Matronas víctimas de la Guerra Civil Española

Abstract

The objective of this work is to examine the serious consequences the Spanish Civil War of 1936 had on the professional midwifery collective, exclusively made up of women in these historic times. In spite of the difficulties faced upon identifying and quantifying the mortal victims of this conflict, various midwives were murdered during the battle by both sides due to their political believes. On the other hand, given the professional independence and the social relevance that these healthcare professionals had acquired during the Spanish Second Republic, a clearly different repression can be seen when we compare it to the suffering experienced by other female collectives in Franco’s postwar Spain. For this, part of the abundant documentation found in different archives has been condensed. A table reflecting the changes of which they were accused, the sentences which were imposed and the data obtained from their time spent in francoistic prisons until they were set free was created.