Falangist and National Catholic Women in the Spanish Civil War (1936-1939)

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"Although there is an established historiography on women's roles during the Spanish Civil War (1936-9), little has been written on Nationalist women in the Republican-held zones. Women were the anti-Republican resisters of the first hour in the capital but they have been largely overlooked in the historical record. During the bitter civil conflict a sector of dissident women helped to create a subversive and clandestine national Catholic space in the heart of Republican Madrid. By examining the vital and invisible role played by women within Madrid's 'fifth column' this monograph offers a new contribution to the gender historiography of the Spanish Civil War and re-evaluates the significance of women in the Nationalist war effort. It explores how and why a sector of Falangist and Catholic women decided to mobilise against the legally constituted Popular Front government in support of an undemocratic military coup. While women's subversive activities often involved the transgression of traditional gender norms, their social and political agency arose within the conditions and precepts of Catholicism and was conceptualised and imagined within new national-Catholic discourses of 'holy Crusade.'"-- Cover Half Title Title Page Copyright Page Table of Contents Acknowledgements List of Abbreviations Introduction A “fifth column” in Madrid Origins of the “fifth column” Conceptualisation and interpretative frames Background and context A new Republican justice Chapter outline Part 1 – The Clandestine Falange Part 2 – Madrid’s autonomous fifth-column resistance Notes Part I The role of women in the Clandestine Falange Chapter 1 The origins of Auxilio Azul The origins of Auxilio Azul within the pre-war Sección Femenina Auxilio Azul Auxilio Azul – Motivations for mobilisation El Espiritu de Auxilio Azul – core values Auxilio Azul’s rules of governance Notes Chapter 2 The structure and organisation of Auxilio Azul Auxilio Azul’s service divisions Embassies, safe-houses and escape lines (the ‘Embassy Group’) Labour Section (Trabajos) Clothing Services Acquisitions Manufacturing Sales Health Services Emergency Aid (Socorros) Security Services Prison and Checa Services Judicial Services Spiritual Aid Notes Chapter 3 The role of women in the mixed-gender Clandestine Falange groups Overview of the mixed-gender Clandestine Falange Aims and objectives The structure of the Clandestine Falange The individual groups The roles played by women within the groups Recruitment and liaison agents Francisca Martínez Ramírez and “the 195 Group” Antonia Lario Alonso Dolores López Mendizábal Carmen de Blas Arantegui Pilar del Olmo Sánchez Josefa Martí Tortajada Spies Matilde Casáñ Pablo and the Golfín-Coruju network Escape-line organisers Esperanza Ortega Cebrían and the “Grupo de Jesús Hernández Cid” Candida Círiza Notes Part II The women in Madrid’s autonomous fifth-column resistance Chapter 4 Traitors and rebels Treason False documentation Black-market activities Rebellion Escape-lines Defeatism Defeatism and accusatory practices Defeatism and adaptation to the new field of power Defeatism and war-weariness Disaffection The importance of Republican networks of influence Notes Chapter 5 Female spies Republican spaces Military units and barracks Bars, cafés and food queues Brothels Spies within the civil administration, police and judiciary Embassy spies Presumed spies The relatives of conscripts and officers Devout Catholics (‘Beatas’) Nuns Nurses and nursing auxiliaries ‘Othering’ in the rear-guard The vulnerable, intellectually challenged or mentally ill Those with relatives in the Nationalist zones or belonging to anti-Republican associations Notes Conclusion Notes Bibliography Appendix A – sources Index