Testimony of Joan Ullés, interview with Omar Pimienta; 2009
Contributor
Asociación de Ex-presos y Represaliados Políticos Asociación para la Recuperación de la Memoria Histórica Federación Estatal de Foros por la Memoria University of California, San Diego Pimienta, Omar Ullés, Joan
Under copyright Constraint(s) on Use: This work is protected by the copyright law. Use of this work beyond that allowed by the applicable copyright statute requires written permission of the copyright holder(s). Responsibility for obtaining permissions and any use and distribution of this work rests exclusively with the user and not the UC San Diego Library. Inquiries can be made to the UC San Diego Library program having custody of the work. Use: This work is available from the UC San Diego Library. This digital copy of the work is intended to support research, teaching, and private study.
Rights Holder and Contact
Ullés, Joan
Description
Joan was born in Terrassa, Catalonia, on Dec. 30, 1920, to a middle-class family that suffered economic hardship in the early 1930s. Joan left school at age 12 to begin working to help his mother, becoming an apprentice mechanic at 14. At age 15 he joined the CNT in Terrassa. He gives a summary of events leading to the outbreak of the Civil War, interspersed with his own activities during the time. In 1938 he joined the Durruti Column on the Aragon Front. After the war he escaped to France through the Pyrenees, spending time in concentration camps and also working as a machinist in a Toulouse airplane factory. With the Nazi occupation of France he was sent to work in the mines of Decazeville, where he worked underground with other CNT militants. At this point he got married and soon after emigrated to Argentina in February of 1951, where he worked at various workshops and factories as a machinist. He celebrated upon Franco's death, and soon after returned to Catalonia for a visit, relocating to Spain definitively in 1982. He lives in Terrassa, where he remains a CNT militant and member of the Esquerra Republicana de Cataluyna (ERC) Joan nació en Terrassa, Cataluña, el 30 de diciembre de 1920. Su familia, de clase media, sufriٕó dificultades económicas a principios de la decada de los 30. Joan dejó la escuela a los 12 años para empezar a trabajar para ayudar a su madre, convirtiéndose a los 14 en aprendiz de mecánico. A los 15 años se incorporó a la CNT en Terrassa. Da un resumen de los acontecimientos que llevaron al estallido de la Guerra Civil, intercalados con sus propias actividades durante el tiempo. En 1938 se incorporó a la Columna Durruti en el Frente de Aragón. Después de la guerra escapó a Francia a través de los Pirineos, pasando un tiempo en campos de concentración y también trabajando como maquinista en una fábrica de aviones de Toulouse. Con la ocupación nazi de Francia fue enviado a trabajar a las minas de Decazeville, donde trabajó clandestinamente con otros militantes de la CNT. En ese momento se casó y poco después emigró a Argentina en febrero de 1951, donde trabajó en varios talleres y fábricas como maquinista. Celebró la muerte de Franco, y poco después volvió a Cataluña de visita, instalándose definitivamente en España en 1982. Vive en Terrassa, donde sigue siendo militante de la CNT y miembro de la Esquerra Republicana de Cataluyna (ERC). Special Collections & Archives, UC San Diego, La Jolla, 92093-0175 (https://lib.ucsd.edu/sca) Interviews in Spanish Ullés' testimony was recorded in Barcelona Testimony of the Spanish Civil War and the Francoist dictatorship Ullés, Joan. Testimony of the Spanish Civil War and the Francoist Dictatorship. University of California, San Diego, 2009 Barcelona, Spain :, Spanish Civil War Memory Project
Type
moving image
Format
5 video files : digital, sound, color
Identifier
ark:/20775/bb9045555d
Language
Spanish
Subject
Personal narratives-Spanish Nonfiction films Civil War (Spain : 1936-1939) History Oral history Interviews Esquerra republicana de Catalunya Confederación Nacional del Trabajo (Spain) Argentina Aragon (Spain) Spain Catalonia (Spain) France
Place
Argentina Aragon (Spain) Spain Catalonia (Spain) France
If you're wondering about permissions and what you can do with this item, a good starting point is the "rights information" on this page. See our terms of use for more tips.
Share your story
Has Calisphere helped you advance your research, complete a project, or find something meaningful? We'd love to hear about it; please send us a message.
