‘They won't kill me like a dog’. Voices and experiences of the women of the anti-Francoist guerrilla in post-war Spain.
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.53351/6kwwk570Keywords:
Guerrilla warfare, Francoism, women, Resistance, PostwarAbstract
This paper reports on the historiographical renewal in the study of women's participation in the armed anti-Francoist resistance in post-war Spain. For years, that resistance has been poorly known and studied, considered a minor and marginal phenomenon despite the fact that it have had a notable influence on the social and political evolution of a large part of rural Spain in the post-war period. The role of women in this resistance is even less known and studied, partly because of the small number of women who actually took up arms. Starting from the paradox of women's limited participation in the armed struggle after a civil war that at its outset had provoked the mobilisation of many women on both sides, including their effective participation (albeit a very small minority) in the Republican militias, the article reveals the cross-effects of post-war repression and the misogyny of certain anti-Franco militants, and proposes a re-reading of women's action in the resistance based on the testimonies of the participants themselves.
The paper is divided into four parts. The first part analyses the phenomenon of the anti-Francoist guerrilla as an irregular war and the reasons for the marginal presence of women in it. The second part develops the role of women in the resistance, particularly in the guerrilla support networks. The third part analyses women's experiences and testimonies, while the fourth and final part analyses the most radical commitment - and at the same time most difficult to interpret, that of the women who joined the guerrilla groups in the mountains. The final aim is to provide a more complex reading of the multiple modalities and experiences of women's participation in the post-war anti-Francoist resistance, mainly through the voices of the women themselves.
Downloads
References
Francisco AGUADO SÁNCHEZ: El maquis en España. Su historia, Madrid, Librería Editorial San Martín, 1975 (2ª ed.).
Valentín ANDRÉS GÓMEZ, Del mito a la historia. Guerrilleros, maquis y huidos en los montes de Cantabria, Ed. Universidad de Cantabria, 2019.
Encarnación BARRANQUERO: «Mujeres y guerrilla en Andalucía», en Marie-Claude Chaput, Canela Llecha Llop, Odette Martínez Maler (coord..), Escrituras de la resistencia armada al franquismo, Nanterre, Presses Universitaires de Paris Nanterre, 2017, pp. 71-86. Consultable en: https://books.openedition.org/pupo/27611.
Jelena BATINIÇ: Women and Yugoslav Partisans. A History of World War II Resistance, Cambridge University Press, 2015.
Domingo BLASCO y Francisco CABRERA: El Frente Invisible. Guerrilleros republicanos 1936-1939. De los niños de la noche al XIV Cuerpo, Guadalajara, Silente, 2013.
Anna BRAVO, Maria ADDIS SABA: Partigiane. Le donne della resistenza, Mursia, Milan, 1998.
Claudia CABRERO BLANCO: Mujeres contra el franquismo (Asturias 1937-1952). Vida cotidiana, represión y resistencia, Oviedo, KRK, 2006.
Adriana CASES SOLA: «Mujeres rebeldes. Género, juventud y violencia política en la Segunda República», Ayer, 100 (2015), pp. 73-96.
Angela CENARRO: «Movilización femenina para la guerra total (1936-1939): un ejercicio comparativo», Historia y política: Ideas, procesos y movimientos sociales, 16 (2006), pp. 159-182.
Tomas COSSÍAS: La lucha contra el «maquis» en España, Madrid, Editora Nacional, 1956.
Tomasa CUEVAS: Cárcel de mujeres, Barcelona, Sirocco, 1985.
Tomasa CUEVAS: Mujeres de la resistencia, Barcelona, Sirocco, 1986.
Tomasa CUEVAS: Testimonios de mujeres en las carceles franquistas, Ed. preparada por Jorge J. MONTES SALGUERO, Huesca, Instituto de Estudios Altoaragoneses, 2004.
Giuliana DI FEBO: Resistencia y movimiento de mujeres en España, 1936-1976. Barcelona, Icaria, 1979.
Alfonso DOMINGO: El canto del búho. La vida en el monte de los guerrilleros antifranquistas, Madrid, Oberon, 2006 [2002].
