"THE UNIFIED SOCIALIST YOUTH (JSU) WAS CREATED ON MARCH 1936." "DURING THE SPANISH CIVIL WAR, JSU MILITANTS PLAYED A KEY ROLE IN DEFENDING THE II REPUBLIC." "WHEN THE WAR ENDED, THE YOUTH ORGANIZATION WAS MASSACRED BY THE NEW POLITICAL REGIME." "RELATIVES OF THE VICTIMS AND JSU SURVIVORS CAN NOW TELL THEIR OWN STORY." "We fought for an ideal." "We belonged to JSU." "We were socialist and communist united." "We were and we are very proud ofit and very happy because we fought for the youth." "We fought for freedom and to make the world a better place, where workers could live as they deserved." "We defended the II Republic that had been elected on 1931." "We tried to improve the II Republic." "We took a decision: in Spain, we would not allowfascism to conquer political power easily, like in the rest ofEurope." "In Spain we wouldn't wake up one day with a newpoliticaI regime that would gradually destroy democratic organizations and kill democrats." "We would reject it even with guns in our hands." "My political conscience arose during the war." "The war gave me courage, we were only fifteen but we had to fight, we had no chance." "DO NOT LET MY NAME BE FORGOTTEN" "in the elections on November 19th, 1933, the CEDA (Spanish Confederation of the Autonomous Right) won." "On December 18th, 1933, Lerroux assumed the presidency of the government." "Lerroux's radical Party betrayed the II Republic." "He wanted to hand political power over to the CEDA in a parliamentary way." "The CEDA wasn't a christian democratic party, as some say now, but a clerical fascist party." "We thought that we had to be united, young socialists and young communists shouldn't be separated." "We had the same enemy and the same objectives: to defend freedom and not allowfascism to conquer political power easily." "In 1934, at a Socialist Youth Congress, I was elected general Secretary." "Socialist Youth decided to leave II international." "Young communists and young socialists had public meetings and we tried to reduce the gap between our positions." "In 1936, Popular Front won the elections and the two organizations joined together to create the JSU, Unified Socialist Youth." "The youth organization was born on March 1936, and very soon had more than 500,000 members." "The JSU was very important because it was an example of unity." "It had a bigger communist influence and it was a model of unity, something very difficult to obtain." "It was an example of organized and militant youth, in which participated men and women." "The organization was born with a great popular support, as we had never seen before, and was directed by very young men and women, we were twenty or twenty-one, really young." "The organization had a key role during the popular insurrection, as a response to the military coup d'état on July 17th and 18th." "Generai Francisco Franco, military chief in the Canary islands, declares a state of war on the archipelago on Juiy 18th, 1936." "From Tetuan, he commands the colonial army." "Cariist, faiangist, monarquist and popular action members will support the military uprising." "in the rebel zones, political headquarters are occupied and union members are arrested and murdered." "The war had begun, a war in which the army rose up against the people." "The JSU immediately began a general mobilization to defend the Repubiic." "The Propaganda Department began a national campaign to increase members." "Many young Spaniards went to that call." "I joined JSU in 1936." "I was very young, I joined JSU during the war when I was sixteen." "By the time I was eighteen, I was already in jail." "I joined it when JSU was created in my village." "That was in 1937, I will never forget it." "I joined JSU when I was fifteen." "I went immediately to the school ofPolitics." "We studied a lot of political books and they weren't adapted for girls of fifteen, but generally it was right." "The JSU showed us the way." "People who had studied politics taught us many things." "Martinajoined JSU on January 1937." "She worked at a workshop making overalls for militia men." "Julia Conesajoined JSU at the end of 1937." "She was sports instructor for kids and she became Secretary of Sports." "Dionisia Manzanero worked with international Red Help." "She was a humanitarian aid worker." "She worked as nurse." "Eventually, she worked with the October Battalion." "The Republic reveals a newimage of women and increases women's participation in civil society." "Women were very important in the JSU." "They reached the leadership and represented a newmodeI of women." "Men and women were political colleagues." "The JSU gave me a great knowledge." "I felt like I was older, more helpful, feeling like fighting." "It was very important, not only their political activity, but also representing a model, an example." "By that time, in republican zones, women represented a very important role, sometimes more important than men's." "Women, eventually, got some ofthe rights that today are still being demanded." "On that period, all these things were done spontaneously, with no fuss." "Women held jobs that were typically held by men, like ticket inspector, stajanovist worker." "We were very determined, resolute." "I always love knitting." "I worked at a workshop, with 100 women." "I was the manager and we knitted 50 sweaters every day." "We made a workshop." "We had sewing machines and made clothes for militia men who were fighting in the trenches." "We made overalls and that's what we did." "There were many women, many." "Some ofthem held managementjobs and many women became political leaders." "The JSU was led by many women because most ofthe men were fighting in the front lines." "War was enthusiastically taken up by people." "We defended the Republic." "We knewwe were doing everything we could." "We fought on all fronts, courageously and with great determination." "The JSU was an organization thatformed numerous battalions during the war." "The Repubiican Popuiar Army, created by Madrid's Government, and the fighting spirit of the people made possible the resistance to Franco's troops." "The republican zone began an heroic resistance." "Civii population was heavily attacked." "One day, I got really scared because I started to hear a sound." "I went out to the street, I looked up and sawa black cloud." "I said to my mother:" "'Come on, lets go to the subway, there are many planes coming'." "Kids, old women, everybody went down into the shelter." "We went running across the street." "We were very scared." "'Alerta' was a branch ofthe JSU." "For example, after an air raid on Gran Via Street, people from 'Alerta' put on white coats and went out to the street and helped injured people." "Everybody cooperated." "We worked really hard and we didn't take care about bombs, we didn't think of ourselves." "We wanted to cooperate." "Once you noticed other's devotion, you also wanted to make an effort." "The resistance had a specific purpose: w II was going to break out soon and, obviously, democratic foreign powers would finally support the II Republic." "We considered the Spanish civil War as the first battle ofw II." "The main defender of the political movement of resistance was the sociaiistJuan Negrín." "He was elected President of the Government on May, 1937." "Due to Negrin's view, in my opinion a great statesman, internal differences ofthe Republican Sector could be solved." "The slogan 'To resist is to win' made possible, after spring 1937, the continuity ofthe war." "NegrÍn was accused of being a cryptocommunist." "NegrÍn was a center socialist." "He assumed with a lot of courage and resolution the task of defending the Republic until the end, without surrender." "He was supported by the Communist Party and the JSU." "On March 5, 1939, Negrin's strategy was ruined." "Coionei Segismundo Casado constituted a Defence Nationai Council to negotiate peace." "The Republic suffered a second coup d'etat." "Inside the Regular Popular Army there was a right liberal sector, and during the war, they wanted to come to an agreement with the opponent." "They had built up hopes of negotiating peace with Franco." "The fact is that there wasn't any possibility of negotiating a peace agreement." "Franco's victory meant the destruction of republicans, socialists,..." "JSU militants were mobilized to try to quash the uprising right inside the civil War and inside the republican rear." "It was a dramatic situation, because those units were fighting against the cabinet that had betrayed the resistance, but behind them were Franco's troops, surrounding Madrid." "Inside the JSU, we agreed to go to every village to spread the slogan 'It is better to die on your feet than to live on your knees." "We don't have to give up'." "When we were at Chinchón, a tall man, he looked like a truck driver or something, came and told everybody that Franco's troops had reached Madrid and that the situation was really bad." "He said to me: 'I'm going by truck, if you want I'll take you'." "That man was really worried." "I asked him many things and he answered 'Yes, no, yes, no'." "He was very worried and when we arrived to Goya Street, at the cross-roads, he said to me 'Good luck, baby." "Good bye'." "We knewthat as soon as they reached Madrid, they would destroy it, and that's what they did." "I arrived home, and soon afterward, my father came." "I asked him: 'Dad, why don't you run away?" "'" "And he said: 'Because they have put up posters informing that people without blood on their hands will be safe, and I am that kind, so I'm not going'." "And I said: 'Come on, Dad, you told me four days ago they had done terrible things, they had killed the poet." "And he told me: 'That's true, but that things only happened at the beginning'." "And I said: 'Come on, Dad." "Nowyou are on time." "Nowyou