Kajsa Rothman

Karin Kajsa Rothman (1903–1969) was a multilingual activist, journalist and the first Swedish volunteer in the Spanish Civil War. In her youth, she also became widely known as a marathon dancer.

Life Rothman was born on 20 August 1903 in Karlstad, Sweden, the eldest child of Anna Helin and Helmer Rothman. Because her father served as the editorial secretary on the local newspaper, Karlstads Tidning (now Karlstads-Tidningen, KT), Kajsa Rothman hoped to pursue the same field, but her father objected and wanted her to pursue a career in physiotherapy after graduation from Uppsala. Instead, she moved overseas to seek adventure in Europe. and became a broadcaster on Swedish radio transmitted from Madrid. As a press attaché to the Spanish government she worked with other foreign correspondents and contributed to Karlstads Tidning describing the brutality of the Spanish war. Upon returning to Sweden, she wrote a book titled Spanska barn ritar om kriget (Spanish children draw the war) in 1937.

Through her activism, she became widely known in Sweden. In 1938, when she visited Karlstad, Sweden, about 5,000 people waited at the railway station. During her time there, she delivered 135 lectures to strengthen Sweden's solidarity with the Spanish people. She also started “Kajsa’s milk fund” to send powdered milk to Spanish children.

When Franco's forces won the civil war in Spain in 1939, Rothman fled with other activists to France and then Mexico, settling in the village of Tequisquiapan north of Mexico City. There she opened a bar with another woman and ran a school for the children of Mexico's indigenous people.

Personal life In Mexico, Rothman married so she could get permission to stay in the country, taking the last name Rothman de Rosas. She died there of breast cancer on 31 October 1969 at the age of 66. She is buried in Tequisquiapan.