Laurent DOUZOU y Mercedes YUSTA (coord.) : La Résistance à l’épreuve du genre. Hommes et femmes dans les résistances antifascistes dans l’Europe du Sud (1936-1949), Rennes, Presses Universitaires de Rennes, 2018.
Yaakov FALCOV y Mercedes YUSTA (coord.): «The ‘Spanish Matrix’: Transnational catalyst of Europe’s anti-nazi Resistance», in Robert GILDEA and Ismee TAMES (eds.), Fighters across Frontiers. Transnational resistance in Europe, 1936-48, Manchester University Press, 2020, p. 31-48.
Arnau FERNÁNDEZ PASALODOS: Hasta su total exterminio. La guerra antipartisana en España, 1936-1952, Galaxia Gutenberg, 2024.
Ramón GARCÍA PIÑEIRO: Luchadores del Ocaso. Represión, guerrilla y violencia política en la Asturias de posguerra (1937-1952). Oviedo KRK, 2015.
Carlos GARCÍA REIGOSA: El regreso de los maquis, Madrid, Júcar, 1992.
Hartmut HEINE: A guerrilla antifranquista en Galicia, Vigo, Xerais, 1980.
Tony JUDT: «Introduction» in Tony JUDT (ed.): Resistance and revolution in Mediterranean Europe, 1939-1948. Routledge, Londres, 1989, pp. 9-10.
Catherine LACOUR-ASTOL: Le genre de la Résistance. La résistance féminine dans le Nord de la France, Paris, Presses Universitaires de Sciences Po, 2015.
Lisa LINES: Milicianas: Women in Combat in the Spanish Civil War, Lexington Books, 2015.
Alfonso LÓPEZ GARCÍA: Guerrilleros y sabotaje en la retaguardia enemiga durante la guerra civil española, Tesis doctoral, Universidad CEU San Pablo, 2017.
Shirley MANGINI: Recuerdos de la resistencia. La voz de las mujeres de la guerra civil española, Barcelona, Península, 1997.
Aurora MARCO: Mulleres na guerrilla antifranquista galega, Ames, Edicions Laiovento, 2011.
Jorge MARCO: Guerrilleros y vecinos en armas. Identidades y culturas de la resistencia antifranquista, Granada, Comares, 2012.
Jorge MARCO: «Mujeres combatientes en la Guerra de España (1936-1939): Debilidades conceptuales y metodológicas de un nuevo paradigma», Revista Universitaria De Historia Militar, 13 :26 (2024), pp. 243-267.
Esperanza MARTÍNEZ: Guerrilleras, la ilusión de una esperanza, Madrid, Latorre Literaria, 2010.
Esperanza MARTÍNEZ: Guerriller@s; Recuérdalo tú y recuérdalo a otros, Archivo Guerra y Exilio, 2019.
Odette MARTÍNEZ: Témoignages oraux et transmissions des mémoires. La guérilla antifranquiste de Léon-Galice (1936-1951), Thèse de Doctorat d’Etudes Romanes, Université de Paris Nanterre, 2012.
Odette MARTINEZ: «Los testimonios de las mujeres de la guerrilla antifranquista de León-Galicia (1939-1951)», en Julio ARÓSTEGUI y Jorge MARCO: El último frente. La resistencia armada antifranquista en España, 1939-1952, Los Libros de la Catarata, Madrid, 2008, pp. 313-327.
Francisco MARTÍNEZ LÓPEZ: Guerrillero contra Franco, León, Diputación de León, 2002.
Remedios MONTERO: Historia de Celia. Recuerdos de una guerrillera antifascista, Valencia, Rialla-Octaedro, 2004.
Francisco MORENO GOMEZ: «Guerrilleras y enlaces. Las mujeres en la resistencia antifranquista», Andalucía en la historia, 25, julio-septiembre 2009, pp. 26-29.
Francisco MORENO GOMEZ: La resistencia armada contra Franco. Tragedia del maquis y la guerrilla. El Centro-Sur de España: de Madrid al Guadalquivir. Barcelona, Critica, 2001.
