Rosario Dinamitera - reading about the Spanish Civil War.

 Earlier this month my Spanish sister posted something on Facebook about Las Trece Rosas Rojas - the Thirteen Red Roses. It was the anniversary of their execution, on the 5th of August 1939. In the years following the end of the Spanish Civil War, there was a campaign of what can only be called terror against anyone who had fought on the Republicans’ side. And these thirteen young women, aged between 20 and 29 were amongst the first to be sentenced to death.

Inevitably there was some score-settling. Neighbours reported to the police folk who had offended them pr upset them, inventing details of their involvement in the Republican cause, membership of the Communist Party or some other left wing party, or simply expressing enthusiasm for the Republicans, who were after all the elected government of the time. It was a hard time to live through. 

When my sister put her post on Facebook I remembered that I had a book about those thirteen young women, written by Carlos Fonseca, a journalist who is described as a specialist on information about terrorism. I read it years ago when we were living in Vigo, Spain. So I hunted it out and lent it to my sister when she came to stay.

In the process of looking for that book I also found Rosario Dinamitera, Rosario the Dynamiter, by the same author, an account of the Spanish Civil War and the after-war years but centred on the life of Rosario Sánchez Mora, who enlisted on the Republicans’ side at the age of 17 in the early stages of the war. She lost a hand while throwing home made grenades at Franco’s forces. The poet Miguel Hernández wrote a poem to her, hence the title of the book:

Rosario Dinamitera,

sobre tu mano bonita

celaba la dinamita

sus atributos de fiera.

When she recovered from her injuries she continued working for the Republic but by then women were no longer permitted to be on the front line as active soldiers. She survived the war, was arrested and initially sentenced to death although her sentence was changed to thirty years in prison, of which amazingly she only spent three years. Life was not easy for her once she was released but she survived until 2008. A complete heroine! 

The poet who sang her praises, Miguel Hernández, died of tuberculosis in one of Franco’s prisons, aged only 32. 

I have just finished the book. It might seem like an odd choice in this current time of conflict and yet there is something uplifting about reading about those who fought for a cause they believed in.

Life goes on. Stay safe and well, everyone!