Joaquín Bau Nolla

Joaquín Bau Nolla
Born Joaquín Bau Nolla
1897
Tortosa, Spain
Died 1973
Madrid, Spain
Occupation lawyer, politician
Known for Politician
Political party Unión Patriótica, CT, FET
Religion Roman Catholicism

Joaquín Bau Nolla (18971973) was a Spanish Carlist and Francoist politician.

Family and youth

Casa Bau, Tortosa

Joaquín Bau Nolla was born to a bourgeoisie Catalan family. His paternal grandfather Miguel Bau Isern (1836-1911) ran a chocolate manufacture in Tortosa[1] and served as mayor of the city in 1901-1903,[2] co-founding Banc de Tortosa,[3] Cambra Agricola de Tortosa and the local Cambra de Comerç.[4] One of his 16 children[5] and Joaquin’s father,[6] José Bau Vergés (1868-1935), was an oil and vinegar trader and producer. He grew from a local merchant, transporting oil on his mules,[7] to "el rei de l'oli”,[8] the owner of Aceites Bau S.A., a Tortosa-based company operating two factories,[9] selling on the national Spanish market and exporting to South America, especially to Argentina. Following the commercial success, Bau Vergés built an imposing family residence in Tortosa; he was also honorary consul of Uruguay and Argentina,[10] member of local business organizations and a Catholic activist.[11] In 1894 he married María Cinta Nolla Poy,[12] a stonemason's daughter.[13] The couple had 4 children, all brought up in highly religious ambience; Joaquín was their second son.[14]

Following his early education in Colegio de San Pedro Apóstol of the Hermanos de las Escuelas Cristianas in Tortosa,[15] the young Joaquín obtained his bachillerato in Colegio de la Bonanova de los Hermanos de La Salle in Barcelona,[16] to complete military service in Regimiento de guarnición of Tarragona in 1921.[17] Encouraged by his father, he passed commercial broker exams and rose to president of Junta Central de Corredores de Commercio de España in 1935.[18] In 1933 he commenced law studies as unenrolled student and graduated from Faculty of Law of Universidad de Valencia in 1935.[19] In 1920 Joaquín Bau married Pilar Elisa Carpi Esteller.[20] The couple had 5 children;[21] the oldest son Joaquín as a 16-year-old volunteered to the Carlist requeté unit, survived the Civil War[22] and later became an engineer; José Luis served in the army as tinent coronel and military judge, while Fernando practiced as a lawyer and a conservative politician. Between 1967 and 1977 he served in the Francoist Cortes;[23] in 1991 he published Crònica de veinte años. 1957-1977.[24]

Mayor

Ebro in Tortosa

Though Joaquín’s paternal grandfather was a Liberal[25] his father was already reported as Traditionalist[26] and it was in his footsteps that Joaquín followed. As a youngster and teenager Bau engaged in local Traditionalist juvenile organisations. He became head of the Tortosa section of Requeté, a formation established in 1909 as a sporting and outdoor grouping for the Carlist youth.[27] He seemed particularly fond of social and charity initiatives, organising Christmas for the poor, working in Patronato Escolar Obrero de la Sagrada Familia and co-founding Sindicatos Católicos Obreros.[28] In the early 1920s he already emerged as a dynamic local politician. Once Primo de Rivera replaced the liberal restauración with dictatorship, Bau enthusiastically engaged in the nascent primoderiverista structures; in 1924 he co-founded the Tortosa branch of Unión Patriótica and became its jefe provincial.[29]

During the period called "Bauisme" in the history of Tortosa,[30] in 1925 Bau was unanimously elected mayor of the city,[31] re-elected in 1928 and holding the post until 1930.[32] His contribution was multifold; during 5 years the Bau-led ayuntamiento executed the plan of public works, consisting of modernization of city streets, refurbishment of public schools and hospitals and setting up regular fire brigade services.[33] He inaugurated Instituto Nacional de Segunda Ensenanza and Escuela de Trabajo,[34] expanded local railway line and enhanced the county road network.[35] Much of his activity was about tackling Ebro-related issues, like floods, navigation, bridges or land re-cultivation.[36] Largely successful and sort of celebrated by Alfonso de Borbón and the dictator as one of the youngest mayors,[37] he nevertheless failed in his attempt to elevate Tortosa - since 1833 part of the Tarragona province - to the provincial capital range, the new unit to be carved out from these of Tarragona, Castellón and Teruel.[38]

Bau as alcalde (1st from L), 1925

Though dictatorship was initially welcomed by the Carlists as a stepping stone towards a Traditionalist monarchy, in 1925 the claimant Don Jaime switched to opposition. Bau decided not to follow suit and went on contributing to the regime; in literature he is usually listed along Victor Pradera and Esteban Bilbao as one of those Carlists who abandoned their king and joined the primoderiverista version of the Alfonsine monarchy.[39] In 1927 he was appointed to the quasi-parliament, Asamblea Nacional Consultiva, standing as representative of Organizaciones provinciales de Unión Patriótica[40] and representative of the Ayuntamientos;[41] in the chamber he became one of the youngest members. He kept supporting the dictator by staging welcome celebrations in Tortosa and organizing manifestations of tortosinos in Madrid in 1928.[42] In 1929 Bau was re-elected jefe of the local Union Patriotica, engaged in Somatén,[43] animated the youth branch named Juventud Patriotica[44] and until 1930s financed a local Tortosa periodical, Union Patriotica.[45] He is deemed responsible for 1929 expulsion from the city of Marcelino Domingo, at that time a Republican activist in serious health condition.[46]

Deputy

Carlist standard

Bau ceased as Tortosa mayor in 1930;[47] in 1931 he was accused of financial irregularities, though none of the charges raised has been concluded.[48] As three Traditionalist branches united in 1932 Bau resumed his service to the legitimist king rejoining the Carlist organization, Comunión Tradicionalista. Within its structures he was heading the local Tortosa Requeté;[49] as member of the Tarragona branch he had to accept leadership of the provincial jefe, Juan Maria Roma.[50] In the 1933 elections he represented Carlism within the local Tarragonese Unió Ciutadana alliance[51] and was successfully elected.[52] As a result, he emerged one of key figures in the Levantine Carlism,[53] especially in the comarcas of Terres de l’Ebre,[54] though following the death of Jaime Chicharro also in Castellón.[55]

Voicing his support for the Catalan identity[56] Bau has nevertheless opposed the adopted autonomous statute[57] as irreconcilable with the Spanish raison d'etat and produced by “traidores a su Patria y a su honor”.[58] He demanded its derogation[59] and replacement with a new autonomous statute, constructed along Traditionalist lines and properly reflecting the genuine personality of Catalonia.[60] He sided with Francesc Cambó against the Catalan left-wing autonomism[61] and supported Catalan landowners in the notorious Catalan Leases Act case.[62] He also encouraged new Christian syndicates of the Tarragona province, confederated in Agrupacion Gremial de Trabajadores.[63] In October 1934 he was active mounting local opposition to the revolutionary sway;[64] his close collaborator, Jose Maria Sentis Simeon, co-ordinated action against the rebels in the province and was later appointed governors’ delegate for Public Order.[65] In 1935 Bau arranged for Guardia de Asalto detachment to be stationed in Tortosa.[66]

By many Carlists Bau was viewed with suspicion. This was due to his enthusiasm when engaging in alliance talks with the Alfonsinos[67] and personal friendship with their leader, José Calvo Sotelo;[68] though new Traditionalist jefe Manuel Fal approached Bloque Nacional as tactical option to be eventually abandoned, Bau was suspected of pushing for a dynastical compromise. In the spring of 1935 Don Alfonso Carlos and Fal considered Bau’s activity in the Bloque intolerable and semi-rebellious.[69] Also present-day scholars name his position as “conspiration”,[70] while others claim that he was loyal to Calvo rather than to Traditionalism.[71] However, he was allowed to speak at massive Carlist meetings in Poblet[72] and at Montserrat;[73] he was also appointed to the Carlist Council of Economy.[74]

Prior to the 1936 elections Bau advocated the strategy of a broad Right-wing alliance,[75] an option which has never materialized; himself he competed on the list of Front Català d’Ordre[76] and was elected from Tarragona.[77] Shortly after the Frente Popular triumph was declared Bau and Calvo visited the prime minister Portela Valladares urging him to call the military and rule by decree; this was probably the most charged moment in his entire career.[78] Once Lorenzo Maria Alier resigned as Carlist Catalan jefe in February 1936 one of the options considered was a triumvirate including Bau,[79] but eventually it was Tomàs Caylà appointed the new regional leader.

Commissioner

Though until the summer of 1936 Bau was active in the Cortes,[80] he was heavily engaged in anti-Republican conspiracy, serving as a Carlist link to Renovación Española.[81] Following the death of Calvo Sotelo he travelled to Portugal[82] to negotiate details of the rebellion with José Sanjurjo, personally witnessing the crash of general's aircraft.[83] Since Bau was originally scheduled to communicate uprising orders to requeté units in southern Catalonia, his departure impaired Carlist insurgent structures in Terres de l’Ebre.[84] Shortly after the hostilities broke out he returned from Portugal to Burgos in the Nationalist zone.

Early September 1936[85] the supreme governing body of the rebels, Junta de Defensa Nacional, constituted Comisión de Industria y Comercio, a substitute for Ministry of Economy. Bau, considered by Franco one of the more collaborative Carlists,[86] was appointed one of its seven members;[87] his high nomination was allegedly related to ability to arrange finance through Catalan contacts who had fled abroad.[88] A month later[89] the newly established Junta Técnica del Estado set up Comisión de Industria, Comercio y Abastos with Bau appointed its president,[90] the de facto minister of economy in the Nationalist zone. As head of 7 commissions formed and one of 16 members of the Junta Técnica, he rapidly grew to top Nationalist executive.[91]

Bau’s primary task was to keep production running and to build the gold deposit reserve of the Nationalists;[92] he was subsequently involved in currency reform, first organizing the stamping of pre-War notes and then arranging for a new Nationalist peseta to be printed in Germany.[93] The next objective was to control foreign trade and direct the flow of deficient components accordingly, which was attempted by numerous regulatory means. At that time Bau considered himself an advocate of the "directed" economy;[94] as an economist he was considered a disciple of Calvo Sotelo.[95] Heavily involved in dealings with semi-official Nazi companies, HISMA and ROWAK,[96] he objected to increase of German stakes,[97] though key decisions were probably beyond his capacity.[98] He hugely contributed to the Nationalist logistics by closing international deals covering 600 Fiat cars and 1,000 Studebaker chassis.[99]