are on time." "Go'." "But he didn't." "It was terrible." "Families were crying." "All was terror." "You couldn't defend yourself." "It was terrible." "The rebel soldiers had committed the highest crime a soldier can commit: sedition." "That crime is penalized with death, according with the Code ofMilitary Justice." "The rebels had to legalise this coup d'etat and they began to legislate without any authority." "They reinterpreted the Code ofMilitary Justice on their favour, and they created legislative instruments to apply the Code ofMilitary Justice to civil people." "They redefined some ofthe crimes, for example, the crime of military rebellion." "They were the rebels, but they blamed the loyalist people." "They sentenced to death, to life imprisonment, and they judged by action or omission." "If somebody said: 'I didn't knowanything, I didn't make anything'." "'That's why I judge you, because you didn't make anything'." "Franco wanted to destroy the 'reds' in this country." "And when I say 'reds', I'm meaning the democrats, the liberals." "He wanted to destroy the memories ofthe days when Spain was a free country." "I belonged to a Socialist Circle." "We were very young, sixteen years old." "I was arrested because I had a socialist card." "I couldn't be accused of anything." "Something terrible happened in Madrid, and in the rest of Spain." "Anybody could bring charges against you and you can be executed for this." "When the war ended, my mother and my father were arrested." "My father belonged to the UGT Union but my mother wasn't a militant." "She was against war, she hated executions." "It was said that she belonged to the JSU, but that was not true, I could swear it." "The point of viewof the repression is very big." "The purpose ofthe repression is passivity, subjugation." "civil people are condemned for belonging to a union or a political party, or for being in favour ofthe Republic." "The experience has showed that fascism wanted to destroy political parties, people, races." "It was impossible to reach a peace agreement with fascism." "The post-war period was worse than war." "When Franco reached the power, the money ofthe Republic was useless." "We couldn't buy food, we couldn't buy bread in the black market because we have no money." "We were hungrier than in jail." "Property expropriation was permitted and thousand of families were condemned to live in extreme poverty." "That was an humiliation." "Repression instruments were very precise." "In 1939, according to official reports, 280,000 people were in jail for political reasons." "The most important leaders of the JSU were in jail since March, 1939." "The organization was almost dismantled." "Courage ofJSU militants was the only thing that could save the organization." "If you want to create an underground structure, which is very difficult, you have to concentrate efforts and we concentrated efforts on creating an underground communist party." "JSU militants were very young and they were going to live longer and cause trouble to Franco in the future." "Short, medium and long term." "The JSU was a challenge." "Those who didn t submit to Franco s regime were enemies and the JSU was one ofthese enemies." "Most ofthe men were on exile, in concentration camps or in jail." "Women and young people made support work." "We wanted to reorganize the JSU to keep fighting." "We wanted to collect money to help prisoners, to free them, and I wanted to free my brother too, but we couldn't." "We agreed to meet at angel Square at 7:00 p. m." "We arrived there, shook hands, and in a second, we were surrounded by the police." "We wanted to reorganize the JSU, but we didn't have enough time." "People were arrested I don't knowhow." "People try to hide themselves, but they find them anyway." "JSU Militants had to reorganize the JSU in very dangerous conditions." "Madrid was a sad and reserved city." "Nobody dared to look in the face." "At the subway, everybody was crestfallen." "The attempts of reorganization were neutralized by the new regime." "A lot of people were arrested." "Each person arrested was tortured and often betrayed other members." "So, the organization fell like a domino." "I was arrested because I was betrayed by a comrade working underground." "He was arrested and taken to the basement ofthe police headquarters' building." "He was tortured and spoke." "Mine was one ofthe names he gave and the police came for me to my house." "I was home and someone knocked and it was the police." "Two young men showed me the badge and asked for Maruja." "I said: 'Please tell me the surname, there are lots ofMarujas'." "And they told me my surnames." "They asked me where my room was." "They searched it but didn t find anything and they took me to the police station." "We went by streetcar and they didn't want to pay so they showed the badge and said they were on duty." "Some ladies said: 'Oh, look, she