Càrrega de la pedra de Solsona, 2019. Foto Plataforma Monument Presó de Dones de Les Corts

Other Women

The people from outside the walls engaged in providing the necessary support and assistance to the inmates were mainly other women (mothers, grandmothers, sisters, and daughters) 

 

SANDSTONE FROM SOLSONA (LLEIDA)

CENTER FOR LACETANS STUDIES 
MANRESA'S MEMORY AND HISTORY ASSOCIATION

 

The aid received by the inmates at Les Corts from the outside world was mainly delivered by other women. Mothers, grandmothers, daughters, and sisters provided relief in the form of visits to the prison and gifts. Such experiences are commonplace through the history of the female prison experience, from any time or place.

This fact has been proven, to cite just two examples, in relation to the prisons during the Franco regime, through the testimony of Soledad Real and Enriqueta Borrás. The historical research has confirmed these activities taking place, through the study of prison files, where visits and parcel deliveries were recorded, such as the investigation carried out by the historian Ricard Vinyes in the archives of Segovia’s Central Prison in the 1940’s.  

Several associations have recorded the history of the Francoist repression over the last years through the study of both documents and oral accounts. One of the most accomplished efforts in Catalonia can be found on the portal memoria.cat, by Asociación Memoria e Historia de Manresa (Manresa’s Memory and History Association). This site contains at present more than 70 websites with thousands of documents and photographs and hundreds of videos, personal memories, and oral testimonies about the 2nd Republic, the Civil War, Franco’s dictatorship, and the Transition to Democracy in Manresa.

The Centro de Estudios Lacetanos (Center for Lacetans Studies) is another example of this endeavour. It was created in 1996 for the preservation and dissemination of the collective memory of the Catalan comarca of Solsonès, the place where this stone in the monument came from.

Inscripció relativa a la pedra de Solsona, 2019. Foto Plataforma Futur Monument Presó de Dones de Les Corts
Intervenció de dança de "La Caldera", sobre la pedra de Solsona, durant la inauguració del monument, 14 de desembre de 2019. Foto: www.barcelona.cat