Rosario Sánchez Mora; Republican heroine of the Spanish Civil War known as 'The Dynamite Girl'
Hyfler/Rosner
Last Updated: 2:42am BST 24/04/2008
Daily Telegraph
Rosario Sánchez Mora, who has died aged 88, was a
heroine of the Republican cause during the Spanish Civil
War.
As a combatant in the Republicans' struggle of 1936-39
against the Fascist forces of General Franco, Rosario
Sánchez Mora became an expert in the use of explosives.
She acquired from her comrades the nickname "la
Dinamitera" (The Dynamite Girl), and was immortalised in a
poem by the Left-wing writer Miguel Hernandez.
Rosario Sánchez Mora was born on April 21 1919 at the
village of Villarejo de Salvanés, in the central Madrid
region of Spain, where her father worked as a mechanic.
Her mother died before the outbreak of the Civil War,
and at the age of 16 Rosario moved to the capital, where she
lived with relations and found employment as a sempstress.
Shortly after her arrival General Franco staged a
military coup against the government of Spain's Second
Republic, and Rosario enlisted as a volunteer in the defence
of Madrid against the Fascist forces.
Under the command of Valentin Gonzalez (known as "El
Campesino", or The Farmer), she was instructed in
explosives. In September 1936, whilst attempting to set a
booby trap in the mountains around Madrid, she lost her
right hand in an explosion.
After hospital treatment Rosario Sánchez Mora was
posted to the Republican headquarters at Ciudad Lineal, near
Madrid, where she met Miguel Rosario Hernandez, Vicente
Aleixandre and Antonio Aparicio, three writers who had
dedicated themselves to the Republican cause.
Hernandez wrote a famous poem - Rosario, dinamitera -
which extolled her as a role model for all Republicans
during the Civil War.
The following summer she was sent back to the Front,
joining the brigades which were defending Madrid. She was
given the rank of sergeant, and commanded a unit in charge
of communications, ensuring that correspondence from the
soldiers reached headquarters in Madrid.
By July 1937, however, the 46th Division, of which she
was part, was in disarray and retreating to the city of
Alcalá de Henares. It was there, on September 12 1937, that
Rosario Sánchez Mora married a fellow Republican, Sergeant
Francisco Burcet Lucini.
While her new husband continued north with the
Republican forces, Rosario, who was now pregnant, returned
to Madrid, where she worked for an organisation that
recruited women to fill jobs left vacant by men who had gone
to fight in the Civil War.
In July 1938 she gave birth to her daughter, Helena.
Later that year, after the Battle of Ebro, letters from her
husband ceased, and she had no idea whether he had died in
the fighting, had escaped to France or had become one of the
thousands of prisoners captured by Franco's forces.
It was only years later that she managed to locate
him, discovering that he had settled in the northern city of
Oviedo, where he had remarried and fathered two more
children.
(His marriage to Rosario, in common with many other
Republican unions from the Civil War, had been declared void
by General Franco.)
When Madrid fell to the Fascists, Rosario Sánchez Mora
left her daughter with relatives and, accompanied by her
father, attempted to flee Spain through the port of
Alicante. They were among 15,000 Republicans caught by the
Fascists as they sought passage on ships sent by the League
of Nations.
Her father was shot and Rosario herself was condemned
to death, but the sentence was commuted to 30 years in
prison. She served three before being sent to live at the
village of El Bierzo, some 125 miles from Madrid.
Although forbidden to travel, Rosario Sánchez Mora
eventually managed to make her way to the Spanish capital,
where she scratched out a living selling smuggled American
snuff.
She remarried and gave birth to a daughter, but the
marriage failed after only two years. She later rented a
tobacconist's shop, living in a flat above the shop until
she retired.
Rosario Sánchez Mora died on April 17. She is survived
by her two daughters.
Magnus
> Rosario Sánchez Mora
>
> Last Updated: 2:42am BST 24/04/2008
> Daily Telegraph
>
> Rosario Sánchez Mora, who has died aged 88, was a
> heroine of the Republican cause during the Spanish Civil
> War.
>
From "Dynamite Girl" to tobacconist--now there is a winding trail.
Very interesting stuff. Thanks, Amelia.
magnus
Magnus
>
> Last Updated: 2:42am BST 24/04/2008
> Daily Telegraph
>
> Rosario Sánchez Mora, who has died aged 88, was a
> heroine of the Republican cause during the Spanish Civil
> War.
>
> Hernandez wrote a famous poem - Rosario, dinamitera -
> which extolled her as a role model for all Republicans
> during the Civil War.
>
R$OSARIO, DINAMITERA
Rosario, dinamitera,
sobre tu mano bonita
celaba la dinamita
sus atributos de fiera.
Nadie al mirarla creyera
que había en su corazón
una desesperación,
de cristales, de metralla
ansiosa de una batalla,
sedienta de una explosión.
Era tu mano derecha,
capaz de fundir leones,
la flor de las municiones
y el anhelo de la mecha.
Rosario, buena cosecha,
alta como un campanario
sembrabas al adversario
de dinamita furiosa
y era tu mano una rosa
enfurecida, Rosario.
Buitrago ha sido testigo
de la condición de rayo
de las hazañas que callo
y de la mano que digo.
¡Bien conoció el enemigo
la mano de esta doncella,
que hoy no es mano porque de ella,
que ni un solo dedo agita,
se prendó la dinamita
y la convirtió en estrella!
Rosario, dinamitera,
puedes ser varón y eres
la nata de las mujeres,
la espuma de la trinchera.
Digna como una bandera
de triunfos y resplandores,
dinamiteros pastores,
vedla agitando su aliento
y dad las bombas al viento
del alma de los traidores.
A translation of sorts can be found here:
La N
"Magnus" <robertc...@yahoo.com> wrote in message
news:f046df29-c8dc-4ff8...@m73g2000hsh.googlegroups.com...
R$OSARIO, DINAMITERA
******************************************************
In short:
Rosario, dinamitera,
the dynamite watched over your pretty hand
envying its fiery attributes . . .
The enemy knew well
the hand of this maiden
that is no longer a hand, because
without moving a single finger
it ignited the dynamite
and made her a star.
Reminds me so much of la poesia apasionada written by my left-wing
latinamerican friends of another time, revolucionarios todos.
- nilita