is only a girl'." "Prisoners were taken to the streets, the police set a trap to see ifthey met anybody." "They were followed by the police." "I was arrested this way, because I met a comrade." "The police was with him, and he knew, but I didn't." "I sawhim and went to say hello." "Then I went to send a letter but I couldn't." "A police came and showed me the badge." "The police was an instrument of repression." "The origin was an inquisitorial mentality." "Everybody was very scared because anyone could press charges against you, and this could lead to death." "Julia Conesa was arrested because someone made a formal complaint on May 4th, 1939." "On May 6th, two falangist came to her home and took her away." "They said that it wasjust a formality, that nobody should worry about Julia, she was going to be back in a fewhours, but Julia never came back home." "A group of men came to our home, they said they were police and told my grandfather that they wanted to talk to Dionisia Manzanero." "My grandfather opened the door and said that Dionisia wasn't home but, they insisted." "Dioni came out and said:" "'Father, they are asking for me." "Let me go with them'." "Dioni never came back home." "On May 12th, they burst into my great grandparent's house." "They made a lot of noise." "They kicked the door down and went into the bedroom where the girls were sleeping." "The girls were crying, they messed up everything." "They broke a lot ofthings." "They took away all the pictures, they took away everything." "They said to my grandmother: 'We are going to destroy everything'." "And that's what they did." "in Madrid there were many raids." "The identification and detention ofJSU militants was carried out by spies infiltrated in the organization during the war." "Roberto Conesa was one of them: he became a famous police inspector of Franco's police, but he had begun his career as a JSU militant." "Roberto Conesa came very often to the JSU head office, every week." "He was a spy and nowI understand why he didn't go to Santiago's office or to the men's office." "He always came to my office." "Roberto Conesa occupied an important position in Franco's police and in the first years of democracy, but he began his police career by betraying his own comrades." "At 3:00 a. m, my sister and I began to hear noises in the caretaker s yard." "We heard doors opening." "I told my sister: 'I think it is the police'." "And she said: 'No'." "And I said: 'Yes'." "So, we leant out ofthe rear window, over the caretaker's yard, with the lights out, and I sawa tall man, watching the house, and I said to my sister, who knewhim too: 'He is Conesa, the man standing there is Conesa'." "A little bit later, they knocked the door and came into the house." "They said: 'Get dressed!" "', but they didn't get out ofthe room." "I said: 'Could you leave the room, please?" "' and they said 'Get dressed!" "'" "So we got dressed, they put us in a car and took us to the police station at 5 Jorge Juan Street." "in the summer of 1939, thousand of young girls were arrested in Madrid." "On those days, the girls went through hell." "The state of Franco began to sow the terror." "These actions where made in order to control people under the power ofthe Generalisimo: Head ofthe State, Head ofthe Government and Head ofthe Army, an omnipotent and omniscient man." "Franco wanted to control the will ofthe people." "I think Franco wanted to punish the revolutionary youth ofMadrid, because during three years, they didn't allow him enter the city." "We were interrogated at the police station." "I was asked first, they asked me ifI was a member ofthe JSU." "And I said: 'Yes, sir, I was a member ofthe JSU'." "And they slapped my face and I fell to the floor." "Those days were terrible." "I missed my family, my mother and I couldn't tell them I was arrested." "The next day, we were interrogated again." "They asked the same question again and again, every fifteen minutes." "They asked me who was the link between the Party and the Youth and what information did he have." "They told me to sign at the bottom ofthe sheet but I didn't, I signed just under my statement and they told me I was very astute, clever." "Four or five days later, we began to hear shouts." "And we thought: 'They have already begun torturing'." "And that was very demoralizing." "They applied electric current to Martina's hands." "She had stiffhands, black nails." "Her clothes were bloodstained and my mother washed them before my grandmother noticed it, so my grandmother didn't know what was really happening, but she was tortured." "They have everything on the table: castor oil, electric current, a whip for beating people." "Everything was ready." "They really liked my hair and they said: 'We are going to shave her hair." "She is going to be very pretty'." "And that's what they did." "When they finished, I was prettier." "They cut my