Áurea Cuadrado Castillón
( Ontiñena
, August 23, 1894 - Mallorca
, December 18, 1969) also known as Áurea Cuadrado Alberola, was a militant
feminist anarchist
.
Queer Places:
Jardí d’Àurea Cuadrado, 08028 Barcelona, Spain
Áurea Cuadrado Castillón
( Ontiñena
, August 23, 1894 - Mallorca
, December 18, 1969) also known as Áurea Cuadrado Alberola, was a militant
feminist anarchist
.
She began her activism in Ontiñena after the proclamation of the Second Republic at the hands of her libertarian teacher José Alberola, from whom she adopted her surname in tribute. From a very young age she settled in Barcelona with her family. At the age of 13, she worked first in a butcher shop in the Ninot market and later as a dressmaker. [ 1 ] She had a prominent role in the women's demonstrations of 1916, along with Roser Dulcet, Balbina Pino, and others, who protested against the increase in the cost of basic necessities and the improvement in the quality of life. In this period she knew firsthand the anarchist movement .
Dressmaker by profession, belonged to the Suit Union of the National Confederation of Labor ( CNT ) since 1916. During the republican years 1934-1936 she participated in activities of the Barcelona libertarian athenaeums "Lighthouses" and "Practical Idealists", acquiring a great cultural background . In 1934 she was part of the Women 's Cultural Group , which was the basis of the anarchist group "Free Women" [ 2 ]
When the Civil War broke out, she participated in the occupation of the Casa de Caridad and was part of the Revolutionary Committee of the Cortes and also in that of Gracia. She worked together with Fèlix Carrasquer organizing the Provincial House of Maternity and Exposites of Barcelona where she promoted workshops on "conscious motherhood" among many other initiatives. On August 5, 1936 she was appointed director when Carrasquer left office to promote the Aragonese School of Militants. [ 3 ] At the same time she was replaced as pedagogical director by Pilar Grangel , a rationalist and militant pedagogue anarchosyndicalist .
Emma Goldman , the American theoretical anarchist, visited the institution and her opinions were collected by a city newspaper, which Sara Berenguer transcribes. [ 4 ]
The Barcelona Maternity House: the notable writer Emma Goldman declares that it was, in its genre, the most perfect one she had seen in Europe. New forms, revealing a new, more rational and more human spirit, give this category of exemplar to an establishment that the monk style made before hateful; and a good part of the credit goes to Àurea Cuadrado, director of the Barcelona Maternity House.
She was also secretary of Social Assistance of La Solidaridad Internacional Antifascista in 1937. And in representation of the CNT , she was a member of the Plenary Council of the Barcelona Institute for Professional Adaptation of Women. As a member of the Regional Committee of Catalonia of "Free Women" collaborated in the magazine of the same name: [ 5 ] [ 6 ]
We are affirming the first foundations of a new society that will forever replace the old and limited molds. Therefore, it is necessary that the renovating influence reaches all social corners and transforms, using psychobiological education, the old metaphysical concepts into others that are more rational and human ...
At the end of the war, she was responsible for the evacuation of children from the nurseries of the SIA " International Antifascist Solidarity ".
In 1939 she took the road to exile to Perpignan , France, along with fellow libertarians Paulino Diéz and Domingo Rojas. At first they were able to escape from the authorities and help from abroad the comrades who were locked up in the fields of Barcarès , Argelers , St.Cyprien and Mares , coordinating the distribution of medicines and food.
During October 1939 she was arrested and transferred to the Campo de Argelers. During the period of confinement, she created and worked for the organization of the "drop of milk" , an organization that provided breast milk to babies in the field.
In early 1940 she got a ticket to America. After a time in Santo Domingo , in 1943 she settled in Cuba with her daughter and continued with her work as a dressmaker. After a time she was able to pass in New York, where she joined Domingo Rojas, with whom she settled in Mexico , forming part of the publishing group of Tierra y Libertad .
After returning to Catalonia and suffering a serious illness in 1953, which left her without memory, she settled in Mallorca, where on December 18, 1969 she died in Palma.
On September 30, 2005 the “Jardín Áurea Quadrado” in memory of her was inaugurated in the Cortes neighborhood of Barcelona .
My published books:
