Josep Tarradellas i Joan
Josep Tarradellas i Joan ( born January 19, 1899 in Cervello, † June 10, 1988 in Barcelona) was a Catalan politician and President of the Generalitat de Catalunya in exile from 1954 to the restoration of the political autonomy of Catalonia in 1980 as a result of Spain's democratization after death of Franco, the Transición.
From a young age Tarradellas begins his political career in Catalonia. He is a close associate in 1916 by Francesc Macia and founded together with this and Lluís Companys, the party Esquerra Republicana de Catalunya - the Republican Left of Catalonia - short ERC, its general secretary, he is 1931. In the same year he was elected deputies of the Spanish Parliament, the Cortes, elected and Conseller was ( according to a minister ) in the Catalan regional government.
During the Spanish Civil War, he has held various offices in the Generalitat, the Conseller primer ( the Prime Minister accordingly) it was 1936. With the collapse of the Republic in 1939, he had to go into exile in France, where he was in 1954 appointed a long-time president of the Catalan government in exile.
After the death of Franco in 1975, he negotiated with the President of the Spanish Government Adolfo Suárez, the official reinstatement of the Generalitat. In his subsequent return to Barcelona on 23 October 1977, he received an enthusiastic welcome from a large crowd and spoke from the balcony of the Catalan government headquarters, the Palau de la Generalitat, the now historic phrase: " Ciutadans de Catalunya, yes Sóc aquí " (on German: " citizens of Catalonia, I 'm back !"). As a result Tarradellas formed a unity government with which he drew the Autoniomiestatut of Catalonia in 1979. In 1980 he resigned in order to make the new freely elected government led by Jordi Pujol place.