hair, and every time they cut a curl, I had very curly hair, they said: 'Are you sad about this little curl?" "'" "They treated us very bad at the police station." "They beat us." "Many humiliations" "The haircut, the castor oil, was an humiliation." "Your sister, your mother, your daughter." "Although you were in jail, that was not enough, all your relatives had to make amends for your wrongdoings." "You have to have a strong spirit, and dignity, and never give up." "Howcould I resist?" "I don't know, I was thinking about my mother all the time." "If my mother knew what I was suffering." "Women, in civil wars, suffer a lot, even more than men." "Franco's regime wanted to destroy the female spirit of freedom created by the Republic." "Franco did as much as he could to destroy it." "I went to prison on June 19, 1939." "I was in prison for sixteen years and I lost the best years of my life, of my youth." "I was nineteen years old when I came into and thirty six when I left." "The prison of Ventas in Madrid began to be built at the end of 1931, following the instructions of Victoria Kent, Generai Director of Prisons at the time." "Victoria Kent wanted to rehabilitate prisoners, but Franco's regime didn't want to rehabilitate, Franco's regime wanted to inflict pain, to punish." "When I arrived to Ventas Prison, I fell to pieces." "When I sawthe door ofthe prison, I was only fifteen, it reminded me ofthe tales my grandmother used to tell me." "The prison was big, but full of people." "We slept in the yards on thin mattresses our families sent us." "until my mother got me one, I slept on the floor on a blanket." "There were twelve, thirteen and even fourteen women in each cell." "All the galleries were full of people, the leisure rooms were full." "There were women with bedrolls everywhere." "I was really shocked." "We don't knowthe exact date when Dioni came into prison." "According with Dioni's letters, it was between the 20th an the 25th May, 1939." "At the beginning, Julia was quite good, but my grandmother and my great grandmother told me that, very soon, she began to turn pale, emaciated." "12,000 people spread out in toilets, showers, downstairs, yards." "Horrible, horrible, horrible!" "I was in a corner, covered by a blanket, and a prisoner told me: 'Get your head out ofthere!" "The bugs will bite you!" "'" "I was inexperienced." "I got my head out, but the bugs bit me on my feet." "While I was walking I stepped on legs and they told me:" "'Fellow, be careful!" "'" "And I was laughing and crying at the same time." "I fell to pieces." "I hadn't cried up till then, but that day, I fell to pieces." "At the end ofthe war, the prison was an anthill." "That caused psychological and health problems." "Besides, the food was really bad." "We were isolated for one month, and we had to shut our eyes to eat the food." "There were so many bugs in the food, that we couldn't remove them." "On Christmas Eve we ate a boiled potato." "At the beginning, every 24 hours." "We ate Negrin's lentils." "We said: 'We were eating our lentils'." "A lot oflentils were left over and lentils stocks were in warehouses." "Nobody washed the lentils." "You could find everything:" "stones, sticks." "It was disgusting." "The aluminium plate had a black edge, revolting, repulsive." "But we had to eat it because we had only one meal a day." "The Catholic Church was very important to Franco's regime." "Members of religious orders worked in prisons." "The church also handed over buildings, first for free and later in exchange for money, to be used as prisons." "Generally, the nuns behaved very bad and because ofthat many people lost their faith." "There was a warder called 'Miss Poison', who slapped your face every time she met you." "She did it because she felt like it, because you were 'red', that's what she said." "I didn't want to pray because I had lost my faith." "I used to fall asleep while praying, and nowI couldn't, and I thought: 'What could I do?" "'" "And I said to myself:" "'Multiplication table'." "2x1=2, 2x2=4, 2x3=6." "And I began to fall asleep again." "Franco's regime proclaimed that republicanism and atheism were the same thing." "There were a lot of republicans that had a religious belief but Franco tried to monopolize the religious faith." "The Catholic Church wanted to coerce and humiliate republican prisoners until the end." "Two or three days later, we were distributed across the prison: some in the cells, others in the galleries, in the toilets." "We were taken to Santa MarÍa school, because we were minors." "The department of minors had some advantages, for example the girls had more space." "The girls had visitors every fifteen days." "They were given clean clothes and they could talk to their families for ten minutes." "There was a prisoner, Miss MarÍa, who was a teacher." "She taught us many things but she wasn't a Government employee, she was a