Women of 36 Association

The Women of 36 Association, known in Catalan and Spanish as Dones del 36 or Mujeres del 36, was a Barcelona-based historical-memory and feminist association founded in 1997 by women who had lived through the Spanish Civil War and the Franco dictatorship. The number 36 referred to 1936, the year in which the Civil War began. Rather than operating as a commercial brand, the association functioned as a civic, educational, and oral-history initiative whose public identity became associated with testimony, democratic memory, and the recognition of women’s roles in twentieth-century Spanish political and social history. The organization emerged from efforts to make the experiences of older women more visible. In 1996, Llum Ventura, then councillor for Barcelona’s Ciutat Vella district, learned about a Madrid tribute to women involved in the Civil War. She subsequently contacted women in Barcelona whose lives had included military or rearguard work, clandestine political activity, exile, imprisonment, and repression under Franco. Their experiences broadened the public understanding of the conflict beyond conventional accounts centered on male combatants and formal political leaders. In 1997, the Barcelona City Council’s Maria Aurèlia Capmany Prize was dedicated to projects led by elderly women. Several of the women proposed a structured program to collect and transmit their memories through video, written testimony, lectures, school visits, public discussions, and media interviews. Enriqueta Gallinat presented the proposal on behalf of the group. The project received both the jury’s prize and the public award, giving the association institutional recognition and resources to begin its work. Its activities combined intergenerational education with historical documentation. Members spoke to secondary-school and university audiences, took part in civic-center discussions and public round tables, and contributed to radio, television, documentaries, books, press articles, and exhibitions. From 1997 to 2004, the association reported 179 talks in schools and high schools, 35 university presentations, and 142 round tables or public events. It also gave 185 interviews to journalists, historians, writers, and students. These activities helped position the women as historical actors and witnesses rather than merely victims of war and dictatorship. The association’s work was also preserved through an oral archive. Interviews made in 1997 with its eight founding members, together with testimony from Pilar Santiago, were donated to the Barcelona City History Archive in 1998. The collection was recorded by historian Mercedes Vilanova Ribas and anthropologist Mercedes Fernández-Martorell and is preserved in transcribed and digitized form. At the end of 2006, the members decided to dissolve the association because of their advanced age. The dissolution was formalized in 2007. Its final major activity was the publication of Les Dones del 36. Un silenci convertit en paraula · 1997–2006, a book documenting the project, its members, biographies, and activities. The association and individual members received several recognitions, including a Barcelona City Council tribute in 2004, the Medalla de Honor de Barcelona in 2006, and recognition from the Generalitat de Catalunya in 2007. Its memory continued in public places and institutions, including Plaça de les Dones del 36 in Barcelona’s Gràcia district, inaugurated in 2009, and the Biblioteca Dones del 36 in Gavà.

The Women of 36 Association was created in Barcelona in 1997 by women who had personally experienced the Spanish Civil War and the Franco dictatorship. Its name invoked 1936, the year the war began. The association sought to ensure that women’s participation in the defense of freedom and democracy, as well as their experiences of repression, imprisonment, exile, clandestinity, and life on the front or in the rearguard, would become part of collective memory. The immediate background was an initiative developed in 1996. Llum Ventura, a councillor for Barcelona’s Ciutat Vella district, learned that the Librería de Mujeres in Madrid was organizing a tribute to women who had participated in the Civil War. Ventura proposed a comparable Barcelona effort and contacted several women whose stories were largely unknown outside their families and political circles. Their meetings revealed a wide range of experiences, including underground political work, prison, exile, and wartime mobilization. Testimonies from some of the women were publicly read during events marking the twentieth anniversary of the First Feminist Conferences. In 1997, the Barcelona City Council devoted its Maria Aurèlia Capmany Prize to projects led by elderly women. The group submitted a proposal to recover and transmit the memories of women who had lived through the war and subsequent repression. Enriqueta Gallinat acted as spokesperson and defended the proposal before the council. The project won both the jury’s award and the public prize. Its activities included talks in secondary schools, university appearances, civic-center events, public round tables, media interviews, exhibitions, and video documentation. The association emphasized direct testimony and intergenerational transmission. During its first years, members met students and spoke about their own lives rather than presenting an abstract political history. The program also reached journalists, historians, writers, filmmakers, and broadcasters. Reported activity between 1997 and 2004 included 179 school and high-school talks, 35 university talks, and 142 public discussions or round tables. The members additionally gave 185 interviews and appeared in radio programs, television programs, and documentaries. They contributed to books and press coverage dealing with women, antifascism, war, dictatorship, and memory. Documentation of the project was preserved in the Women of 36 Oral Collection held by the Barcelona City History Archive. The collection includes 1997 interviews with the eight founding members and with Pilar Santiago, a teacher associated with the Workers' Party of Marxist Unification. Historian Mercedes Vilanova Ribas and anthropologist Mercedes Fernández-Martorell conducted the interviews. The recordings were donated to the archive in 1998 and are available in transcribed and digitized formats. The association’s founding members were Victoria Carrasco Peñalver, Carmen Casas Godessart, Rosa Cremón Parra, Trinidad Gallego Prieto, Enriqueta Gallinat i Román, Concha Pérez Collado, Manuela Rodríguez Lázaro, and María Salvo Iborra. Emérita Arbonés Sarrias, Laia Berenguer Puget, Josefina Piquet Ibáñez, and Victoria Santamaría Palacios joined several months later. The group received a Barcelona City Council tribute in 2004, the Medalla de Honor de Barcelona in 2006, and recognition from the Generalitat de Catalunya in 2007. Because most members were already more than ninety years old, the association decided at the end of 2006 to wind down. Its dissolution was formalized in 2007. The final publication, Les Dones del 36. Un silenci convertit en paraula · 1997–2006, recorded the association’s history, activities, and biographies. Its legacy continued through the oral archive, public commemorations, the 2009 inauguration of Plaça de les Dones del 36 in Barcelona, and the Biblioteca Dones del 36 in Gavà.

