PARES | Spanish Archives

Identification

Type:

Person

Preferred form:

Sentís Anfruns, Carlos (1911-2011)Other forms

Dates of existence/Biographical dates:

Barcelona (España) 1911-12-09 - Barcelona (España) 2011-07-19

History:

Spanish journalist and politician.

Sentís studied Law at the University of Barcelona and the Sorbonne of Paris. As a journalist, Sentís started collaborating in Catalonian newspapers like "La Publicitat", "L'instant" or "La Veu de Catalunya", where he stand out due to his articles about the "Transmiserià" or the use of the term "the real Catalonia".

During the II World War he was a war correspondent of ABC and La Vanguardia, attending the releasing of the Dachau Nazi concentration Camp by the US army and the sessions of the Nuremberg Trials. In the 50's, he was a press attaché in Brussels and Paris. Sentís was the director of the EFE agency (1963), the newspaper Tele/eXprés (1966) and of Barcelona Radio Station (1972), dean of the School of Journalists of Catalonia, and president of the International Centre of Press of Barcelona, as well as member of the Executive Board of Avui and La Vanguardia.

Regarding his political career, he was linked to the modern Catalan movement in the Second Republic, being the secretary of the Minister of Finances of the Government of Catalonia (1934), and was a member of Acció Catalana Republicana.

Sentís was imprisoned in the prison of Cadiz during the proclamation of the Catalonian State on October 1934 by Companys. Later on, he brought the Lliga de Francesc Cambó closer. After the uprising in 1936, Sentís hid and went into exile to Italy, along with some other journalists members of the league like Joan Costa I Déu. He came back to Barcelona in 1939 where he published the well-known article named "Finis Cataloniae?" in La Vanguardia Española, where he defended that Francoism had been saved Catalonia.

Sentís supported Franco's dictatorship, being the private secretary of Rafael Sánchez Mazas. When Franco died, he joined Adolfo Suárez's UCD, was a deputy for Barcelona in the Constituent Legislature, and the director-general of the Informative Coordination of the Ministry of Information and Tourism, and also the vice-president of the Commission of Foreign Affairs.

Sentís is considered as a defender of the re-establishment of the Government of Catalonia and the return of Josep Tarradellas. Once this government was re-established, Sentís was appointed Minister without portfolio of the provisional Government of Catalonia until 1980.

Later on, he was awarded several times with the Cross of Saint Jorge (1986), the National Prize of Journalism of Catalonia (1998) or the Golden Medal of the Merit of Work (2008).

Spanish transition to democracy

Cortes Constituyentes, 1977-1979

Date of the event: 1977-07-13 - 1979-01-02

World War, 1939-1945

Date of the event: 1939 - 1945

Nuremberg trials, 1945-1946

Occupations

Activity:

Politicians

Legislators in Madrid (España) between 1977-07-04 and 1982-08-31 Obs.: Diputado de la Legislatura Constituyente

Profession (carried on by):

Journalists

Profession (carried on by):

Lawyers

Places

Menéndez, Manuel Ángel. Fontes, Ignacio. Quién es quién: sus señorías los diputados : atlas de la democracia parlamentaria española. Manuel Ángel Menéndez Gijón, Ignacio Fontes. Tres Cantos (Madrid): Foca. 931 p.. 84-95440-25-3.