Les Corts Prison
Les Corts Prison in Barcelona (1936-1955) had been initially the main correctional facility for women of the Generalitat de Catalunya (Catalan Government). After Franco’s victory in 1939, it turned into an overcrowded jail crammed at one point with around 2000 women and over 40 children from the most diverse places of origin across Catalonia and Spain. This website is a tribute to them, as an online memorial, containing a collection of eyewitness accounts supported by graphic and literary sources, specifically directed to new generations as an innovative tool of dissemination of historical knowledge.
Memories
The history of Les Corts has lived on beyond the long years of oblivion of the Franco regime within that intangible space that is the memory of the survivors.
It is just because those survivors happened to be women, as well as left-wing (Reds) and former prisoners, that a darker shadow of silence was cast upon them, perpetuated also during Spanish Transition and after. And it is only because those women wished to remember, to talk and write about their experiences that we are now able to bring to memory that prison as a place of defiance against the dictatorship and therefore as a democratic legacy for the present generations.
Participation
The old prison building disappeared decades ago and since 2019 only the Space for Memory of Les Corts Women Prison stands at its former site to commemorate those who lived there. Both the monument, and this website (started in 2006), are the result of a lengthy and collective process involving many people including prisoners’ relatives, local residents and activists of social movements. The great significance of Les Corts Prison is part of our shared democratic legacy. A legacy that is always in the making thanks to your contributions and feedback.