prisoner." "I couldn't take lessons because I had to crochet." "My mother sold my works on the streets to get some money to eat." "The Department ofMinors was in the upper floor." "It could hold up to sixty girls." "The minors couldn't leave the department, so they couldn't be connected with the other prisoners." "We weren't allowto leave the Department ofMinors, but as soon as we could, we run away and joined the rest ofthe prison population." "We looked for our friends, family." "Each girl was on a different cell but they got together and sang funny songs." "There is a basement in Ventas Prison and inside the basement there are some girls who laugh at everything." "The bell rang at six o'ciock in the morning and the girls didn't want to get up because they laugh at Faiange." "Franco's little soldiers take advantage of the situation and shoot the minors of the prison." "Fortunately, most of us were political prisoners." "We were members ofthe JSU and very closed to each other and we helped each other a lot." "Some girls didn't have anybody to bring them food to the prison and we shared our food with them." "People were very supportive, for example, some didn't have money money to buy stamps and they couldn't write to their families, then the JSU was there, but in a silent way, to help these people." "The JSU militants were in prison, waiting for trial." "The days passed monotonous." "They didn't know that a crime was going to be committed, and this fact would change their lives forever." "On Juiy 29, 1939, the major of the Civii Guard isaac Gabaidón were travelling by car along the Extremadura road with his daughter, towards Taiavera de ia Reina." "At Km 131, the car was assaulted by a group of men who opened fire and shot the passengers." "in the terrorist attack died isaac Gabaidón, his fifteen years oid daughter Piiar, and the driver agent, Luis Díaz Madrigai." "The triple murder was hardly investigated." "Franco's regime accused the JSU militants, although they were in prison for a long time before the incident." "We didn't know anything about Gabaldón, but the police asked us again and again what we knew about Gabaldón's murder." "We didn't knowanything." "isaac Gabaidón was the chief of the intelligence Service." "He had to watch over the masonry and communism files." "These files contained the names of masons and communists." "Some ofthe officers ofFranco were masons and they were high-ranking officers." "Gabaldón wanted to reveal the truth." "Gabaidón had a blacklist." "This was a threat to his own colleagues." "The family of Gabaldón never believed the official version." "They thought Gabaldón hadn't been murdered by JSU militants, they thought that Gabaldón had been murdered by the Intelligence Service ofFranco's Government." "JSU militants were accused of murdering Gabaldón, but in fact it could be a Government conspiracy." "A confession had to be obtained to close the case." "They took me down to the basement, they undressed me." "Afterwards, I began to do exercises to warm up." "They sawme, they went down and told:" "me 'Are you cold?" "'" "I said: 'A little bit'." "And they told me:" "'Don't worry, you'll warm up'." "They started to beat me, and they told me: 'You have to say this'." "I told them: 'I can't say this, I don't knowanything'." "At twelve o'clock at night, they told me: 'You haven't talked yet, but you will." "You'll see where we are going'." "They put me into a car and they took the east road to the cemetery." "They took me out ofthe car and put me against the wall." "They told me: 'Do you see all these holes?" "These are your friend's holes and the next one is going to be yours'." "I told them that I didn't care." "I started thinking about how my mother would suffer." "I didn't think anything else." "I don't knowhowlong I was there." "Afterwards, they told me that I had to talk and they took me to Ventas Prison..." "I was confined to a punishment cell until the trial." "Without any proof or evidences, hundreds ofJSU militants were judged for the murder of Gabaidón in military courts." "My charges were read and death penalty was asked." "You couldn't say anything." "Everybody was sentenced to death." "One hundred and sixty-four people were arrested for the murder of Gabaldón in Madrid and Talavera." "Most ofthem were sentenced to death and executed." "One of the most cruel trials took place on August 3, 1939, at the Saiesas of Madrid." "Fifty seven young men and women were sentenced to death and executed." "Thirteen were women and seven were minors." "From then on, they were known as 'the thirteen roses'." "Officiaiiy they were accused of committing sabotage." "Some as organizers, others as links." "Dioni was accused ofbeing the link between the Secretary of the Communist Party of Spain and the district of Cuatro Caminos." "Julia Conesa was accused of being a member ofthe JSU and working as sports secretary." "She also