Women Political Prisoners after the Spanish Civil War

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, 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 DoNa, have heavily influenced our understanding of life in prison for women under franquismo, while texts by non-Communist women have largely been ignored. Narratives of Resistance and Survival offers a comparative study of the life writing of female political prisoners in Spain, focusing on six texts in particular: the two volumes of CArcel de mujeres by Tomasa Cuevas; Desde la noche y la niebla by Juana DoNa; REquiem por la libertad by Angeles GarcIa Madrid; Abajo las dictaduras by Josefa GarcIa Segret; and Aquello sucediO asI by Angeles Mal.