madrid. p. 331</ref> 

[[File:Summari lluis companys.jpg|thumb|250px|right|Death sentence of Lluís Companys]]
In a military trial held in Barcelona in mid-October 1940,
<ref>The [[drumhead courts-martial]] carried out were based on the application of the Military Code for rebellion against all those who oppose the revolt. This meant that the real rebels against the legal authority condemned for the crime of ''rebellion, accession or aid the rebellion'' who had been loyal to the legitimate government.  Even [[Ramón Serrano Suñer]], [[Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Cooperation (Spain)|Minister of Foreign Affairs]] at that time, recognized it years later by affirming that the entire legal basis of the facts of [[Spanish Civil War|Civil War]] were based on a "justice backwards" and concluded, "it was therefore an error configuring the offenses of rebellion and sedition in order to attribute this offenses to the defenders of republican government, because these – legally and even metaphysically – were not able to commit them".([https://books.google.com/books?id=4TKdAAAAMAAJ Solé, 1999])</ref> 
Companys was accused of military rebellion and sentenced to death. The trial lasted less than one hour and lacked legal guarantees.  During the trial, Companys was courageously defended by Ramón de Colubí, a young soldier who had fought in the war for the [[Nationalist faction (Spanish Civil War)|rebels]].  Colubí sent a telegram to Franco pleading for clemency for Companys, to no avail.<ref name=vangurdia>{{cite web|url=http://www.lavanguardia.com/vida/20151007/54437085130/novela-desvela-parentesco-entre-lluis-companys-y-su-abogado-ramon-de-colubi.html|title=Novela desvela parentesco entre Lluís Companys y su abogado Ramón de Colubí|date=July 10, 2015|work=La Vanguardia}}</ref>  In 2015 [[Víctor Gay Zaragoza]], a Catalan writer, found that Companys and Colubí were relatives.<ref name=vangurdia/>

Efforts to save Companys were useless, and at 6:30&nbsp;a.m. on 15 October 1940 he was executed at [[Montjuïc Castle]].<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=L5f7chobYqQC&dq=Companys+catalonia&pg=PT83 Gary McDonogh, Gary (2009) ''Iberian Worlds''. Taylor & Francis] At Google Books. Retrieved 17 June 2013.</ref>  Refusing to wear a blindfold, he was taken barefoot before a firing squad of Civil Guards, and, as they fired, Companys shouted 'Per Catalunya!' (For Catalonia!).<ref name="Burns">{{cite book|last=Burns|first=Jimmy|title=Barca: a people's passion|publisher=Bloomsbury|year=2000|page=126}}</ref> The cause of death was given as 'traumatic internal hemorrhage'.<ref>Preston, Paul. (2012). ''The Spanish Holocaust.'' Harper Press. London p. 493</ref> He was the only democratically elected president executed by fascism in Europe.<ref name="80years">{{cite web | last=Tomàs White | first=Cristina| title =80th anniversary of Catalan president's execution at hands of Francoist regime | publisher=Catalan News | url=https://www.catalannews.com/society-science/item/80th-anniversary-of-catalan-president-s-execution-at-hands-of-francoist-regime | date=2020-10-15 | access-date=2024-11-09 }}</ref>

==Legacy==
[[File:Grave of Lluís Companys.jpg|thumb|250px|right|Grave of Lluís Companys at [[Montjuïc Cemetery]]]]
Lluís Companys is buried at the [[Montjuïc Cemetery]] within the memorial space [[Fossar de la Pedrera]], which is dedicated to Republican victims of the Civil War.<ref name="80years"/>  An annual memorial to Companys and the 1,700 Republicans executed for political reasons is held at his grave site on the anniversary of his execution on 15 October.<ref>{{cite web | title=Homenatge a la tomba de Lluís Companys en record dels republicans executats pel franquisme (ca) (Tribute to the tomb of Lluís Companys in memory of the republicans executed by Franco)  | url = https://memoria.gencat.cat/ca/detalls/activitatagenda/Homenatge-a-la-tomba-de-Lluis-Companys-en-record-dels-republicans-executats-pel-franquisme | access-date=2024-11-07 | date=2021 | publisher=Generalitat de Catalunya }}</ref>

In Catalonia, Companys is viewed as a martyr to Catalan nationalism and independence.<ref name="Sapiens121companys"/><ref name="bbc_bio">{{ cite web | title=Lluis Companys - Martyr of Catalan Nationalism | url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/w3csv28r | date=2017-10-10 | access-date=2024-11-10 | publisher=BBC World Service: Witness History}}</ref> In Spain, Companys’ legacy is divisive, however. While perceived favorably and with reverence by liberals, progressives and those favoring independence in Catalonia, conservative and right-wing factions in Catalonia and Spain view his memory as a threat to the unity of Spain.<ref name="80years"/><ref name="PoliticalUnity">{{cite web | last=Agencia ACN | title =Political unity in remembering Catalan president executed at hands of Francoist regime | publisher=Catalan News | url=https://www.catalannews.com/politics/item/political-unity-in-remembering-catalan-president-executed-at-hands-of-francoist-regime | date=2022-10-15 | access-date=2024-11-09 }}</ref>  In recent years, multiple controversial and unsuccessful attempts have been made to rescind the guilty verdict of Companys' court martial.<ref name="APclashes">{{cite web | last1 =Wilson | first1 =Joseph | last2 =Parra | first2 =Aritz | title=Clashes erupt as Spanish Cabinet holds meeting in Catalonia | publisher= Associated Press | url=https://apnews.com/article/5686c56966a847919d643591b5711fa6 | date=2018-12-21 | access-date=2024-11-10 }}</ref><ref name=Nationalia>{{ cite web | last= | first= | title=75 years after execution, no reparation from Spanish government to democratically elected Catalan president | publisher=Nationalia | url=https://www.nationalia.info/new/10617/75-years-after-execution-no-reparation-from-spanish-government-to-democratically-elected-c | date=2015-10-15 | access-date=2024-11-10 }}</ref>

In 1998 a monument to Companys was installed near [[Arc de Triomf]], on [[Passeig de Lluís Companys]] in Barcelona. The poet [[Conxita Julià]], who as a teenager had written to Companys while he was in prison in 1934–1936, is portrayed next to Companys' image in the monument. The [[Estadi Olímpic Lluís Companys|main stadium]] used for the [[1992 Summer Olympics]], located on Montjuïc, was officially named in his memory in 2001. Many cities and villages of Catalonia have named streets and squares after him.