• 2009

  Plaça de les Dones del 36 is inaugurated

  [1]Women of 36 Associationen.wikipedia.org

  Barcelona named and opened a public square in the Gràcia district in memory of the Women of 36.

• 2007

  Dissolution is formalized

  [1]Women of 36 Associationen.wikipedia.org

  The association formally ended its operations and published a retrospective volume documenting its work.

• 2006

  Final operating year and Barcelona honor

  [1]Women of 36 Associationen.wikipedia.org

  Members decided to dissolve the association because of their age, and the organization received the Medalla de Honor de Barcelona.

• 2004

  Barcelona City Council tribute

  [1]Women of 36 Associationen.wikipedia.org

  The association received an official tribute for its work in recovering women’s historical memories.

• 1998

  Oral collection is donated to Barcelona’s city archive

  [1]Women of 36 Associationen.wikipedia.org

  Interviews recorded in 1997 with founding members and Pilar Santiago were transferred to the Barcelona City History Archive.

• 1997

  Association is established

  [1]Women of 36 Associationen.wikipedia.org

  The group formed around a prize-supported project dedicated to recovering and transmitting women’s historical memories.

• 1996

  Barcelona initiative begins

  [1]Women of 36 Associationen.wikipedia.org

  Llum Ventura began contacting women who had lived through the Civil War after learning of a Madrid tribute to female participants in the conflict.

A feminist historical-memory initiative centered on first-person testimony, democratic values, and the recovery of women’s experiences during the Spanish Civil War and Francoist repression.

• Oral-history archive · 1997

  Women of 36 Oral Collection

  A collection of interviews recorded in 1997 with the association’s eight founders and Pilar Santiago. The material documents personal experiences of the Civil War, political activism, exile, imprisonment, repression, and life under Franco. The recordings were donated to the Barcelona City History Archive in 1998 and preserved in transcribed and digitized forms.

• Historical-memory publication · 2007

  Les Dones del 36. Un silenci convertit en paraula · 1997–2006

  The association’s final book-length record of its work. It brings together the project’s history, biographies of members, and a record of talks, exhibitions, interviews, media appearances, and other activities carried out during the organization’s decade of operation.

• 1997Women’s historical-memory and intergenerational education project

  Barcelona · Catalonia · Spain

  The association created a sustained public-education program in which Civil War survivors spoke to students, universities, civic groups, journalists, and the broader public about women’s wartime and Franco-era experiences.

  Outcome. The project generated hundreds of talks and public events, extensive media testimony, an oral archive, exhibitions, and a retrospective publication.

  Source

• 2006

  Members decide to dissolve the associationStrategy

  Background

  Most members were already more than ninety years old, making continued organizational activity increasingly difficult.

  Action taken

  The association chose to conclude its work after documenting its history and activities.

  Aftermath

  Dissolution was formalized in 2007, while the oral collection, publication, commemorations, and public memorials continued the association’s legacy.

  Source

1. 1Women of 36 Associationen.wikipedia.org