was accused of sabotage and for working as streetcar conductress." "So, she was sentenced to death just for working." "I don't knowwhy they were found guilty." "I can't understand it." "They were only eighteen or twenty and they hadn't done anything wrong during the war." "Why were they sentenced to death?" "Because they were members ofthe JSU." "They wanted to punish the JSU as a reprisal for the murder of Gabaldón." "My aunt was already arrested when Gabaldón was murdered." "They were innocent." "It was a revenge." "The thirteen roses case showed that Franco's regime was implacable." "Peopie were sentenced to death although they were minors." "The trial of the thirteen roses, one of the most abominable incidents of the post-war period, remains as an indelible imprint in the memories of their prison mates." "Three ofthe thirteen roses were in the Department ofMinors: Victorita Muñoz, Anita López y Martina Barroso." "They were also members ofthe Communist Party." "In the cell beside me, I was in cell number 6, so they were in cell number 7, lived Julia Conesa, she was very nice, talkative, and Virtudes González." "Virtudes was very young." "I have heard she was nineteen years old." "By that time, it was said she was seventeen, and she didn't look older." "These women occupied secondary posts in the JSU." "Franco would have loved to hold a public trial ofDolores Ibárruri or manuel Azaña, but he couldn't, although he tried it hard." "The thirteen roses became the scapegoat." "The evening after the trial, Virtudes (one of the thirteen roses), came at the Department ofMinors." "She told me: 'We are sentenced to death'." "She started talking about politics and the hard times we've been through." "She said that only w II could save us." "She told me: 'Remember, unity is the most important thing." "You will have to fight for it, the unity ofthe party and the unity ofthe working class." "But baby, don't be hopeful." "They will not commute the death penalty'." "On August 5th, 1939, was the execution, only forty-eight hours after the judge passed sentence." "In 1939, in Spanish prisons, prisoners condemned to death were mixed with the rest ofthe prisioners." "Ventas prison wasn't an exception." "The women imprisoned experienced together, what in those days was known as a 'saca' night." "A 'saca' was when prisoners condemned to death were called and taken out of prison to go to the execution place." "The 'sacas' undermined the moral ofthe women prisoners, because they could see with their own eyes, howtheir friends went to death." "On August 4, at night, we went to bed like any other night." "I had my bedroll beside Victorita and we fell asleep." "I heard a strange noise." "Every night the doors were closed." "I heard a strange noise." "I sat up and saw something like a lantern and I saw some ofthe prison warders." "Victoria sat as well, and told me: 'What's going on?" "'" "And I asked: 'I don't know." "And then she took her dress from the ground and I took mine and we stood up." "Victoria hugged me tight and told me: 'Mary, Mary I'm going to be killed!" "My brother was already killed, my poor mother!" "I'm going to be killed!" "'" "I wanted to take her hands in mine but I couldn't." "I couldn't talk either." "Meanwhile Anita and Martina came to us and Anita said:" "'Victoria, you have to be brave'." "And Victoria released her hands from me and left us." "Martina turned to me and said: 'Mª Carmen, put your papers in order, otherwise, they will kill you too'." "The doors were opened and shortly after everybody went to the cells to see what was happening." "It was very crowded because everybody knewthat they were going to take the minors out." "I stood between two cells." "I was still." "I heard talking in one ofthe cells, but didn't dare to come in." "They were dressing Virtudes, because she couldn't dress herself." "She was shattered." "She wore a black suit and was very pretty." "Julia told her: 'You are very pretty'." "This woman looked like death." "I remember her white lips, very white." "It seemed she couldn't say a word." "Even though, she moved her lips to say: 'Please, tell my mother I'm innocent'." "After this, Julia pushed her carefully and they began to walk towards the exit door, surrounded by their prison mates." "They left this way." "I didn't understand anything, I couldn't talk, I couldn't shout, I didn't see what the others were doing, what the professors were doing." "Suddenly, I fell on my knees and somebody else fell on her knees as well, and the only thing I knewis that Victorita left the room, whit her ringlets hanging down and her head low." "I have a very, very bitter memory ofthat." "The convicts were taken to the chapel of the prison, where they wrote their last will." "We found Dioni's letters by chance." "The letters were hidden in my grandparent's house and it was terrible to read what had happened, written by her own