María García Torrecillas

María García Torrecillas (16 May 1916 – 3 February 2014) was a Spanish assistant nurse and mid-wife who assisted in the delivery of around 300 babies while in exile in Vichy France as a result of the Spanish Civil War.

Part of a generation of young people from Almeria seeking better opportunities in Catalonia, García and her sister moved to Barcelona to join their older brother. Initially working in a yarn factory, the events of July 1936 led her to working for a Republican munitions factory and volunteering at a hospital run by International Red Aid.. The fall of Barcelona in January 1939 made García part of the first large wave of people to flee the city towards the French border.

Once arriving at the Argelès-sur-Mer concentration camp in France, García found herself pregnant in a situation where it was very difficult to give birth. With the Swiss Aid Association running the Elna Ward, García was helped with her pregnancy by Swiss nurse Elisabeth Eidenbenz. Eidenbenz inspired García to take up the same profession, and she would go on to assist over 300 women give birth in the camps. She would also assist Jewish and Polish women fleeing Nazi persecution in Vichy France by forging papers and changing names so they could more easily hide in the Spanish Republican refugee population.

In 1943, García left on a Portuguese flagged ship, Serpapinto, full of Spanish refugees for Mexico to find the father of her son. After connecting with him and realizing the relationship would not work, García set about making her own way. This included going back into nursing to help other Spanish Civil War refugee women with their pregnancies, before eventually going back into the textile industry. She then settled into the quiet life. After Mexico City was hit by a devastating earthquake in 1985, García and her husband moved to Monterrey to be close to her son. She published her memoirs, Mi Exilio, at the age of 80. Starting in 2005, while in her late 80s, García would make her visits back to Spain. The first time was for a ceremony to honor Eidenbenz. The time in 2007 was to receive an award on the Andalusia Day from the Junta de Andalucía for her work in helping Spanish women during the Civil War. García died on 3 February 2014 in Monterrey at the age of 97.

Childhood García was born on 16 May 1916 in Albánchez, Almería into a well-to-do rural family. Her father had an adventurous spirit, which she inherited. As young person, she had traveled with her family to several Latin American countries.

Barcelona and the Civil War Shortly before the start of the Spanish Civil War, the 20-year-old moved with her sister to Barcelona in 1936 to work in a yarn factory. She received her father's permission before going to Barcelona to join their older brother, and his family which included two small children. When she said goodbye to them when she left Albánchez, it was the last time she saw them in her life. Her last memory of her mother was of her sitting in a kitchen chair, crying.

Exile in France

Journey As part of the great exodus of people, García's trek to France was done alongside classmates, colleagues and friends via foot. She carried with her only a small bag with a change of clothes. The group first headed towards Girona, follow en route the whole time by Italian bombers who made it difficult to sleep. Some friends and compatriots died along the route. People traveling with them tried to gently put the dead into ditches as it was not possible to bury them. In January 1939, the Argelès-sur-Mer camp was ringed with barbed wire, and guarded by soldiers on horseback who were trying to prevent their escape. Shortly after Eidenbenz began to serve in the Elna Ward, the French government fell to the Nazis and were replaced by the Vichy government in 1940. As a Spanish refugee in France, she assisted other Spanish refugee women, and Polish and Jewish women fleeing persecution from the Nazis to give birth. She was accompanied to Seville ceremony by her only son, Felipe Sáez. She also visited her home town, Albánchez, the first time in 45 years that she had done so.

García died on 3 February 2014 in Monterrey at the age of 97. Her hometown of Albanchez held a tribute in her honor after she died. Mayor Francisco Martínez explained the need to have a ceremony "because people like her can not be forgotten, on the contrary, they should be in the memory of everyone and especially the youngest ones". The event was held at the Rafael Alberti Theater.