Mary NASH: Rojas. Las mujeres republicanas en la Guerra Civil, Madrid, Taurus, 1999.
María de los Llanos PÉREZ GÓMEZ: «Mujeres represaliadas por colaborar con la guerrilla manchega como ‘buenas madres, esposas o hijas’», Huarte de San Juan. Geografía e Historia, 30 (2023), pp. 93-111.
Alicia PRADA FERNÁNDEZ: Mujeres y resistencia antifranquista (1936-1951): Guerrilla, represión y supervivencia, TFM Erasmus Mundus, Universidad de Oviedo, 2017.
Julio PRADA RODRÍGUEZ y Alejandro RODRÍGUEZ GUTIÉRREZ: «Mujer y resistencia. La guerrilla antifranquista en Galicia desde una perspectiva de género», en Julio PRADA RODRÍGUEZ (ed.), Franquismo y represion de género en Galicia, Madrid, Los libros de la Catarata, 2013, pp. 232-261.
Angel RODRÍGUEZ GALLARDO: Letras armadas. As vidas de Enriqueta Otero Blanco, Fundacion 10 de marzo, Coleccion Estudios n° 3, 2005.
Alejandro RODRÍGUEZ GUTIÉRREZ: «El origen de la Guerrilla Antifranquista. La Federación de Guerrillas de León-Galicia y las Agrupaciones Guerrilleras, 1941-1945» en Alejandra IBARRA AGUIRREGABIRIA (coord.), No es país para jóvenes. Actas del III encuentro de jóvenes investigadores de la AHC, Universidad del País Vasco = Euskal Herriko Unibertsitatea, Instituto de Historia Social Valentín Foronda = Valentín de Foronda Gizarte Historia Instituta, 2012.
Fernanda ROMEU: Más allá de la utopía: la Agrupación Guerrillera de Levante. Valencia, Alfóns el Magnànim, 1987.
Pura SÁNCHEZ: Individuas de dudosa moral: la represión de las mujeres en Andalucía, 1936-1958, Barcelona, Grupo Planeta (GBS), 2009.
James C. SCOTT: Los dominados y el arte de la resistencia: discursos ocultos, Txalaparta, Tafalla, 2003.
Secundino SERRANO: La guerrilla antifranquista en León (1936-1951), Madrid, Siglo XXI, 1986.
Secundino SERRANO: Maquis. Historia de la guerrilla antifranquista, Madrid, Temas de Hoy, 2001.
Ingrid STROBL: Partisanas. La mujer en la resistencia armada contra el fascismo y la ocupación alemana (1936-1945), Barcelona, Virus Editorial, 1989.
Carlos TEJERIZO-GARCÍA, Alejandro RODRÍGUEZ GUTIÉRREZ y Olalla ÁLVAREZ COBIAN: «Arqueología y procesos memoriales de la guerrilla antifranquista en los montes de Casaio (Carballeda de Valdeorras, Ourense)», Madrygal: Revista de estudios gallegos 23 (2020): 331-348.
Tassoula VERVENIOTI: «Left-Wing Women between Politics and Family», en Mark MAZOWER (ed.), After the War was Over. Reconstructing the Family, Nation, and State in Greece, 1943-1960, Princeton University Press, 2000.
José Antonio VIDAL CASTAÑO: «Mujeres en un mundo de hombres. La presencia femenina en la Agrupación guerrillera de Levante y Aragón (AGLA)», en Ortiz Heras, Manuel, Memoria e historia del franquismo. Actas del V Encuentro de investigadores del franquismo. Cuenca, Ediciones de la Universidad de Castilla-La Mancha, 2005, CD-Rom.
Mercedes YUSTA: «Comunismo y antifascismo en femenino: de Mujeres Antifascistas a la Unión de Mujeres Españolas», en Francisco Egido (dir.), Un siglo de comunismo en España II. Presencia social y experiencias militantes, Madrid, Akal, 2022, p. 285-312.
Mercedes YUSTA: «Du familial au politique. Engagements féminins dans la guérilla antifranquiste en Espagne (1936-1952)», en Karine BERGÈS, Diana BURGOS-VIGNA, Mercedes YUSTA y Nathalie LUDEC (coords.), Résistantes, militantes, citoyennes. L’engagement politique des femmes, Presses Universitaires de Rennes, 2015, pp. 89-102.
