Juana Doña and the memory spring. Memoirs of Franco’s female prisons (1978-2007)

Abstract

This article gathers and reviews the memoirs of political female prisoners during the first stage of Franco’ regime, published since 1978 until now, within the framework of the so-called recovery of “historical memory” in Spain. The starting point is the publication of Desde la noche y la niebla, by communist militant Juana Doña (1918-2003) in 1978, placing the stress on the dangerous conditions of Spanish Transition to democracy. The text also analyzes, succinctly, the change of these conditions along the Nineties, with the emergence, on the threshold of the new Century, of a favourable environment symbolized by the “Historical Memory” Act of 2007, under the last Socialist government.