His personal archive is located in the [[CRAI Library of the Pavilion of the Republic]] at the [[University of Barcelona]].<ref>{{cite journal | url=https://diposit.ub.edu/dspace/handle/2445/17389 | title=Inventari del Fons F-FP, Subsèrie Lluís Companys, del CRAI Biblioteca del Pavelló de la República de la Universitat de Barcelona | journal=Inventaris de fons d'arxiu i de col·leccions especials (CRAI-UB) | date=2006 }}</ref> It consists of correspondence about him, as well as discourses and declarations between 1936 and 1938.

==See also==
*[[List of people executed by Francoist Spain]]
*[[Martyrs of the Spanish Civil War]]
*[[Red Terror (Spain)]]
*[[White Terror (Spain)]]

==References==
{{Reflist}}

===Sources===
* {{cite book | first = Teresa | last = Abelló | title = Els Anys de la Segona República (1931–1936) | year = 2006 | publisher = Edicions 62 | location = Barcelona |  isbn = 978-8429757637 }}
* Ossorio, Ángel (1943). ''Vida y sacrificio de Companys''. Buenos Aires: Editorial Losada
* {{cite book | first = César | last = Alcalá Giménez | title = La Cobardia de ERC: Los 10 Primeros de la Guerra Civil  | year = 2021 | publisher = SND | location = Barcelona |  isbn = 978-8418816116 }}

==External links==
{{Commonscat|Lluís Companys}}
* [http://www.memoria.cat/companys Web: "Unpublished documents about Carme Ballester and Lluís Companys"] (in Catalan)
* [http://hdl.handle.net/2445/17389 Inventari del Fons F-FP, Subsèrie Lluís Companys, del CRAI Biblioteca del Pavelló de la República de la Universitat de Barcelona]
* {{PM20|FID=pe/003412}}
* [https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/w3csv28r BBC Witness History Radio: Lluis Companys - Martyr of Catalan Nationalism] Biography and witness accounts of Companys' final days. (9 minute audio)

{{S-start}}
{{S-off}}
{{S-bef|before=[[Francesc Macià]]}}
{{S-ttl|title=[[List of Presidents of the Government of Catalonia|President of the Government of Catalonia]] <br /> <small> Acting until 1 January 1934 <br /> in [[exile]] from 23 January 1939 to 15 October 1940 </small> |years=1933–1940}}
{{S-aft|after=[[Josep Irla]] <br /> <small> In [[exile]] </small>}}
{{S-bef|before=New title}}
{{S-ttl|title=[[List of Presidents of the Parliament of Catalonia|President of the Parliament of Catalonia]]|years=1932–1933}}
{{S-aft|after=[[Joan Casanovas i Maristany]]}}
{{S-bef|before=[[Francesc Macià]], <br /> in 1931}}
{{S-ttl|title=[[List of Presidents of Catalonia|Acting President of the Catalan Republic]]|years=1934}}
{{S-aft|after=Himself, as President of the Generalitat de Catalunya}}
{{S-bef|before=[[José Giral]]}}
{{S-ttl|title=[[Ministry of the Navy (Spain)|Minister of the Navy]]|years=1933}}
{{S-aft|after=[[Vicente Iranzo Enguita]]}}
{{S-ppo}}
{{S-bef|before=[[Francesc Macià]]}}
{{S-ttl|title=[[Republican Left of Catalonia|President of ERC]]|years= 1933–1934}}
{{S-aft|after=[[Carles Pi i Sunyer]]}}
{{S-bef|before=[[Carles Pi i Sunyer]]}}
{{S-ttl|title=[[Republican Left of Catalonia|President of ERC]]|years= 1936–1940}}
{{S-aft|after=Vacant, <br /> next in 1993, [[Heribert Barrera]]}}
{{s-end}}

{{CataloniaPresidents}}
{{ERCPresidents}}
{{CatalanParliamentPresidents}}
{{Catalan nationalism}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Companys I Jover, Lluis}}
[[Category:1882 births]]
[[Category:1940 deaths]]
[[Category:People from Urgell]]
[[Category:Presidents of the Republican Left of Catalonia]]
[[Category:Government ministers during the Second Spanish Republic]]
[[Category:Members of the Congress of Deputies of the Second Spanish Republic]]
[[Category:Presidents of the Government of Catalonia]]
[[Category:Presidents of the Parliament of Catalonia]]
[[Category:Spanish people of the Spanish Civil War (Republican faction)]]
[[Category:Exiled politicians from Catalonia]]
[[Category:Exiles of the Spanish Civil War in France]]
[[Category:People executed by Francoist Spain]]
[[Category:Executed Spanish people]]
[[Category:Executed presidents]]
[[Category:People executed by Spain by firing squad]]
[[Category:People extradited from France]]
[[Category:People extradited to Spain]]
[[Category:Burials at Montjuïc Cemetery]]
[[Category:Civil governors of Barcelona]]
[[Category:Spanish republicans]]
[[Category:Inmates of Presó Model de Barcelona]]
[[Category:Catalan Anti-Francoists]]