Josep Dencàs i Puigdollers (Vic 1900 – Tangier 1966) is one of the most important and controversial personalities of the radical Catalan nationalism of the first half of the 20th century. However, we do not have any in-depth study about his figure that goes beyond his political activity during the Second Republic as a counselor of Health and Social Assistance first and then Governor.
This research aims to overcome this historiographical vacuum with a detailed analysis of the life and political activity of Dencàs from his youth – during which he collaborated with organizations related to the Lliga Regionalista – until his exile in Tangier. However, the research also pays attention, logically, to his controversial performance as governor of the Interior in the events of October of 34. In this way, in addition to providing a lot of new information on the life evolution of Dencàs, a reinterpretation of his political activity during the Second Republic.
With this work we want to get closer to the biography of the doctor Josep Dencàs i Puigdollers to determine what were his political influences, his entry into politics and the reasons that made him one of the most influential men of the Government of the Generalitat during the time of the Second Republic. For this we have started by approaching two realities that contextualize the doctor: Sant Andreu de Palomar and radical nationalism. Later we have used the studies that deal with the environment and politics of republican Catalonia. Sant Andreu de Palomar is the geographical context in which it is formed and in which its first concerns are expressed. The radical nationalism is the political model in which it will end up framing and of which it will become the maximum representative in 1936.