Bau’s relations with Carlism are not clear. According to one source, he took advantage of his position by procuring arms designed specifically for the requetés;[100] according to another, starting late 1936 he assisted in organization of Terç de Requetès de la Mare de Déu de Montserrat,[101] the requeté battalion consisting of Carlist refugees from Catalonia. On the other hand, he is not known to have protested against Franco’s measures against Manuel Fal;[102] even detailed studies dealing with amalgamation of Carlism within Francoism in 1936-7 do not mention Bau,[103] which suggests that at that time he was already hardly involved in Traditionalism. It seems that he unconditionally accepted Decreto de Unificación and was leading Catalan Carlists co-operating with Franco;[104] some scholars compare the role he played in Catalonia to the role played by Tomás Domínguez Arévalo in Vasco-Navarrese area.[105] Considered rebellious by Manuel Fal and the new regent-claimant Don Javier, at an unspecified date he was expulsed from Carlism.[106]

Outcast

Bau’s influence started to decline once Ramón Serrano Suñer arrived in Burgos. Upon arrival he was already averse towards Bau as late 1936 Franco decided that it would be the family of Bau, not the family of Serrano, to be exchanged with the Republicans for the family of general Miaja.[107] The animosity grew during 1937, when Bau opposed totalitarian designs pursued by Franco’s cuñado.[108] When the first regular Francoist government was created early 1938 Bau was not even considered.[109] In the spring of 1938 he left Burgos, settling in San Sebastián.[110]

Together with many Catalan industry tycoons taking refuge in the Gipuzkoan capital, Bau engaged in plans to re-create regional economic institutions once Catalonia would be retaken by the Nationalist troops. He was offered presidency of l’Institut Catala de Sant Isidre, the regional agricultural organization, but declined quoting his hostile relations with Serrano.[111] Indeed, the internal Falangist document denounced him as one of the leaders of local “plutocratas y alta burguesia” who conspired against the national-syndicalist state.[112]

Bau kept supporting the Catalan Montserrat battalion.[113] He remained involved in numerous charity projects, like Auxilio de Invierno.[114] The most important of Bau's ventures of that period was probably helping the Catalan Republican POWs. Personal acquaintance of officers commanding Campos de Concentración and Comisíon Clasificadora,[115] Bau did his best to release Catalan prisoners and enlist them either in the Carlist tercios or in the Falangist banderas.[116] Following the end of the war he returned to Tortosa, though he is not listed as taking part in the Carlist-Falangist competition for power in Catalonia.[117]

S. M. Javier I, 1959

Bau was not invited to the victory parade of May 19, 1939.[118] Though sidetracked in great national politics, he remained engaged in clandestine and extremely sensitive Francoist business schemes. In 1941-42 he managed the deal with Nazi Oberkommando der Marine, supervising construction of 20 wooden ships intended to supply German troops fighting the British in Africa.[119] Later on he kept exchanging courteous but purely formal correspondence with Franco.[120] In the 1940s Bau dedicated himself to family issues, various Catholic organizations and business; he became the first post-war president of Banco de Tortosa[121] and later multiplied his wealth by trading shares of the bank,[122] going on also with the inherited Aceites Bau business.[123] Privately he pursued his interest in organ music.[124]

Bau led one of 3 competing Traditionalist Tarragona factions, namely the one opposing Carloctavistas[125] and javieristas and promoting rapprochement with the Alfonsist claimant, Don Juan.[126] The Tortosa javierista Carlists distributed leaflets presenting him as Francoist traitor who ignored the lot of requetés detained by the Francoist administration.[127] He apparently acknowledged that a future kingdom must encompass Francoist structures.[128] His private papers from mid-1950s suggest that Bau, though with hesitation, tended to support what seemed a long-distance Franco’s plan for crowning prince Juan Carlos.[129] However, when in 1957 he joined the Carlists who abandoned the regent-claimant Don Javier, Bau declared Juan Carlos’ father, Don Juan, the legitimate heir[130] and continued to approach him as a king.[131]

Francoist dignitary

Francisco Franco, 1959

As in mid-1950s Franco shelved totalitarian plans and opted for a hybrid line of development, he started looking for loyal individuals not associated with Falangism; 1958 produced huge turnover of procuradores nominated to the quasi-parliament, Cortes Españolas.[132] The dictator appointed Bau member of Consejo Nacional of the Falange,[133] which automatically ensured the Cortes mandate.[134] He got his seat confirmed in 5 successive legislatives,[135] appointed also in 1961,[136] 1964,[137] 1967[138] and 1971.[139] As his career was re-launched, Bau kept assuming higher and higher posts.[140] In 1963 he started leading various parliamentary committees,[141] formally nominated president of the internal affairs committee in 1964,[142] president of Leyes Fundamentales committee in 1965[143] and then other committees working on new constitutional laws. In 1965 he was appointed president of Consejo de Estado,[144] a body adding to extreme complexity of Francoist power structures and being part of Franco’s recipe for political balance.[145] The appointment produced his nomination to Consejo del Reino,[146] another body with some competencies related to monarchical establishments.[147] In 1970 Bau was nominated its vice-president.[148] As one of the regime’s highest dignitaries in the late 1960s he became one of faces of Francoism.[149] Shortly before his death he was made Conde de Bau.[150]

