Testimony of Concha Carretero, interview with Andrea Davis and Scott Boehm, July 21, 2008
Contributor
University of California, San Diego Asociación de Ex-presos y Represaliados Políticos Asociación para la Recuperación de la Memoria Histórica Federación Estatal de Foros por la Memoria Boehm, Scott Davis, Andrea Carretero, Concha
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Rights Holder and Contact
Carretero, Concha
Description
Concha Carretero was born in Barcelona in 1918. Concha recounts that when she was two years old her family moved to Madrid, when she was six years old her father died, and when she was eleven years old she began working. She details that in the 1930s her brothers organized the Milicias Antifascistas Obreras y Campesinas (Anti-Fascist Laborer and Peasant Militia), a clandestine youth group dedicated to culture and politics, which later became the Juventudes Comunistas (Communist Youth), and in 1936 the Juventudes Socialistas Unificadas (Unified Socialist Youth). Concha describes her participation in the group, especially during the Civil War. She highlights that she was the first woman to work in the industry that fabricated war materials. Concha recalls that at the end of the war she attempted to reclaim the archives of the Juventudes Socialistas Unificadas, an act for which she was tortured for three months and then was sent to the Las Ventas women's prison. She tells of the assassination of the Trece Rosas (Thirteen Roses)--thirteen young women who were held in Ventas and were executed along with forty-two [sic] young men in 1939. Concha relates that in 1941, she was detained a second time in Ventas for a year and was kept in solitary confinement for four months. At the end of the interview, Concha sings songs of the Spanish Resistance Concha Carretero nació en Barcelona en 1918. Concha relata que cuando tenía dos años su familia se mudó a Madrid, cuando tenía seis años su padre murió, y cuando tenía once años comenzó a trabajar. Recuenta que en la década de 1930 sus hermanos organizaron las Milicias Antifascistas Obreras y Campesinas, un grupo clandestino de juventudes dedicado a la cultura y a la política, que después se convirtió en las Juventudes Comunistas, y en 1936 en las Juventudes Socialistas Unificadas (JSU). Concha detalla su participación en el grupo, especialmente durante la Guerra Civil. Destaca que fue la primer mujer que trabajó en la industria que fabricaba materiales de guerra. Concha recuerda que al final de la guerra trató de reclamar los archivos de las JSU y por ello fue torturada por tres meses antes de ser enviada a la cárcel de mujeres Las Ventas. Habla del asesinato de las “Trece Rosas”—trece mujeres que estuvieron detenidas en Ventas y fueron fusiladas junto con cuarenta y dos [sic] hombres en 1939. Concha cuenta que en 1941, estuvo encarcelada por segunda vez en Ventas por un año y estuvo en confinamiento solitario por cuatro meses. Al final de la entrevista, Concha canta canciones de la Resistencia Española. Special Collections & Archives, UC San Diego, La Jolla, 92093-0175 (https://lib.ucsd.edu/sca) Testimony of the Spanish Civil War and the Francoist dictatorship Interviews in Spanish Concha Carretero's testimony was recorded in her home in Madrid Carretero, Concha. Testimony of the Spanish Civil War and the Francoist Dictatorship. University of California, San Diego, 2008 Madrid, Spain, Spanish Civil War Memory Project
Type
moving image
Format
2 video files : digital, sound, color
Identifier
ark:/20775/bb1263852b
Language
Spanish
Subject
Oral history Communism Nonfiction films Civil War (Spain : 1936-1939) Personal narratives-Spanish Interviews History Juventudes Socialistas Unificadas Barcelona (Spain) Spain Madrid (Spain)
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