Josep Benet i Morell (Cervera, 1920 - Sant Cugat del Vallès, 2008). Politician, historian and essayist. He studied Law at the University of Barcelona. From a young age, he actively fought for democracy and Catalan nationalism. He was one of the founders of the Assemblea de Catalunya (Assembly of Catalonia). From 1979, he devoted himself entirely to politics, first as a senator for the Entesa dels Catalans and later as Member of Parliament for Catalonia. He directed the Centre d'Història Contemporània de Catalunya (Centre for Contemporary History of Catalonia) the library of which, during its development, held the exceptional donation of collections brought to it by the historian.
As an essayist he specialised in the social, political and religious history of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. He was one of the promoters of Serra d’or and Els Setze Jutges. Among other distinctions, he was awarded the Premi d'Honor de les Lletres Catalanes in 1996 and the Medalla d'Or by the Generalitat of Catalonia in 2000.
Who is who (Institució de les Lletres Catalanes)