Bau's rise from political non-existence to president of Consejo de Estado in just 7 years was possible as he proved acceptable to most groupings competing for power within Francoism. Deprived of own political background, he posed no threat and might have been considered as sympathetic to their cause by Carlists, monarchists, technocrats (by virtue of his business activities and friendship with López Rodó[151]), the Church and even the military (maintained friendly relations with many high-ranking generals); it was only the Falangist syndicalists that he remained at odds with.[152] Bau, always impeccably elegant,[153] boosted his career by oratory skills and non-belligerent,[154] silky presiding style in numerous bodies of the regime,[155] excelling in conflict management and demonstrating sort of impartiality, combined with perfect loyalty to Franco.[156]

Bau's own political outlook may be summarised as a watered-down authoritarian, non-dynastical monarchism based on diehard (marchamartillo) Catholicism.[157] Following his return to great politics in 1958 he emerged as one of the most prominent monarchists, contributing to shaping of late Francoism in course of works on various key legal structures of the system.[158] Far from political militancy, starting mid-1960s Bau began to press the monarchical cause by advocating adoption of Ley Orgánica and Ley de Designación.[159] Mocked by some critics as himself the best successor to Franco,[160] Bau could have considered his efforts crowned when Juan Carlos was officially confirmed as Franco’s successor in 1969,[161] though as late as 1970 he kept fighting the regentialistas, first headed by Muñoz Grandez and than by Valcárcel.[162] When in the early 1970s advising Juan Carlos on prospective course to be adopted, he suggested Federico Silva Muñoz as the man for future.[163] He retained Catalan identity taking part in a number of regional initiatives and bodies, always perfectly within the limits permitted by the regime.[164]

Legacy

Joaquín Bau is commemorated by a very short street in Madrid, a parking-lot-plaza in the Ferreries district of Tortosa and a long backyard drive in the resort town of Benicasim, where the family owns a summer residence purchased by Bau in the 1950s;[165] some of them are subject to various initiatives aiming at purging public space from Francoist[166] or Fascist[167] symbols. No trace of Bau having been named "hijo predilecto" of Tortosa in 1966[168] can be found on the official ayuntamiento web page.[169] Since the Francoist times one of Tortosa colleges remains named "Institut Joaquín Bau",[170] though there was a failed attempt to change the patron in 1983.[171] Bau’s biography, in large part a hagiographical compilation of his correspondence from the private archive, was published in 2001; the author defined Bau as a conservative monarchist and played down Carlist threads, ignoring also most controversial episodes from his lifetime.[172] Condado de Bau is still functional and currently remains held by Bau’s grandson.[173]

