Historyline 6

Out of Circulation

Our #protagonist of today is Dolors Cos Roget, born in Figueres in 1904.

Her father, Josep Cos, was a member of ERC (Esquerra Republicana de Catalunya / Republican Left of Catalonia) and, between 1930 and 1939, she worked as a French teacher in Figueres and also as a temporary administrative officer at Figueres Town Council (1938).

In 1939 she went into exile with her then-elderly parents and a few months after crossing the border they settled in Montauban, where they lived together at various addresses.

She worked as a teacher for the Tarn-et-Garonne Prefecture in the Pomponne neighbourhood in Montauban (1939), for the Comité National Catholique de Secours aux Réfugiés d’Espagne, and in the school of the American Friends Service Committee – Quakers Américains (Montauban, 1941-1945). She also worked in Toulouse for a time as a stenographer and dactylographer for Compagnie Olivier in 1940.

In 1945, after the death of her parents, she went to live in Le Boulou, Roussillon, where she wrote a short story for the weekly L’Espagne Républicaine. Hebdomadaire politique et littéraire, published in Toulouse. The story, entitled “Hors cours” (Out of Circulation), is based on her experience of exile in Montauban, and was published on Saturday 13 April 1946 thanks to the editor-in-chief of the publication, Antonio Fernández Escobés. You can read her breathtaking story on our website in English, Catalan and French.

After living for a while in Le Boulou (1945-1946), she moved to Paris in 1948, where she spent the rest of her life until her death in 1992.

From so far to so close.

* These materials are licenced under a CC BY-NC License for free access.