Lluís Companys place of death Montjuïc Castle
Exile and execution
Exiled to France in 1939 after the Civil War, Companys had passed up various chances to leave France because his son Lluís was seriously ill in a clinic in Paris. He was brutally beaten and arrested by the Milice in La Baule-les-Pins near Nantes on 13 August 1940 and detained in La Santé Prison. He was then brutally beaten and extradited by Nazi German authorities to the Spanish government in Madrid in early September 1940 and imprisoned in the cellars of the headquarters of the Dirección General de Seguridad (State Security) at the Real Casa de Correos in Puerta del Sol. He was held there for five weeks, kept in solitary confinement, interrogated, starved tortured and brutally beaten, while senior figures of the Francoist State visited his cell, insulted him and threw coins or crusts of bread at him. In a military trial that lasted less than one hour and lacked legal guarantees, he was accused of military rebellion and sentenced to death. During the trial Companys was defended by Ramón de Colubi, a young soldier who had fought the war on the side of the rebels. Surprisingly, Colubí defended Companys with courage  to the point of receiving severe beatings, threats and risking his own life. Colubí asked Franco to pardon Companys but was ignored and then beaten again, this time by Franco. As a consequence of his role as defence attorney, Colubí was forced to go into exile. Víctor Gay Zaragoza, a Catalan writer, found that Companys and Colubí were relatives. All these efforts were useless, and Companys was executed at Montjuïc Castle in Barcelona at 6:30 a.m. on 15 October 1940. Refusing to wear a blindfold, he was taken before a firing squad of Civil Guards barefoot and, as they fired, he shouted 'Per Catalunya!' (For Catalonia!). He is buried at the Montjuïc Cemetery, near the castle. The cause of death was given as 'traumatic internal haemorrhage'.The main stadium used for the 1992 Summer Olympics, located on Montjuïc, is officially named in his memory. In 1998 a monument to Companys was installed near Arc de Triomf, on Passeig de Lluís Companys in Barcelona. A friend of Companys, Conxita Julià, is portrayed next to Companys's image in the monument. Several streets and squares in many cities and villages of Catalonia are named "Lluís Companys" after him.
His personal archive is located in the Pavelló de la República CRAI Library – University of Barcelona. It consists of correspondence about him, as well as discourses and declarations between 1936 and 1938.
location of death death place place where they died place of passing final resting place