Women Political Prisoners after the Spanish Civil War: Narratives of Resistance and Survival

by Ruth Fisher

Overview

At the end of the Spanish Civil War the Nationalist government instigated mass repression against anyone suspected of loyalty to the defeated Republican side. Around 200,000 people were imprisoned for political crimes in the weeks and months following 1st April 1939, including thousands of women who were charged with offences ranging from directing the home front to supporting their loved ones engaged in combat. Many women wrote and published texts about their experiences, seeking to make their voices heard and to counteract the dehumanising master narrative of the right-wing victors that had criminalised their existence. The memoirs of Communist women, such as Tomasa Cuevas and Juana Doña, have heavily influenced our understanding of life in prison for women under franquismo, while texts by non-Communist women have largely been ignored. This monograph offers a comparative study of the life writing of female political prisoners in Spain, focusing on six texts in particular: the two volumes of Cárcel de mujeres by Tomasa Cuevas; Desde la noche y la niebla by Juana Doña; Réquiem por la libertad by Ángeles García-Madrid; Abajo las dictaduras by Josefa Garcia Segret; and Aquello sucedió así by Ángeles Malonda. All the texts share common themes, such as describing the hunger and repression that all political prisoners suffered. However, the ideologically-driven narratives of Communist women often foreground representations of resistance at the expense of exploring the emotional and intellectual struggle for survival that many women political prisoners faced in the aftermath of the Spanish Civil War. This study nuances our understanding of imprisoned women as individuals and as a collective, analysing how women political prisoners sought recognition and justice in the face of a vindictive dictatorship. It also explores the women's response to the spirit of convivencia during the transition to democracy, which once again threatened to silence them.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781789760972
Publisher:	Liverpool University Press
Publication date:	10/30/2021
Pages:	272
Product dimensions:	5.98(w) x 9.02(h) x 0.56(d)

About the Author

Ruth Fisher was awarded a PhD in Hispanic Studies from University of Sheffield in 2018. Ruth is interested in modern European history and literature, with a particular focus on post-conflict society in 20th century Germany and Spain. She now works in academic publishing.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments Chapter One: Mass Imprisonment and its Legacy during the Transition The pacto de olvido and its origins Creating the Transition The Transition in the writing of political prisoners Mass imprisonment in the immediate post-war period Studying Spanish women political prisoners and their life writing Chapter Two: The Resistance Narrative: The Communist Construction of Prison in the Life Writing of Tomasa Cuevas and Juana Doa Communist life writing Tomasa Cuevas' Crcel de mujeres (1985) A case study of Soviet-model Communist autobiography Juana Doa's Desde la noche y la niebla: Mujeres en las crceles franquistas (1978) Political life in prison Educational programmes Hunger strikes and protests A network of resistance across Spain Constructing community Political women Prostitutes and chivatas Bearing witness Heroic death The heroic death of the Trece Rosas Emotional bonds between Communist women Chapter Three: Exploring the Individual and the Feminist in Communist Writing: Juana Doa's Ideological Development Breaking with the PCE, feminism, and the Transition La mujer (1977) and its relationship with Desde la noche y la niebla Framing Desde la noche y la niebla as a feminist text Domestic violence and rape Motherhood Doa and Mesn's revolutionary love Grief The isolation of imprisonment Questioning dogmatism Chapter Four: Surviving Francoist Repression: The Prison Memoirs of ngeles Garca Madrid, Josefa Garca Segret, and ngeles Malonda Rquiem por la libertad by ngeles Garca Madrid Abajo las dictaduras by Josefa Garca Segret Aquello sucedi as by ngeles Malonda The spectacle of justice Arrest Trial Challenging the legal system Cohabitation and survival in prison Food politics Negotiating relationships Persecution, harassment, and exploitation: the vulnerability of non-Communists and their families Coping strategies Chapter Five: Influencing the Narrative during the Transition and Beyond Appendix A Editions of Primary Texts Bibliography Index