On this day in 1936, an armed gang murdered eight businessmen and prominent figures from Terrassa in the Barata area, in Matadepera. The victims were kidnapped from their homes and executed with rifle butts.
Ninety years ago, on July 21, 1936, a gang of supposed revolutionaries killed eight individuals from the business and cultural world of Terrassa in the Font de l'Olla area, in Matadepera. The victims, previously kidnapped from their residences in the Barata area, were executed with rifle butts, according to the forensic report.
The events occurred in the context of the chaos and misgovernment that followed the anarchist assault on the Modelo prison in Barcelona and the usurpation of public order functions by the CNT-FAI. The Control Patrols, largely made up of released criminals, spread terror in the region.
The victims were Francesc Salvans i Armengol and his son Joan Salvans i Piera; Joaquim Barata i Rocafort; Josep Maria Duran i Torres; Manuel Vallhonrat i Comerma; Gaietà Vallès i Pujals; the notary Francesc de Paula Badia i Tobella, co-founder of Unió Democràtica de Catalunya; and the landowner Agustí Prat i Marcet. All of them were businessmen of significant factories and prominent figures in the cultural and associative Catalan fabric of Terrassa.
According to the letter from witness Francesc Pi de la Mata, published by Racó Català in 2013, the executioners carefully selected their victims. The testimony casts doubt on whether the criminals were exclusively militiamen from the CNT-FAI, suggesting a broader plot.
Investigative journalist Josep Maria Planas demonstrated the existence of complicity between the FAI, the Spanish Falange, and the underworld of Paral·lel in the selective murders of businessmen and Catalanists. After uncovering this plot, Planas was also murdered.
The Barata massacre remains a tragic episode of the Civil War in Vallès Occidental, which marked the families of Terrassa and Matadepera. Each year, memorial events honour the memory of the victims.
The Terrassa City Council has scheduled a commemorative event for next Saturday in the Barata area, which will be attended by family members of the victims and representatives of cultural entities.