Mercedes YUSTA: La guerra de los vencidos. El maquis en el Maestrazgo turolense, 1940-1950, Institución Fernando el Católico, Zaragoza, 2005 [1999].
Mercedes YUSTA: Guerrilla y resistencia campesina. La resistencia armada contra el franquismo en Aragón, Zaragoza, Prensas Universitarias de Zaragoza, 2003.
Mercedes YUSTA: «Las mujeres en la resistencia antifranquista, un estado de la cuestión», Arenal. Revista de Historia de Mujeres, 12 : 1 (2005), pp. 5-34.
Mercedes YUSTA: «Rebeldía familiar, compromiso invididual, acción colectiva. Las mujeres en la resistencia al franquismo durante los años cuarenta», Historia del Presente, 4 (2004), p. 63-93.
Downloads
Published
Issue
Section
License
Copyright (c) 2024 Mercedes Yusta Rodrigo
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.
Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International Public License
By exercising the Licensed Rights (defined below), You accept and agree to be bound by the terms and conditions of this Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International Public License ("Public License"). To the extent this Public License may be interpreted as a contract, You are granted the Licensed Rights in consideration of Your acceptance of these terms and conditions, and the Licensor grants You such rights in consideration of benefits the Licensor receives from making the Licensed Material available under these terms and conditions.
Section 1 – Definitions.
- Adapted Material means material subject to Copyright and Similar Rights that is derived from or based upon the Licensed Material and in which the Licensed Material is translated, altered, arranged, transformed, or otherwise modified in a manner requiring permission under the Copyright and Similar Rights held by the Licensor. For purposes of this Public License, where the Licensed Material is a musical work, performance, or sound recording, Adapted Material is always produced where the Licensed Material is synched in timed relation with a moving image.
- Copyright and Similar Rights means copyright and/or similar rights closely related to copyright including, without limitation, performance, broadcast, sound recording, and Sui Generis Database Rights, without regard to how the rights are labeled or categorized. For purposes of this Public License, the rights specified in Section 2(b)(1)-(2) are not Copyright and Similar Rights.
- Effective Technological Measures means those measures that, in the absence of proper authority, may not be circumvented under laws fulfilling obligations under Article 11 of the WIPO Copyright Treaty adopted on December 20, 1996, and/or similar international agreements.
- Exceptions and Limitations means fair use, fair dealing, and/or any other exception or limitation to Copyright and Similar Rights that applies to Your use of the Licensed Material.
- Licensed Material means the artistic or literary work, database, or other material to which the Licensor applied this Public License.
- Licensed Rights means the rights granted to You subject to the terms and conditions of this Public License, which are limited to all Copyright and Similar Rights that apply to Your use of the Licensed Material and that the Licensor has authority to license.
- Licensor means the individual(s) or entity(ies) granting rights under this Public License.
- NonCommercial means not primarily intended for or directed towards commercial advantage or monetary compensation. For purposes of this Public License, the exchange of the Licensed Material for other material subject to Copyright and Similar Rights by digital file-sharing or similar means is NonCommercial provided there is no payment of monetary compensation in connection with the exchange.
- Share means to provide material to the public by any means or process that requires permission under the Licensed Rights, such as reproduction, public display, public performance, distribution, dissemination, communication, or importation, and to make material available to the public including in ways that members of the public may access the material from a place and at a time individually chosen by them.
- Sui Generis Database Rights means rights other than copyright resulting from Directive 96/9/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 11 March 1996 on the legal protection of databases, as amended and/or succeeded, as well as other essentially equivalent rights anywhere in the world.
- You means the individual or entity exercising the Licensed Rights under this Public License. Your has a corresponding meaning.
Section 2 – Scope.
- License grant.
- Subject to the terms and conditions of this Public License, the Licensor hereby grants You a worldwide, royalty-free, non-sublicensable, non-exclusive, irrevocable license to exercise the Licensed Rights in the Licensed Material to:
- reproduce and Share the Licensed Material, in whole or in part, for NonCommercial purposes only; and
- produce and reproduce, but not Share, Adapted Material for NonCommercial purposes only.
