Presentation of the book: Jaume Pellicer Lleonart “Quicus”. El tràgic exili d’un republicà

Presentation of the book Jaume Pellicer Lleonart “Quicus”. The tragic exile of a Republican

by Rafel Bruguera, Pagès Editors, 2017, La Maleta de l'Exili Collection.

Friday, April 20, 2018 at 7 p.m.

Jaume Pellicer (l’Escala, 1914-Dachau, 1944) was a man with a solid self-taught, republican and Catalanist background. He was one of many republicans who volunteered as a militiaman in the early days of the Civil War, in his case destined for the coastal area north of the Alt Empordà. Mobilized later, he had to defend the Republic on the fronts of Aragon and the Segre.

In the early days of February 1939, he went into exile with a poorly stocked suitcase because he hoped to return home soon, once the European powers had overthrown the Franco regime that had risen up against democratic legality.

In France, and for more than five years, he suffered all possible hardships in the form of concentration camps, Workers' Companies, famine, hard and miserable work, protection of the Mexican government at the Castle of Reynarde, and so on. Incorporated into the Resistance, he was arrested and deported. He would suffocate the so-called "Death Train", the last convoy to leave France after the Allied forces landed in Normandy on their way to the Nazi extermination camp at Dachau.

The book is divided into two parts. The first explains his biography and the second reproduces a selection of the more than one hundred letters and postcards he sent to the family from the French exile.

The author of the book, Rafel Bruguera, is a teacher and politician. He has been Mayor of L’Escala, Provincial Deputy and Senator. He is currently a member of the Parliament of Catalonia. He is the author of several articles and books on local issues: Joan Ballesta Calafat, a mayor of Girona Republicana, CCG Edicions, 2008 (coordinator and co-author); Escalencs murdered during the Civil War, CCG Edicions, 2009; Antoni Puig Tonet. Barber, accuse the wise. The anarchist movement and the Civil War in L’Escala. CCG Edicions, 2010 and Les Drassanes Sala de l’Escala. Six generations of ax masters. Ronda-CEDRHE Books Collection, no. 1, 2014. As a member of the Center for Documentation and Historical Research of L’Escala, he is the coordinator of the annual magazine Camí de Ronda. L’Escala: History, life and heritage.