Una obra de teatre i un repositori digital, per visibilitzar les dones en el relat històric
The WiRE project, coordinated by the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, redefines the narratives about resistance with a gender perspective. The resources created, such as podcasts, videogames, and educational dossiers, are available on an open platform and accessible to everyone.
After two years of research and international collaboration, 40 students from four different European countries have recovered and shared the life stories of 50 women fundamental in resistance against totalitarian regimes during the 20th century. Said research has been done as part of the European project WIRE (Women in Resistance), coordinated from the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona (UAB) and funded by the European Union, and has introduced its final results in a final act organised with Memorial Democràtic (Departament de Justícia i Qualitat Democràtica) in Barcelona.
Podcasts, educational games, an academic dossier, digital biographies, and the premiere of the theatre play Caure—To Fall, by Helena Tornero, are just some of the resources available online. From there, students in Spain, Greece, Italy, and Poland have reconstructed and divulged those identified stories, contributing to shed a light on the women's legacy and enrich the European democratic memory.
The resistance: beyond the armed conflict
Those resources are available in the online exhibition and the repository on female resistance, where there are the 50 life stories identified by the students. Out of these, 12 of them have a Spanish origin.
An attempt was made to make a representative selection of as broad a notion of resistance as possible: not only armed nor politic, and highlighting the relevant role of the support networks beyond the featured role of an active resistance. Because of this, stories such as Cristina Zalva Rodis' one, who decided, against her husband's judgement and the danger it brought to her and her family, to help and hide an injured maki; or Elvireta Ballester's, who refused, at eleven years old, to sign a certificate that falsely declared his father (captured and killed by Francoists) had died for natural causes. There are also stories about women exiled or imprisoned in concentration camps, such as Conxita Grangé i Beleta or Maria Castelló Ibarz.
Even having been fundamental agents in the fight against totalitarianism, the contribution of women usually has fallen relegated in official history books. With notable exceptions, resistance appears as "a men's thing to do," and women plan a secondary and subsidiary role. The WiRE team has worked with the goal of putting the role of women in the middle of current historic narratives about antitotalitarian resistance in Europe to help reshape democratic memory and its associated values.
"Collaboration among partners from different countries has been essential to give an interdisciplinary vision to these stories and to grant that not only the past is restored, but that is accessible for younger generations," explains Javier Rodrigo, professor at the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona and coordinator of the project. "WiRE has allowed that students from all over Europe to work jointly to rediscover historic figures that had been invisible until now.".
Jordi Font Agulló, director at Memorial Democràtic, highlights that "reafirming and recovering the importance of women is to recognise their fundamental role in history, not as secondary figures but as active protagonists who have contributed to build a better future," and that "through this historic conscience, students can learn solidarity, equality, and justice.".
The final acts of the project have included conferences by historians Mercedes Yusta (Spain), Tasoula Vervenioti (Greece), Roberta Mira (Italy), and Barbara Klich-Kluczewska (Poland), a student meeting with members of the Associació Catalana de Persones Expreses Polítiques del Franquisme, besides a tour of the Mina Canta memorial and the Exile Museum at La Junquera. The participatory students introduced, in first person, their experience within the project, the online repository with the reconstructed timelines, and the didactic resources inspired by those stories.
L’estrena de Caure – To Fall: donant veu a les dones oblidades
Un dels moments més destacats dels actes finals ha estat l’estrena de l’obra Caure – To Fall, escrita per la dramaturga Helena Tornero i inspirada en les històries de les dones investigades pels estudiants. La peça explora les vides de dones marcades pel silenci i l’oblit, abordant la importància de la memòria històrica i el paper de les dones en la resistència.
Tal com explica l’autora de l’obra, aquesta proposta és, més enllà del seu valor artístic, “una acció orientada a reparar un altre oblit inexcusable: el de les dones que van lluitar – i lluiten encara - contra les dictadures totalitàries que es van desenvolupar durant el segle XX i, en canvi, no han estat tractades de forma igualitària en relació amb els seus homòlegs masculins”.
The importance of European cooperation
The international collaboration has been one of the pillars of the WiRE project. The institutions participating (la UAB, el Parc de Recerca UAB and Memorial Democràtic, form Spain; the Villa Decius Association, from Polant; the Scuola di Pace di Monte Sole, from Italy, and the Archive of Contemporary Social History, from Greece), have brought interdisciplinary experiences and a network working capacity that has allowed the project to reach their goals completely.
WiRE is an initative with a vocation to transform the future, providing newer generations tools to recognise and value the role of women in history. The materials created through the project will be available online and can be used by other students, professors, and researchers over Europe.
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