María Salvo

María Salvo Iborra (27 May 1920 - 16 November 2020) was a Spanish anti-Francoist activist and a prominent figure in the recovery of historical memory in Catalonia. She spent sixteen years as a political prisoner under the Franco dictatorship, and later became a key voice for women who suffered repression. Salvo was a co-founder of the association Les Dones del 36 and president of the Associació Catalana d'Expresos Polítics del Franquisme.

Biography

Early life and activism María Salvo Iborra was born in Sabadell, Catalonia, on 27 May 1920, into a working-class family. Her father was a cabinetmaker involved in workers' movements, and her mother was a practicing Catholic, illiterate but keen on her children's education. The family moved to Barcelona, where María began working as a porter at age 13 in the Les Corts neighborhood, later as a seamstress and presser. In 1935, she frequented cultural centers of Esquerra Republicana de Catalunya and joined the Juventudes Socialistas Unificadas de Cataluña (JSUC). With the outbreak of the Spanish Civil War in 1936, she affiliated with the Unión General de Trabajadores (UGT) and worked in a collectivized clothing workshop. In 1938, she became the Secretary of Propaganda for the Barcelona Committee of the JSUC. Following the fall of Catalonia to Francoist forces in January 1939, Salvo went into exile in France. She was interned in several concentration camps, including Le Pouliguen and Moisdon-la-Rivière. In November 1939, French authorities handed her over to the Guardia Civil in Bilbao.

Imprisonment After returning to Spain, Salvo resumed clandestine activities with the Unified Socialist Party of Catalonia (PSUC). She was 21 years old. She endured thirty days of torture in the Dirección General de Seguridad (DGS) in Madrid, which, among other consequences, left her unable to have children.

In 1943, she was moved from Les Corts to the Predicadores prison in Zaragoza, and then back to Ventas in Madrid. During her imprisonment, she was also held in prisons in Segovia and Alcalá de Henares. A significant hardship during her early imprisonment was a false accusation from within the Communist Party of Spain (PCE) that she had collaborated with the Francoist police, leading to the arrest of PCE leaders (the "Lisbon Group"). with the express prohibition of returning to Barcelona or its province. In 1997, alongside Josefina Piquet and other survivors of the Civil War and Francoist repression, she co-founded the association Les Dones del 36. The association aimed to make known the experiences of women during that period and received the Maria Aurèlia Capmany Prize from the Barcelona City Council the same year.

Recognitions and legacy Salvo received several recognitions for her lifelong struggle for justice and democratic freedoms:

Medal of Honor of Barcelona (2003) Ada Colau described her as a "free, strong, lucid, and generous woman." María Salvo dedicated her later years to ensuring that the sacrifices of her generation were not forgotten, frequently speaking to younger generations.