- Exceptions and Limitations. For the avoidance of doubt, where Exceptions and Limitations apply to Your use, this Public License does not apply, and You do not need to comply with its terms and conditions.
- Term. The term of this Public License is specified in Section 6(a).
- Media and formats; technical modifications allowed. The Licensor authorizes You to exercise the Licensed Rights in all media and formats whether now known or hereafter created, and to make technical modifications necessary to do so. The Licensor waives and/or agrees not to assert any right or authority to forbid You from making technical modifications necessary to exercise the Licensed Rights, including technical modifications necessary to circumvent Effective Technological Measures. For purposes of this Public License, simply making modifications authorized by this Section 2(a)(4) never produces Adapted Material.
- Downstream recipients.
- Offer from the Licensor – Licensed Material. Every recipient of the Licensed Material automatically receives an offer from the Licensor to exercise the Licensed Rights under the terms and conditions of this Public License.
- No downstream restrictions. You may not offer or impose any additional or different terms or conditions on, or apply any Effective Technological Measures to, the Licensed Material if doing so restricts exercise of the Licensed Rights by any recipient of the Licensed Material.
- No endorsement. Nothing in this Public License constitutes or may be construed as permission to assert or imply that You are, or that Your use of the Licensed Material is, connected with, or sponsored, endorsed, or granted official status by, the Licensor or others designated to receive attribution as provided in Section 3(a)(1)(A)(i).
- Subject to the terms and conditions of this Public License, the Licensor hereby grants You a worldwide, royalty-free, non-sublicensable, non-exclusive, irrevocable license to exercise the Licensed Rights in the Licensed Material to:
-
Other rights.
- Moral rights, such as the right of integrity, are not licensed under this Public License, nor are publicity, privacy, and/or other similar personality rights; however, to the extent possible, the Licensor waives and/or agrees not to assert any such rights held by the Licensor to the limited extent necessary to allow You to exercise the Licensed Rights, but not otherwise.
- Patent and trademark rights are not licensed under this Public License.
- To the extent possible, the Licensor waives any right to collect royalties from You for the exercise of the Licensed Rights, whether directly or through a collecting society under any voluntary or waivable statutory or compulsory licensing scheme. In all other cases the Licensor expressly reserves any right to collect such royalties, including when the Licensed Material is used other than for NonCommercial purposes.
Section 3 – License Conditions.
Your exercise of the Licensed Rights is expressly made subject to the following conditions.
-
Attribution.
-
If You Share the Licensed Material, You must:
- retain the following if it is supplied by the Licensor with the Licensed Material:
- identification of the creator(s) of the Licensed Material and any others designated to receive attribution, in any reasonable manner requested by the Licensor (including by pseudonym if designated);
- a copyright notice;
- a notice that refers to this Public License;
- a notice that refers to the disclaimer of warranties;
- a URI or hyperlink to the Licensed Material to the extent reasonably practicable;
- indicate if You modified the Licensed Material and retain an indication of any previous modifications; and
- indicate the Licensed Material is licensed under this Public License, and include the text of, or the URI or hyperlink to, this Public License.
- retain the following if it is supplied by the Licensor with the Licensed Material:
- You may satisfy the conditions in Section 3(a)(1) in any reasonable manner based on the medium, means, and context in which You Share the Licensed Material. For example, it may be reasonable to satisfy the conditions by providing a URI or hyperlink to a resource that includes the required information.
- If requested by the Licensor, You must remove any of the information required by Section 3(a)(1)(A) to the extent reasonably practicable.
-
Section 4 – Sui Generis Database Rights.
Where the Licensed Rights include Sui Generis Database Rights that apply to Your use of the Licensed Material:
- for the avoidance of doubt, Section 2(a)(1) grants You the right to extract, reuse, reproduce, and Share all or a substantial portion of the contents of the database for NonCommercial purposes only and provided You do not Share Adapted Material;
- if You include all or a substantial portion of the database contents in a database in which You have Sui Generis Database Rights, then the database in which You have Sui Generis Database Rights (but not its individual contents) is Adapted Material; and
- You must comply with the conditions in Section 3(a) if You Share all or a substantial portion of the contents of the database.
