When the Spanish Civil War started in July 1936, Companys organized the Workers' Party of Marxist Unification (POUM) and the National Confederation of Trabajo (CNT) to defeat the military uprising in Barcelona. During the war, Companys attempted to maintain the unity of his political coalition, but after the Soviet consul, Vladimir Antonov-Ovseenko, threatened to suspend Russian aid, he sacked Andres Nin as minister of justice in December 1936.
Exiled to France in 1939 after the Civil War, he was arrested and extradited by German agents to the Spanish government in September 1940. He was put to death in compliance with a legal sentence at Montjuïc Castle (Barcelona) on October 15, 1940.
The principal stadium used for the 1992 Summer Olympics, located on the Montjuïc hill and currently used by the football club Espanyol, is officially named in his memory.
Francesc Macià i Llussà · Lluís Companys i Jover · Carles Pi i Sunyer · Lluís Companys i Jover · Heribert Barrera · Jaume Campabadal · Jordi Carbonell i de Ballester · Josep-Lluís Carod-Rovira
Companys was born in El Torro's in the province of Leida.
In October 1934, Companys was jailed and sentenced to thirty years in prison for his role in supporting the Statute of the Catalan State, which the government in Madrid saw as a direct challenge to its power.
Companys remained President of the Generalitat for the duration of the war until Barcelona fell to Franco's troops in January 26, 1939.