See also

Footnotes

  1. Joaquín Monserrat Cavaller, Joaquín Bau Nolla y la restauración de la Monarquía, Madrid 2001, ISBN 8487863949, p. 20
  2. Monserrat Cavaller 2001, p. 20
  3. Emili Llorente, La fundació del Banc de Tortosa (1881), [in:] Recerca 9 (2005), p. 261
  4. Roc Salvadó Poy, L’Escola del Treball perilla, [in:] Quaderns de l'Elbe 1 (2010), p. 11, Miquel Bau i Isern entry at ilercavonia service,
  5. according to an anecdote, one of his children did some damage to his shop; Bau Isern summoned the culprit and commenced the interrogation by asking angrily “who is your father?”. “You are, sir” – responded the frightened offender, referred after Monserrat Cavaller 2001, p. 20
  6. some sources claim Jose Bau Verges was brother of Miguel Bau Isern, see Llorente 2005, p. 283
  7. Monserrat Cavaller 2001, p. 21
  8. Llorente 2005, p. 283
  9. Monserrat Cavaller 2001, pp. 21-2
  10. Salvadó Poy 2010, p. 12
  11. Monserrat Cavaller 2001, p. 21
  12. Josep Bau i Vergés entry at ilercavonia service
  13. it is not clear whether she was anyhow related to the Carlist general and organizer of Carlist hospital network during the Third Carlist War, also a tortosino, Ramón Nolla Marti
  14. Josep Bau i Vergés entry at ilercavonia service
  15. Monserrat Cavaller 2001, p. 22
  16. Monserrat Cavaller 2001, p. 23
  17. Monserrat Cavaller 2001, p. 27
  18. Monserrat Cavaller 2001, p. 23
  19. Monserrat Cavaller 2001, p. 23-4
  20. Joaquín Bau Nolla, 1. Conde de Bau entry at geneallnet service, available here
  21. Joaquín Bau Nolla, 1. Conde de Bau entry at geneallnet
  22. Monserrat Cavaller 2001, p. 222
  23. See tge official Cortes service available here
  24. Compare abebooks service, available here
  25. Miquel Bau i Isern entry at ilercavonia service
  26. Monserrat Cavaller 2001, p. 24
  27. Monserrat Cavaller 2001, pp. 24-5
  28. Monserrat Cavaller 2001, p. 24
  29. Monserrat Cavaller 2001, p. 77
  30. Joan Sabaté Borràs, Els Ajuntaments republicans i els anys del Bauisme (1915 - 1930), [in:] Cent anys de crònica de Tortosa des del Centre de Comerç, Tortosa 2001, ISBN 846072851X, pp. 77-85
  31. Monserrat Cavaller 2001, p. 29
  32. Monserrat Cavaller 2001, p. 33
  33. Monserrat Cavaller 2001, pp. 29-30
  34. Salvadó Poy 2010, p. 3
  35. Monserrat Cavaller 2001, pp. 30, 39-40
  36. Monserrat Cavaller 2001, pp. 30-31
  37. Monserrat Cavaller 2001, p. 36
  38. Monserrat Cavaller 2001, pp. 40, 45
  39. Robert Vallverdú i Martí, El Carlisme Català Durant La Segona República Espanyola 1931-1936, Barcelona 2008, ISBN 9788478260805, p. 18, Jordi Canal i Morell, El carlismo: dos siglos de contrarrevolución en España, Madrid 2000, ISBN 8420639478, pp. 285-6
  40. see official Cortes service available here
  41. See official Cortes service available here.
  42. Monserrat Cavaller 2001, pp. 34-5
  43. Monserrat Cavaller 2001, p. 38
  44. Monserrat Cavaller 2001, pp. 38-9
  45. Monserrat Cavaller 2001, p. 77
  46. Josep Sànchez i Cervelló (ed.), El republicanisme a les Terres de l’Ebre, Tarragona 2007, ISBN 8461165705, p. 28
  47. Sànchez i Cervelló 2007, p. 28; there are no details provided on termination of Bau’s service as mayor
  48. Monserrat Cavaller 2001, pp. 47-50
  49. Vallverdú 2008, p. 148
  50. Antonio Manuel Moral Roncal, La cuestión religiosa en la Segunda República española. Iglesia y carlismo, Madrid, 2009, ISBN 9788497429054, p. 78
  51. Vallverdú 2008, p. 147
  52. see 1933 entry at the official Cortes service, available here. He was second-last on the Unió Ciutadana list elected, Vallverdú 2008, p. 151
  53. El Siglo Futuro 18.12.34, available here
  54. Vallverdú 2008, p. 149
  55. “Chicharro ha muerto. Viva Bau! Ya tenemos jefe”, quoted after Monserrat Cavaller 2001, p. 56
  56. “Cataluna, señores diputados, siente y quiere un regimen de autonomia”, quoted after Monserrat Cavaller 2001, p. 54
  57. Joaquim Bau i Nolla at Gran Enciclopédia Catalana online service, available here
  58. Vallverdú 2008, pp. 202-3
  59. according to Bau, the autonomy served “el mas duro de los centralismos y la mas fuerte de la tiranias”, probably a reference to the unitarian nature of Catalan autonomy, neglecting the provincial differences, quoted after Vallverdú 2008, pp. 202-3
  60. Vallverdú 2008, pp. 202-3, Monserrat Cavaller 2001, pp. 54-5
  61. Monserrat Cavaller 2001, p. 54
  62. Martin Blinkhorn, Carlism and Crisis in Spain 1931-1939, Cambridge 2008, ISBN 9780521207294, 9780521086349, p. 186
  63. Bau claimed he was the founder of the unions, Monserrat Cavaller 2001, p. 78; other sources point to Tomàs Caylà as their moving spirit, see Joan Guinovart i Escarré, Tomàs Caylà, un home de la terra, Valls 1997, ISBN 8492147679, 9788492147670
  64. Sànchez i Cervelló 2007, p. 43
  65. Monserrat Cavaller 2001, p. 79
  66. Monserrat Cavaller 2001, p. 59
  67. Compare Vallverdú 2008, pp. 278, 281, Canal i Morell 2000, p. 318. It is interesting that Bau did not take part in common Catalan Right-wing initiatives, as he is not listed in José Fernando Mota Muñoz, "Precursores de la unificación": el España Club y el voluntariado español, una experiencia unitaria de la extrema derecha barcelonesa (1935-1936), [in:] Historia y politica 28 (2012), pp. 273-303
