How can a book about the districts of Barcelona be documented and written from a cell at La Model prison? This is how the journalist, writer and historian Josep Maria Huertas Clavería (Barcelona, 1939–2007) wrote a significant part of the book series Tots els barris de Barcelona [Every District in Barcelona] in the months immediately before and after the death of Franco.
Forty years from the Huertas case
For eight months, the author maintained regular correspondence with Huertas, imprisoned in La Model, which documented both Huertas’ state of mind as well as events in and outside the prison. The two also exchanged information related to the books about the districts that they had begun to write jointly.
The worst of Huertas’ time in prison was the first month. The first five days of isolation were full of questions, followed shortly thereafter by the statement from ETA member Wilson, so damaging to him.
Huertas was librarian at la Model. He was impacted by the memory of lending a book to Txiki, the day before he became the last person to be executed by Franco.