Women Political Prisoners After the Spanish Civil War: Narratives of Resistance and Survival (Paperback) (ISBN-13: 9781789760972)

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 Do?a, 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 C?rcel de mujeres by Tomasa Cuevas; Desde la noche y la niebla by Juana Do?a; R?quiem por la libertad by ?ngeles Garc?a-Madrid; Abajo las dictaduras by Josefa Garcia Segret; and Aquello sucedi? as? by ?ngeles 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.

Author: Fisher
ISBN-10: 1789760976
ISBN-13: 9781789760972
Publisher: Liverpool University Press
Language: English
Published: 10/30/2021
Pages: 272
Format: Paperback
Weight: 0.80lbs
Size: 9.00h x 6.00w x 0.57d