  68. Blinkhorn 2008, p. 190, Vallverdú 2008, p. 192, Monserrat Cavaller 2001, p. 105. In 1935, after the death of Bau's father, the family moved to Madrid; as Calvo’s close friend Bau and his family lived in the very same building, Monserrat Cavaller 2001, p. 75
  69. Valverdú 2008, pp. 190-192. In December 1935 Bau was notably absent during a meeting of Fal and the Catalan executive, Valverdú 2008 p. 193. On the other hand, Monserrat Cavaller 2001, p. 58-59 claims that when Fal left the regional Catalan gathering in June 1935 it was Joaquín Bau taking over the presidency
  70. Vallverdú 2008, p. 281
  71. Colin M. Winston, Workers and the Right in Spain, 1900-1936, Princeton 2014, ISBN 9780691612164, p. 305
  72. in June 1935, Valverdú 2008, p. 267; Bau claimed credit for staging the event, noting only that “mis amigos los señores Bru y Caylá, que tan bien me han ayudado y han cooperado a la realización de la gran concentración do Poblet”, see El Siglo Futuro 20.06.35, available here, see also Monserrat Cavaller 2001, pp. 57-8
  73. in October 1935, Valverdú 2008, p. 272
  74. In the spring of 1935; the council was an 8-member body called to manage Carlist financial issues, Valverdú 2008, p. 276
  75. Valverdú 2008, p. 286
  76. Josep Santesmases i Ollé, De les eleccions del 16 de febrer de 1936 a l'entrada dels "nacionals". Notícies de les actes municipals de Vila-rodona, [in:] La Resclosa 7 (2003), p. 102; Monserrat Cavaller 2001, p. 69
  77. See 1936 Bau entry at the official Cortes service, available here Bau could have boasted a symbolic success, since he was the sole monarchist deputy from all the Levantine provinces, Monserrat Cavaller 2001, p. 53
  78. Monserrat Cavaller 2001, pp. 93-4, Paul Preston, Franco. A biography, London 2011, ISBN 9780006862109, p. 118
  79. other members of the triumvirate suggested were Joaquin Roma and Joaquin Gomis; this proposal was put forward by the Carlist provincial Girona council, Vallverdú 2008, p. 300
  80. sponsoring a motion to make Ebro navigable around Flix on June 26, 1936, Monserrat Cavaller 2001, p. 72
  81. Blinkhorn 2008, pp. 238, 247, Vallverdú 2008, p. 310. Possibly Bau has even communicated with Franco, at that time stationed time on Canary Islands; Bau’s personal archive contains a Spanish-English dictionary serving as key to encrypted correspondence with Franco, Monserrat Cavaller 2001, p. 115
  82. he travelled by train on July 15 and narrowly escaped detention quoting his parliamentarian immunity, Monserrat Cavaller 2001, p. 76
  83. Blinkhorn 2008, p. 354; one of the factors usually quoted as cause of the crash was overloading of the small aircraft, as Sanjurjo insisted on taking his massive luggage containing uniforms and other garment; it is interesting to note that Bau lent Sanjurjo his sombrero, collected from the crash site and returned to Bau by Sanjurjo's widow 30 years later, Monserrat Cavaller 2001, p. 20
  84. Vallverdú 2008, p. 332
  85. on September 4, 1936, Monserrat Cavaller 2001, p. 121
  86. Blinkhorn 2008, p. 272
  87. Monserrat Cavaller 2001, p. 122
  88. Michael Richards, A Time of Silence: Civil War and the Culture of Repression in Franco's Spain, 1936-1945, Cambridge 2006, ISBN 9780521025065, p. 107; Paul Preston, Coming of the Spanish Civil War, Routledge 2003, ISBN 9781134923274, p. 278, claims that within a “motley band of aristocrats, diplomats and politicians” Joaquín Bau “played a vital role in organizing the purchase of arms and other supplies, propaganda and financial assistance for the rebel cause”, claiming also that Bau was Franco’s friend
  89. On October 7, 1936, Monserrat Cavaller 2001, p. 125
  90. Monserrat Cavaller 2001, pp. 123-124
  91. Carlos Pulpillo Leiva, Orígenes del Franquismo: la construcción de la “Nueva España” (1936–1941), [PhD thesis], Madrid 2013, p. 767
  92. Monserrat Cavaller 2001, pp. 126-7
  93. Monserrat Cavaller 2001, pp. 128-130
  94. Monserrat Cavaller 2001, pp. 130-134, 156-157. Bau spoke in favor of rapid industrialization, declaring respect for private property, though within the limits of social usefulness, Monserrat Cavaller 2001, p. 154
  95. Monserrat Cavaller 2001, p. 156
  96. involving also talks on German role in the Spanish mining industry, Christian Leitz, Economic Relations Between Nazi Germany and Franco's Spain: 1936-1945, Oxford 1996, 0198206453, 9780198206453, p. 81
  97. Monserrat Cavaller 2001, p. 143
  98. Monserrat Cavaller 2001, pp. 139-145
  99. Monserrat Cavaller 2001, pp. 146, 234-5
  100. Javier Ugarte Tellería, El carlismo en la guerra del 36. La formación de un cuasi-estado nacional-corporativo y foral en la zona vasco-navarra, [in:] Historia contemporánea 38 (2009), p. 67. The author claims that Bau procured arms for the Pamplona-based Junta Central Carlista de Guerra de Navarra; the body assumed a semi-rebellious stance pushing for unconditional collaboration with Franco against the cautious policy adopted for the official Carlist executive, the Burgos-based Junta Nacional Carlista de Guerra
  101. Monserrat Cavaller 2001, p. 206-208
  102. Maximiliano Garcia Venero, Historia de la Unificacion, Madrid 1970, p. 79
  103. compare Mercedes Peñalba Sotorrío, Entre la boina roja y la camisa azul. La integración del carlismo en Falange Española Tradicionalista y de las JONS (1936-1942), Estella 2013,ISBN 978-84-235-3365-7, Juan Carlos Peñas Bernaldo de Quirós, El Carlismo, la República y la Guerra Civil (1936-1937). De la conspiración a la unificación, Madrid 1996, ISBN 8487863523, 9788487863523
