1,685 names
The discovery of the lists published in the Official State Gazette, La Vanguardia Española, El Socialista and the better known one in the cemetery of Setfonts has allowed for the cross-referencing of information with that in the database of the Human Cost of the Civil War in Catalonia with regard to surnames and first names, ages, toponyms of origin and residency, and circumstances of death.
Prior to and in parallel with this cross-referencing of data, work was carried out to detect duplicates. The list from the consulate published in the Official State Gazette, once transcribed in its entirety, included 1,622 names. The data cleansing work detected 98 duplicates, meaning the Official State Gazette list ended up comprising 1,524 names. To these 1,524 must be added the 23 victims who only appeared in the list published in La Vanguardia Española and the 138 known from other sources. In total, the list therefore consists of 1,685 names.
The most important consideration, however, was when the sources confirmed the death of a victim whose name did not appear in the list compiled by the Human Cost of the Civil War in Catalonia database, or was listed as missing, and all those victims whose names had not been associated with the circumstances of death or were erroneous. Lluís Valls Mora, 24, born in Lliçà d’Amunt and a resident of Arenys de Mar, was listed in the Human Cost database as having died in a French camp, without the place or date being specified, although the cause was (typhoid fever). Thanks to information from the Official State Gazette, which was also published in La Vanguardia Española, we know now he died at the Old Military Hospital in Perpignan on May 15, 1939. There are two further cases that are even more significant, because the information on the circumstances of death provided by these sources corrects the place and date of disappearance and/or death. For example, Valerià or Valeri Martín Martín, 25, a native of Los Santos and resident of Sant Llorenç de Montgai, who was listed in the Human Cost database as having died either at the Ebre front or during the retreat, after being documented as such by oral testimony in 1987, is listed in the Official State Gazette and La Vanguardia Española as having died in the Old Military Hospital of Perpignan on October 17, 1939. Another case is that of Josep Mora Tomàs, 24 years old, from Rocafort de Queralt, whose circumstances of death were not known and whom we also find on the list of those who died in the Old Military Hospital of Perpignan on March 16, 1939. Florenci Comadira Buxó, 36 years old, from Sant Feliu de Guíxols, who was listed in the Human Cost database as having died as a result of wounds to the forehead in France, is also among the list of wounded combatants who died at the Old Military Hospital in Perpignan, in this case on March 7, 1939. Juli Estivill Escoda of Ca Climent de la Torre de l’Espanyol, aged 19, was reported to have died in a Francoist concentration camp in Spain, while the Official State Gazette and La Vanguardia Española identified him among those who died in Perpignan, in the Old Military Hospital, May 20, 1939. Oral testimony from Joan-Salvador Ventura Benaiges reported Joan Baptista Treig Badia, of Ca Treig de Benifallet, 28 years old, as dying in French exile; we now know that he died at Sant Lluís Hospital in Perpignan in 1939.
feature historical memory
