Josep Tarradellas i Joan (), 1st Marquess of Tarradellas (19 February 1899 – 10 June 1988) was a Catalan politician known for his role as the first president of the Government of Catalonia (Generalitat de Catalunya), after its re-establishment in 1977 under the new

Spanish Constitution The Spanish Constitution (Spanish, Asturleonese, and gl, Constitución Española; eu, Espainiako Konstituzioa; ca, Constitució Espanyola; oc, Constitucion espanhòla) is the democratic law that is supreme in the Kingdom of Spain. It was e ...

and the end of the

Francoist Dictatorship Francoist Spain ( es, España franquista), or the Francoist dictatorship (), was the period of Spanish history between 1939 and 1975, when Francisco Franco ruled Spain after the Spanish Civil War with the title . After his death in 1975, Sp ...

. He was appointed the role of 125th

President of Catalonia The President of the Government of Catalonia ( ca, President de la Generalitat de Catalunya, ) is one of the bodies that the Statute of Autonomy of Catalonia stipulates as part of the Generalitat de Catalunya, others being the Parliament, the gov ...

in 1954 but spent 23 years in exile until 1977 when he was officially recognised as the President of Catalonia by the Spanish Government.

Biography

In 1931, Tarradellas became general secretary of the

Republican Left of Catalonia The Republican Left of Catalonia ( ca, Esquerra Republicana de Catalunya, ERC; ; generically branded as ) is a pro-Catalan independence, social-democratic political party in the Spanish autonomous community of Catalonia, with a presence also i ...

(ERC). He also was deputy at the

Cortes Cortes, Cortés, Cortês, Corts, or Cortès may refer to: People * Cortes (surname), including a list of people with the name ** Hernán Cortés (1485–1547), a Spanish conquistador Places * Cortes, Navarre, a village in the South border of ...

that year, Governance and Health councillor when

Francesc Macià Francesc Macià i Llussà (; 21 September 1859 – 25 December 1933) was a Spanish politician from Catalonia who served as the 122nd president of the Generalitat of Catalonia, and formerly an officer in the Spanish Army. Politically, he evol ...

was President of the Generalitat of Catalonia as well as Public Services, Economy and Culture councillor during the

Spanish Civil War The Spanish Civil War ( es, Guerra Civil Española)) or The Revolution ( es, La Revolución, link=no) among Nationalists, the Fourth Carlist War ( es, Cuarta Guerra Carlista, link=no) among Carlists, and The Rebellion ( es, La Rebelión, link ...

. Exiled to France since 1939, he became

President President most commonly refers to: *President (corporate title) * President (education), a leader of a college or university * President (government title) President may also refer to: Automobiles * Nissan President, a 1966–2010 Japanese ...

of the Generalitat of Catalonia when Josep Irla resigned, in 1954. On 23 October 1977, two years after Francisco Franco's death, the

President of the Spanish Government The prime minister of Spain, officially president of the Government ( es, link=no, Presidente del Gobierno), is the head of government of Spain. The office was established in its current form by the Constitution of 1978 and it was first regula ...

Adolfo Suárez Adolfo Suárez González, 1st Duke of Suárez (; 25 September 1932 – 23 March 2014) was a Spanish lawyer and politician. Suárez was Spain's first democratically elected prime minister since the Second Spanish Republic and a key figure in th ...

met him to negotiate the reestablishment of the Government of Catalonia, an event which occurred. The sentence pronounced at his arrival has become famous as a symbol: "Ciutadans de Catalunya, ja sóc aquí!" (Catalan for "Citizens of Catalonia, I am here at last!"). He was welcomed solemnly in Barcelona and set up a unity government. He finished his work with the elections for the Catalan Parliament (March 1980), and

Jordi Pujol Jordi Pujol Soley (, born 9 June 1930) is a Catalan politician who was the leader of the party Convergència Democràtica de Catalunya (CDC) from 1974 to 2003, and President of the Generalitat de Catalunya from 1980 to 2003. Early life Pujol was ...

was elected in April. On 24 July 1986 Tarradellas received the hereditary title ''marqués de Tarradellas'' (English: Marquess of Tarradellas) from

King Juan Carlos I Juan Carlos I (;, * ca, Joan Carles I, * gl, Xoán Carlos I, Juan Carlos Alfonso Víctor María de Borbón y Borbón-Dos Sicilias, born 5 January 1938) is a member of the Spanish royal family who reigned as King of Spain from 22 Novem ...

. Tarradellas died in Barcelona in 1988. The hereditary

marquessate A marquess (; french: marquis ), es, marqués, pt, marquês. is a nobleman of high hereditary rank in various European peerages and in those of some of their former colonies. The German language equivalent is Markgraf (margrave). A woman w ...

is now held by his son, who became the second marquess. On 21 December 2018 the

Government of Spain gl, Goberno de España eu, Espainiako Gobernua , image = , caption = Logo of the Government of Spain , headerstyle = background-color: #efefef , label1 = Role , data1 = Executive power , label2 = Established , d ...

announced that Barcelona–El Prat Airport would be renamed after Tarradellas.

References

External links

* Tarradellas, Josep. ''The financial work of the Generalitat de Catalunya. Discourse pronounced by the Honourable the Councillor of Finances Josep Tarradellas in the Parliament of Catalunya during the session of the 1st March 1938''. Barcelona: 1938. 61 p.
Web page of The "Montserrat Tarradellas i Macià" Archive
at the Royal Abbey of Santa Maria de Poblet, in Catalonia. , - {{DEFAULTSORT:Tarradellas I Joan, Josep 1899 births 1988 deaths People from Baix Llobregat Republican Left of Catalonia politicians General Secretaries of the Republican Left of Catalonia Presidents of the Government of Catalonia Spanish people of the Spanish Civil War (Republican faction) Exiles of the Spanish Civil War in France