  104. Robert Vallverdú Martí, La metamorfosi del carlisme català: del "Déu, Pàtria i Rei" a l'Assamblea de Catalunya (1936-1975), Montserrt 2014, ISBN 9788498837261, p. 50; the author claims that Franco intended to use Bau as counterweight to Fal
  105. Manuel Martorell Pérez, La continuidad ideológica del carlismo tras la Guerra Civil [PhD thesis], Valencia 2009, p. 216
  106. Vallverdú 2014, p. 42; the author does not give exact date and mentions the expulsion when discussing late 1936 events
  107. Bau’s left his wife and children on July 15, 1936 in Benicasim, when leaving for Portugal; they were detained and kept in custody by the Republicans and exchanged in December 1936, Garcia Venero 1970, p. 47, Monserrat Cavaller 2001, pp. 183, 334. One of the exchanged, Bau’s oldest son Joaquin, immediately volunteered to the requeté. Two Serrano’s brothers were in the meantime executed by the Republicans
  108. Monserrat Cavaller 2001, p. 184
  109. Bau was released as president of Comision de Industria on January 30, 1938, Monserrat Cavaller 2001, p. 160
  110. Monserrat Cavaller 2001, p. 219
  111. Vallverdú 2014, p. 68
  112. Vallverdu 2014, p. 68, Martorell Pérez 2009, p. 129
  113. since early 1937 Bau was helping Catalan requetés from this tercio to enter military courses enabling promotion to alfereces provisionales; theoretically candidates should have been at least 4 months serving at the frontline, Monserrat Cavaller 2001, pp. 197-8, 200-202
  114. Monserrat Cavaller 2001, pp. 217-218
  115. Monserrat Cavaller 2001, p. 226
  116. Monserrat Cavaller 2001, pp. 224-229
  117. Bau is hardly mentioned in Joan Maria Thomas, Falangistes i carlins catalans a la «zona nacional» durant la Guerra civil (1936-1939), [in:] Recerques: Història, economia i cultura 31 (1995), pp. 7-18
  118. Monserrat Cavaller 2001, p. 232
  119. Leitz 1996, p. 145. The delivery was delayed as Spanish shipyards proved inefficient and because the British, who got wind of the scheme due to increased traffic of wood from Spanish Guinea, intervened with Franco. Eventually only 2 ships entered the German service as late as 1944.
  120. or rather with his secretariat, Monserrat Cavaller 2001, pp. 337-338
  121. Llorente 2005, p. 257
  122. Joaquim Bau i Nolla at Gran Enciclopédia Catalana online service
  123. he transferred the company from Tortosa to Madrid in 1942, Salvadó Poy 2010, p. 12
  124. Monserrat Cavaller 2001, p. 235
  125. at least temporarily; one work claims that Bau supported Carlos VIII, Iker Cantabrana Morras, Lo viejo y lo nuevo: Diputacion-FET de las JONS: la convulsa dinámica política de la "leal" Álava (1938-1943), [in:] Sancho el Sabio 22 (2005), p. 158
  126. an internal Falangist document describing Tarragona in the early 1940s divided Carlists into 3 groups: 1) “Una parte bastante considerable está firmemente unida a Falange y la campaña de Carlos VIII ha aumentado bastante la fracción. Son los Tradicionalistas del grupo auténtico que siguió a Caylá. Gente sana y ruda que constituye un grupo excelente por su españolismo decidido”; 2) “Otra parte del carlismo autentico, algo superior en número al anterior, forma el núcleo rebelde. Su jefe provincial es un pobre diablo de Reus llamado Sugrañes [...] pero su jefatura no la acatan mis que en su pueblo y en alguna localidad vecina. Se mueven dentro del Falcondismo y andan de capa caida” 3) "existe el núcleo que sigue a la trilogia Bau, Sentis, Prat. Los carlistas puros están en contra porque les acusan de haberse vendido al juanismo franquisme tarragona". In another paragraph of the same document Bau is presented as leading “una fracción moderada frente al integrismo del Sr. Caylá de Valls”, quoted after Joan Maria Thomàs, El Franquisme des de dins: un informe sobre Tarragona, [in:] Butlletí de la Societat Catalana d'Estudis Històrics 9 (1998), pp. 152-153
  127. “Los carlistas hemos visto con indignación cómo eran borrados y ridiculizados nuestros símbolos queridos y servía de irrisión y burla a todo el mundo. La Tradición ha pasado por muchas vicisitudes pero jamás nos habían podido acusar de cobardes como hacen ahora a pesar del sacrificio del Requeté. ¿Quiénes son los culpables de lo ocurrido? ¿Dónde están los Prat, los Sentís, los Bau?”, quoted after Martorell Pérez 2009, p. 216
  128. Monserrat Cavaller 2001, pp. 311-319. In 1951 he wrote: “La Monarquía no puede ser conservadora, ni de “revancha”. Ha de recoger lo social en su justo medio y estudiar lo corporativo y sindical”, quoted after Monserrat Cavaller 2001, p. 321
  129. see his analysis, possibly intended also for some political friends, and dated September 1954; in the document he seems to have accepted that Juan Carlos would be a better option than Don Juan, Monserrat Cavaller 2001, pp. 316-319
  130. Francisco Javier Caspistegui Gorasurreta, El naufragio de las ortodoxias. El carlismo, 1962-1977, Pamplona 1997; ISBN 9788431315641, 978843131564, pp. 24-25, Josep Carles Clemente, Historia del Carlismo Contemporaneo 1935-1972, Barcelona 1977, ISBN 8425307597, 8425307600, p. 299
  131. e.g. he addressed his 1959 lecture, intended for Don Juan, “por su Majestad el Rey”, Monserrat Cavaller 2001, p. 323; his mid-1960s correspondence with Don Juan contains the “S.M.” invocation, see, Monserrat Cavaller 2001, p. 328.