For the avoidance of doubt, this Section 4supplements and does not replace Your obligations under this Public License where the Licensed Rights include other Copyright and Similar Rights.
Section 5 – Disclaimer of Warranties and Limitation of Liability.
- Unless otherwise separately undertaken by the Licensor, to the extent possible, the Licensor offers the Licensed Material as-is and as-available, and makes no representations or warranties of any kind concerning the Licensed Material, whether express, implied, statutory, or other. This includes, without limitation, warranties of title, merchantability, fitness for a particular purpose, non-infringement, absence of latent or other defects, accuracy, or the presence or absence of errors, whether or not known or discoverable. Where disclaimers of warranties are not allowed in full or in part, this disclaimer may not apply to You.
- To the extent possible, in no event will the Licensor be liable to You on any legal theory (including, without limitation, negligence) or otherwise for any direct, special, indirect, incidental, consequential, punitive, exemplary, or other losses, costs, expenses, or damages arising out of this Public License or use of the Licensed Material, even if the Licensor has been advised of the possibility of such losses, costs, expenses, or damages. Where a limitation of liability is not allowed in full or in part, this limitation may not apply to You.
- The disclaimer of warranties and limitation of liability provided above shall be interpreted in a manner that, to the extent possible, most closely approximates an absolute disclaimer and waiver of all liability.
Section 6 – Term and Termination.
- This Public License applies for the term of the Copyright and Similar Rights licensed here. However, if You fail to comply with this Public License, then Your rights under this Public License terminate automatically.
-
Where Your right to use the Licensed Material has terminated under Section 6(a), it reinstates:
- automatically as of the date the violation is cured, provided it is cured within 30 days of Your discovery of the violation; or
- upon express reinstatement by the Licensor.
- For the avoidance of doubt, the Licensor may also offer the Licensed Material under separate terms or conditions or stop distributing the Licensed Material at any time; however, doing so will not terminate this Public License.
- Sections 1, 5, 6, 7, and 8 survive termination of this Public License.
Section 7 – Other Terms and Conditions.
- The Licensor shall not be bound by any additional or different terms or conditions communicated by You unless expressly agreed.
- Any arrangements, understandings, or agreements regarding the Licensed Material not stated herein are separate from and independent of the terms and conditions of this Public License.
Section 8 – Interpretation.
- For the avoidance of doubt, this Public License does not, and shall not be interpreted to, reduce, limit, restrict, or impose conditions on any use of the Licensed Material that could lawfully be made without permission under this Public License.
- To the extent possible, if any provision of this Public License is deemed unenforceable, it shall be automatically reformed to the minimum extent necessary to make it enforceable. If the provision cannot be reformed, it shall be severed from this Public License without affecting the enforceability of the remaining terms and conditions.
- No term or condition of this Public License will be waived and no failure to comply consented to unless expressly agreed to by the Licensor.
- Nothing in this Public License constitutes or may be interpreted as a limitation upon, or waiver of, any privileges and immunities that apply to the Licensor or You, including from the legal processes of any jurisdiction or authority.
Creative Commons is not a party to its public licenses. Notwithstanding, Creative Commons may elect to apply one of its public licenses to material it publishes and in those instances will be considered the “Licensor.” The text of the Creative Commons public licenses is dedicated to the public domain under the CC0 Public Domain Dedication. Except for the limited purpose of indicating that material is shared under a Creative Commons public license or as otherwise permitted by the Creative Commons policies published at creativecommons.org/policies, Creative Commons does not authorize the use of the trademark “Creative Commons” or any other trademark or logo of Creative Commons without its prior written consent including, without limitation, in connection with any unauthorized modifications to any of its public licenses or any other arrangements, understandings, or agreements concerning use of licensed material. For the avoidance of doubt, this paragraph does not form part of the public licenses.
Creative Commons may be contacted at creativecommons.org.