Enric Curia Gatius 1911 - 1942

Born 15.2.1911 in Rosselló
Died 28.1.1942 in Gusen

Biography

Enric was born on 15 February 1911 in Rosselló (Lleida). Burn marks on his face, caused by an accident, enabled him to avoid military service in 1932. He worked as a machinist in the J. Trepat factory in Tárrega. He also met his future wife there, marrying her on 31 March in the middle of the Spanish Civil War. On 8 September 1937 he left his work after being summoned to join the army as an auxiliary. But he lost his nerve and returned home. Advised and accompanied by his father, he presented himself to the military authorities of Gardeny. He was arrested and sentenced to incarceration in an open prison.

On 2 February 1938, six days after the birth of his daughter, he was transferred to the Montjuïc Castle in Barcelona. He had the great fortune of being able to meet his daughter when he took leave of his family before his relocation. Up until early June 1938, he wrote a number of letters during his time in Montjuïc. Later his family learned that in August 1938, he had been assigned to the 55th Company of the Republican army in Ripoll.

He wrote several letters from his French exile. The first is dated 15 August 1939; no address is given. Nevertheless, his brother Julio, when he started the search for him in the 1960s, was able to find out that Enric was interned first in the Barcarés camp and later in that of Saint Cyprien. Another letter, dated 25 May 1940, was apparently sent from northern France, where he was a member of a labour company.

On 20 June 1940 he was arrested by the Germans in Delle, interned in Frontstalag 140 at Belfort and later transferred to Stalag XI B in Fallingbostel with the number 86557. On 25 January 1941 he was handed over to the Gestapo and two days later deported to Mauthausen with the number 5887. He stayed for just 21 days in this camp. On 17 February he was transferred to Gusen and registered under prisoner number 10154. According to records, he died one year later, on 28 January 1942, in Gusen – the death certificate gives the cause of death as 'acute bronchitis and cardiac arrest'. But this is no more than subterfuge, concealing the true cause of his death – exhaustion as a result of slave labour under barbaric conditions.

The family could not be certain that he had died until they received a letter on 20 March 1961 from the Federación Española de Deportados e Internados Políticos (FEDIP), which informed them of Enric’s death in Gusen. The letter was signed by the president of FEDIP, the survivor José Este. Enric’s brother had sent several letters to the Spanish consul and ambassador in Paris as early as 1960. But the only answer he received was that there was no known information about Enric’s whereabouts. It should not be forgotten that the Franco regime had known the names of the Spaniards who died in Mauthausen for many years, but had not informed their relatives of their fate.

Teresa Curià

 

Amical de Mauthausen y otros campos y de todas las víctimas del Nazismo en España

 

Translation into English: Joanna White

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