WORLD WORLDWIDE EUROPE FRANCE - news journal UPDATE - (en) France, UCL AL #370 - Culture - Read: Maria Sesé Sarvisé, "Memories of a Spanish Exile (1936-1975)" (ca, de, fr, it, pt, tr)[machine translation]

A story of an Aragonese childhood, from the arrival of the revolution and collectivization to exile. In 1936, when the Civil War broke out, María Sesé Sarvisé was 14 years old. She grew up in Angües, a village of 1,000 inhabitants, where the National Confederation of Labor (CNT) had established itself. ---- During the Francoist uprising, two of her brothers were arrested and executed, while the families fled to the mountains, waiting for the Civil Guard to be driven out by the militia.

The farms abandoned by their owners were collectivized. Work was now organized collectively, and food was redistributed. "With collectivization, strikes, property, money, orders, and selfishness disappeared." The choice of small landowners who preferred independence was respected, and a portion of the reserves went to them, because "the community is founded on freedom."

The village was bombed. Her youngest brother, mobilized on the nearby front, died. The soldiers ran out of ammunition and retreated. Faced with the advance of Franco's troops, like all the other villagers, María and her parents were evacuated. They endured further bombings on the road, were separated, pushed back as far as Barcelona, Girona... and understood "that from there, another chapter of[their]story would begin."

With her mother, María found herself on Belle-Île-en-Mer, while their father was held on the beach at Argelès-sur-Mer. They joined him when he found work as a farm laborer in Sainte-Valière, in the Aude region. Maria also worked, married, and raised her children. "Despite this situation, we never felt miserable or poor. We felt like victims of an injustice perpetrated by men who claim to be good and just, but who are neither, and who go so far as to commit premeditated crime, organized crime."

More than ever, the voices of those who suffer the consequences of history are essential.

Ernest London (UCL Le Puy-en-Velay)

Maria Sesé Sarvisé, Souvenirs d'une exilée espagnole (1936-1975), Lux, March 2026, 168 pages, EUR14.

https://www.unioncommunistelibertaire.org/?Lire-Maria-Sese-Sarvise-Souvenirs-d-une-exilee-espagnole-1936-1975
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Source: A-infos-en@ainfos.ca