  132. Stanley G. Payne, The Franco Regime, Madison 2011, ISBN 0299110745, 9780299110741, p. 517
  133. Bau entered the VIII Consejo, Monserrat Cavaller 2001, p. 243
  134. see the 1958 record at the official Cortes service, available here
  135. either as member of Consejo Nacional, or as personal Jefe del Estado appointee or as member of the highest state bodies
  136. see the 1961 record at the official Cortes service, available here
  137. see the 1964 record at the official Cortes service, available here
  138. see the 1967 record at the official Cortes service, available here
  139. see the 1971 record at the official Cortes service, available here
  140. Bau was also gaining importance within Falange/Movimiento; in 1964 he was appointed member of Comisión Permanente del Consejo Nacional del Movimiento, a 10-15 member executive body, Monserrat Cavaller 2001, p. 243; in 1967 he was appointed permanent (until 75 years of age) member of the Consejo; in 1971, shortly before completing 75 years, Bau stepped down as member of the Concejo, Monserrat Cavaller 2001, p. 244. He served also in some state-controlled business executive bodies like Ferrocarriles de Vía Estrecha FEVE, the narrow-gauge state railway company, see BOE 24.01.69, available here
  141. e. g. Comisión de Leyes Fundamentales, Monserrat Cavaller 2001, p. 268
  142. Comisión de Gobernación, Monserrat Cavaller 2001, p. 249
  143. Monserrat Cavaller 2001, p. 262
  144. Monserrat Cavaller 2001, p. 283, BOE 30.10.65, available here. He was re-appointed in 1971, BOE 09.11.71, available here
  145. see massive statistics on its sessions and work, Monserrat Cavaller 2001, pp. 287-8
  146. BOE 06.08.70, available here
  147. Payne 2011, pp. 372-3
  148. Monserrat Cavaller 2001, p. 310, see BOE 06.09.70, available here
  149. also in the newly born audiovisual media like TV, see for instance Radiotelevision Española service available here (starting 1:44)
  150. BOE 21.05.73, available here
  151. Monserrat Cavaller 2001, p. 335
  152. see his 1966 complaints about Solis, Monserrat Cavaller 2001, p. 344
  153. Monserrat Cavaller 2001, p. 19
  154. “era amigo de todos”, quoted after Monserrat Cavaller 2001, pp. 279-280
  155. “el señor Bau tiene una firme flexibilidad, una caballera blanca como una aureola y una amable ironía de gran señor”, opinion of one of the contemporaries quoted after Monserrat Cavaller 2001, p. 260; “empezaba a hablar sin saber lo que iba a decir”, Monserrat Cavaller 2001, p. 279
  156. E.g. he is not even mentioned in Mercedes Vázquez de Prada, La oposición monárquica y su aproximación al franquismo a partir de 1954, [in:] Memoria y civilización: anuario de historia, 13 (2010), pp. 35-53; a biographer describes his stance as “lealtad hasta el extreme al Caudillo”, Monserrat Cavaller 2001, p. 279
  157. Monserrat Cavaller 2001, p. 233
  158. like Ley de Asociaciones, new Ley Orgánica del Estado, Ley Orgánica del Movimiento y de su Consejo Nacional, Ley de la Representación Familiar en Cortes, Ley Sindical, Ley de Libertad Religiosa and successive laws on Plan de Desarrollo Económico y Social, Monserrat Cavaller 2001, p. 253-280
  159. Monserrat Cavaller 2001, p. 275, see also his letters to Franco, Monserrat Cavaller 2001, pp. 344-350
  160. Julian Cerón Ayuso staged a mocked casting for Franco’s succession and concluded that “Don Joaquín Bau es mi favorito. Lo tiene todo! Cumple ocho leyes, lleva más de un año preparándose (desde hace más tiempo apuesto yo por él), no cae mal ni bien que es muy importante, ocupa el cargo ideal, es de Tortosa – ciudad perfecta como símbolo” (the last piece was probably a reference to the Francoist Battle of Ebro monument in Tortosa), see filosofia.org service available here
  161. asked by the ABC correspondent, Bau explained that he supported Ley de Designación because “con ello hago honor a mis convicciones políticas de toda la vida”, Monserrat Cavaller 2001, p. 276
  162. Monserrat Cavaller 2001, p. 337, see his 1970 letter to Franco, denouncing those who intended to take advantage of “inconsciencia o bondada ignorancia del general Muñoz Grandez, los señores republicanos encubiertos y demás compañeros, que ahora pretenden alcanzar con la ayuda de Valcárcel”, Monserrat Cavaller 2001, p. 352
  163. Monserrat Cavaller 2001, p. 361
  164. Monserrat Cavaller 2001, p. 277
  165. named Villa Elisa, see La ruta de las villas de Benicassim, un paseo con historia, [in:] enelmundoperdido service 08.10.14, available here; see also Beatriz de Rojas, Villas de Benicasim, [in:] Antropología – Castellón de la Plana y su entorno, available here
  166. see simbologia.cat service available here
  167. see here or here
  168. Monserrat Cavaller 2001, pp. 366-9
  169. compare here
  170. see the Institut home page, available here
  171. see history section of the IJB service, available here
  172. Bau’s shuttling between Carlist and Alfonsist claimants is ignored; there is no note of his harsh stance on Marcelino Domingo in 1929, on his war dealings with the Nazis in 1941-42 or on his “traitor” image among the Carlists in the 1940s
  173. see BOE 06.05.99, availavle here

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