hand." "Dear parents, brothers and sisters." "Don't be worried." "Keep serenity and calm until the end." "Piease, don't cry." "i don'tfeei nervous or scared." "i am calm, controlled." "i'm not a criminal nor a thief." "i sacrifice my life for an ideal." "Lots of kisses of your innocent daughter and sister." "Dioni." "Honestly, I'm not able to read my mother's last letter, and even after years I burst out crying." "I feel a lump in my throat and my son feels the same way, because it is a very hard and sentimental letter." "Dear son, i will die with my head held high." "i only ask you to love everybody and don't bear a grudge against the murderers of your parents." "You have to be a hard-working and good man, like your father." "An eternal kiss from your mother Bianca to you." "Julia's last letter is full ofhumanity." "It's really surprising that she is still worrying about her family, instead of saying 'howcrueI and unfair is the world with me, I haven't done anything wrong'." "An innocent will be killed and i will die as an innocent woman." "Mother, i will meet my Dad and sister in heaven butyou have to know that i'm a honest person." "Do not let my name be forgotten." "Everything was ready outside the prison." "The Security Forces were waiting for the thirteen girls to take them to the East Cemetery, the place of the executions." "All prisoners were in silence." "The only thing we heard was the engine of a van, but over that sound we began to hear a voice singing the Young Guard hymn." "She began to sing:" "'We are the Young Guard who forges the future'." "The Young Guard is the hymn ofthe youth, the hymn ofthe JSU." "'We are the Young Guard, the red flower ofthe nation the extreme poverty tempered us we are the work in progress." "It is noble to free people from slavery." "Maybe the road has to be irrigated with the blood ofthe youth'." "I had sworn it was Julia Conesa's voice, but immediately, the voices ofthe others also began to sing." "They arrived to the East Cemetery, singing the Young Guard hymn." "We are the Young Guard who forges the future." "The extreme poverty tempered us." "We will win or die." "As days passed, we didn't feel like talking, we looked each other, said short words, were always crying, always crying." "Everything happened exactly as I have told you." "There was a lot of fear and sadness." "We were all crying and hugging each other." "We missed friends who had been killed last night." "We didn't knowwhat would happen to us." "I am alive but they kept killing people." "We were shattered, shattered." "Pain, pain, pain." "We couldn't even talk." "Executions were very distressing to us." "At this time, we suffered more because they were very young." "Julia Conesa's family found out that Julia had been executed when her mother went to Ventas Prison to obtain a pardon application and was told that it wasn't necessary because she had been killed this morning." "Martina's sister went to the prison to bring food and clean clothes to her sister." "When she arrived she was told that her sister wasn't there and wasn't going to need those things anymore." "An of course, she was at the cemetery." "When she found her sister, she wanted to bury her but was told that if she didn't go away she would be killed too." "The only consolation for the family, after such an unfair death, is to take some flowers to Julia's grave and talk to her as if she was alive, but we were not allowed to do that." "These girls were from Madrid." "I had met them and I had worked with them during the war." "They were very young, girls." "Their execution was a big shock for me." "I feel sorrowfor those boys and girls that I have met when I was young, and who were unfairly executed." "The case was fully reported in the Spanish newspapers as a punishment and as a warning, but it wasn't said that were executed thirteen women, seven ofthem minors." "The case ofthe 'thirteen roses' was also reported in the international press, so Franco's regime didn't execute minors again." "It was a big shock to be absolved because I was sure I was going to be executed." "I heard 'Concepción Carretero: absolved' and the rest of my friends were sentenced thirty, twenty and twelve years imprisonment." "I wasjudged and sentenced to twelve years and a day imprisonment but I was released after three years." "I was in prison for one year and fifteen days." "I was released without a trial but during two years I had to go to the police station every fifteen days." "I was in prison for sixteen years but I don't care, the past is past." "I recovered my freedom just in time to have two children." "I was afraid I couldn't have a baby but, in the end, I had two wonderful children." "I was in prison for three years." "I was in four different prisons." "I was given parole for thirteen years and I had to go to the police station every fifteen days." "I said I would survive and I'm surviving."