This area of ??Maresme, Caldes d’Estrac and Sant Vicenç de Montalt, which during the Civil War enjoyed relative calm as it hosted many foreign embassies and consulates – which decided to leave Barcelona or arrive directly in this area when the republican government moved from Valencia – has more than one curious story from this turbulent time of which it still has vestiges.
It was not an area of ??great battles or anarchist excesses as in other locations. But we cannot fail to mention the events that occurred in Can Valls – already mentioned in another article by this association – where a group of the FAI broke in, taking the religious who lived there to Barcelona. The result was regrettable: 40 shot in the Montcada cemetery after their torture in the Czech cemetery on Sant Elies street in Barcelona.
There was also a battle in Turó Balís, between Llavaneres and Sant Vicenç, at the beginning of 1939. A group of artillerymen from the Republican army with mortars caused more than 80 casualties to the Italian army column advancing from Mataró. It was the Italian Littorio division, which fought on Franco’s side, and which advanced through the Maresme almost without resistance. They had to stop there.
Other collateral deaths occurred in isolated bombings. Like the one at the Caldes d’Estrac station. Or the total destruction of the house requisitioned by Prime Minister Negrín in Passeig dels Pins de Sant Vicenç.
There are few remains of these stories. A few months ago, in the building known in Sant Vicenç as El Delme, the initials CNT-FAI appeared painted on its façade. The reason is simple. Paint with lime, overlaying successive layers, over time the outer layers deteriorate. Then the color or what was written previously emerges again. With current paintings, however, it would hardly reappear.
When the uprising of a large part of the army against the Republic took place, on July 18, 1936, the immediate Republican reaction was to create local defense committees in all city councils. Its composition followed the local politics endorsed but modified with the immediate entry of anarchists and the parallel total disappearance of right-wing or center-right elements. Thus, El Delme, which was a parish building, became the local anarchist headquarters, who were on the local defense committee.
This building is very loved by all the inhabitants of Sant Vicenç. Especially for the recreational-cultural part to which it had been destined and to which, in fact, it continued to serve after the war. It served as both a theater and a cinema, as well as a school, so this place was very frequented by young people from both Sant Vicenç and Caldes.
Antoni Buch tells us his story in his book about Sant Vicenç. The parish house. The Delme was part of the confiscation of Medizábal in the first third of the 19th century. Its name derives from the obligation of farmers to pay the Tithe in kind and deposit it in this location. In 1920 Ramón Godayol, a priest, bought this place at auction, leaving it in his name. With the help of local heroes and also a large part of the inhabitants, rector Roig later rebuilt it for use as a parish school and performance hall. It was not until 1956, when Reverend Godayol was asked by the rector Pere Font, to officially transfer it to the bishopric, that the change of ownership was made.
Since last year 2023, the Sant Vicenç City Council has owned this 670 m², three-story building, and it has become part of the municipal heritage as equipment. Currently, they are considering fixing those letters CNT-FAI as a memory of what happened during the Civil War.
Another similar case, also related to lime painting, was that of the ikurriña painted on the wall of a building in Caldes d’Estrac. The building had been an annex to the headquarters of the Basque government when in the middle of the Civil War the governments of the Republic, the Generalitat and the Basque coincided in Catalonia. In the context of the aforementioned grouping of diplomatic headquarters in the area, in that belligerent era, the town councils took the houses of owners declared absent and/or fascist, and assigned them to politicians, diplomats and soldiers, whom they relocated according to needs. . This specific house, on the slope that goes from Camí Ral to the train station, about 50 meters from said station and almost next to the Carmen church, the Basques painted the ikurriña. With this they designated the place as their annex, which served as a warehouse and parking lot.
At the end of the war, in April 1939, Franco’s troops took control. The houses were returned to their owners. In this one, specifically, the ikurriña was covered with white lime paint, and as has happened in Sant Vicenç, the breeze and rain – in addition to the proximity to the sea – caused this ikurriña to reappear regularly. But few people knew about this flag, the display of which was prohibited, in the 50s, 60s and 70s. To the locals of this time, the faded ikurriña looked more like the British Union Jack than something related to the Basque nation. Even today many inhabitants remember it.
In 1992, the owners of this home proceeded to remove the layer of paint, permanently disappearing the recurring ikurriña. Although both in the hardest moments of Franco’s regime and in the beginnings of tourism, the ikurriña was symbolically displayed next to the Nacional II, on the wall of the old Basque headquarters.
The presence of Basques in this area during the civil war left another anecdote. Manuel de Irujo, Catholic, from the PNV and Minister of Justice of the Republic, who was residing in one of the chalets in the area, requested, and obtained, the reopening of the Church of Carmen, next to the annex of the Basque delegation and also to the station. At a time when the Republic strictly prohibited worship in churches, Irujo managed to reopen it, thinking in this way also to serve the diplomatic community gathered there.
Of this international presence, two minimal details remain on two facades, which do not make sense without knowing what happened at that time. The bases and the ring that supported the masts for the flags of Switzerland and Denmark. One in Can Badia, neighboring Villa Blanca, in Sant Vicenç. The other in Caldescans, at 6 Santema Street in Caldes d’Estrac.
Another trace of war was the mortar shell inserted in the façade of the parish church of Sant Vicenç. The church, built at the end of the 16th century, was an agricultural warehouse during the Civil War. An FAI patrol tried to burn it at the beginning of the war and actually burned some of the furniture. The baroque altarpiece that presided over the altar was completely ruined and had special value. The benches and other religious objects were saved by the neighbors, who even housed the priest and the vicar in private homes. This is how they saved their lives.
After the brief battle of Balís, the Italians acted with more caution but also more aggressiveness. Before entering the town of Sant Vicenç they launched mortar shells into the town, as there were shooters in the church bell tower. One of those projectiles remained embedded in the façade of the temple. Precisely in those points between stones that are filled with mortar. This fact, quite common in belligerent areas, takes on special relevance here due to the long time that elapsed between that moment and the withdrawal of the projectile. It did not occur until December 1995, almost 57 years later. Today you can still see the wound on the right side of the façade at about 4 meters high. Scars in stone from a turbulent time.