for the Spain they believed to be better: in Barcelona

Josep Maria Batista i Roca memorial in Barcelona According to Víctor Castells* Josep Maria Batista i Roca (Barcelona 1895 – 1978) “was a Catalan Ethnologist, historian and politician and a  figure of Catalan nationalism. He studied Law and Literature at the University of Barcelona and Anthropology at Oxford. He was one of the founders of the Arxiu d´Antropologia i Folklore, founder of the Minyons de Muntanya (1927) and of Palestra (1930), decisive organizations for the formation of the national and civic spirit of Catalonia. He went to London (1938) as a Delegate of the Generalitat de Catalunya and a personal delegate to President Lluís Companys on an important international mission. He was the promoter and secretary of the Consell Nacional Català (1940), created in that city under the presidency of Carles Pi i Sunyer. A professor at Cambridge, he dedicated his long exile to the service of Catalonia: he represented the Catalan Pen, defended the rights of the Catalan people at Unesco and other international organizations, promoted the creation of the Anglo Catalan Society, presided the Consell Nacional Català, arising from the I Conferència Nacional Catalana in Mexico (1953), established the Pau i Treva assemblies in Toluges, and gave numerous conferences throughout Europe, as well as promoting the publication of the journal VIDA NOVA (1954). ). Returned in 1976, he further intensified his nationalist work; New initiatives include the founding of the Cercle d’Agermanament Occitano-Català. He always advocated the clearest independence for the Catalan nation and never ceased to warn us about the precariousness and dangers of autonomous solutions.” On the other hand according to other sources Batista i Roca is also known for his connection with the Exèrcit Popular Català (EPOCA), a Catalan armed organization that acted from 1976 to 1980 that sought to separate Catalonia from Spain Spain and committed some terrorist attacks. The memorial monument to Batista i Roca was placed in Barcelona in 1996.