Anna Maria Martínez Sagi (16 February 1907 – 2 January 2000) was a Spanish poet, trade unionist, journalist,

feminist Feminism is a range of socio-political movements and ideologies that aim to define and establish the political, economic, personal, and social equality of the sexes. Feminism incorporates the position that society prioritizes the male po ...

and athlete. She was national champion in the

javelin A javelin is a light spear designed primarily to be thrown, historically as a ranged weapon, but today predominantly for sport. The javelin is almost always thrown by hand, unlike the sling, bow, and crossbow, which launch projectiles with th ...

and became the first female director of a Spanish football club. During the

Spanish Civil War The Spanish Civil War ( es, Guerra Civil Española)) or The Revolution ( es, La Revolución, link=no) among Nationalists, the Fourth Carlist War ( es, Cuarta Guerra Carlista, link=no) among Carlists, and The Rebellion ( es, La Rebelión, lin ...

she followed the

Durruti Column The Durruti Column (Spanish language, Spanish: ''Columna Durruti''), with about 6,000 people, was the largest anarchist column (or military unit) formed during the Spanish Civil War. During the first months of the war, it became the most recogniz ...

as a journalist and was then exiled to France, living in different places. During World War II she joined the

French Resistance The French Resistance (french: La Résistance) was a collection of organisations that fought the German occupation of France during World War II, Nazi occupation of France and the Collaborationism, collaborationist Vichy France, Vichy régim ...

and evaded capture by the

Gestapo The (), abbreviated Gestapo (; ), was the official secret police of Nazi Germany and in German-occupied Europe. The force was created by Hermann Göring in 1933 by combining the various political police agencies of Prussia into one organi ...

. Afterwards she worked for the

Aga Khan Aga Khan ( fa, آقاخان, ar, آغا خان; also transliterated as ''Aqa Khan'' and ''Agha Khan'') is a title held by the Imām of the Nizari Ismāʿīli Shias. Since 1957, the holder of the title has been the 49th Imām, Prince Shah Karim ...

and then moved to the United States where she taught at the

University of Illinois The University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign (U of I, Illinois, University of Illinois, or UIUC) is a public land-grant research university in Illinois in the twin cities of Champaign and Urbana. It is the flagship institution of the University ...

. After the death of

Francisco Franco Francisco Franco Bahamonde (; 4 December 1892 – 20 November 1975) was a Spanish general who led the Nationalist faction (Spanish Civil War), Nationalist forces in overthrowing the Second Spanish Republic during the Spanish Civil War ...

, she returned to Catalonia where she lived in obscurity near to Barcelona.

Early life

Martínez Sagi was born into a genteel family in

Barcelona Barcelona ( , , ) is a city on the coast of northeastern Spain. It is the capital and largest city of the autonomous community of Catalonia, as well as the second most populous municipality of Spain. With a population of 1.6 million within ci ...

Catalonia Catalonia (; ca, Catalunya ; Aranese Occitan: ''Catalonha'' ; es, Cataluña ) is an autonomous community of Spain, designated as a ''nationality'' by its Statute of Autonomy. Most of the territory (except the Val d'Aran) lies on the north ...

, in 1907. Her father worked in textiles and her mother encouraged her children to speak in Spanish and English, but not

Catalan Catalan may refer to: Catalonia From, or related to Catalonia: * Catalan language, a Romance language * Catalans, an ethnic group formed by the people from, or with origins in, Northern or southern Catalonia Places * 13178 Catalan, asteroid #1 ...

. Martínez Sagi learned Catalan, the language she would later write in, from her nanny.

Career

A sports enthusiast, Martinez Sagi was a national champion in

. Her brother, Armand Martínez Sagi (1919–1923), and cousin,

Emilio Sagi Liñán Emilio "Emili" Sagi Liñán (born Bolívar, Buenos Aires, Argentina, 15 March 1900; died Barcelona, 25 May 1951), was a Spanish footballer who played as a left-winger for FC Barcelona, the Catalan XI and Spain during the 1920s and 1930s. He was ...

, played for

FC Barcelona Futbol Club Barcelona (), commonly referred to as Barcelona and colloquially known as Barça (), is a professional football club based in Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain, that competes in La Liga, the top flight of Spanish football. Founded ...

, and in 1934, she became a Director of FC Barcelona, the first woman to do so in Spanish football's history. Together with Josefina Carabias, Martínez Sagi became a key journalist in Republican Spain. She interviewed various people, including beggars, prostitutes, and

politicians. Martínez Sagi's articles focused especially on

women's suffrage Women's suffrage is the right of women to vote in elections. Beginning in the start of the 18th century, some people sought to change voting laws to allow women to vote. Liberal political parties would go on to grant women the right to vot ...

, a controversial issue at the time. She joined the

as a journalist during the

, after hearing the anarchist Buenaventura Durruti talk at the

Palau Reial de Pedralbes The Palau Reial de Pedralbes (; en, "Pedralbes Royal Palace"; Spanish: "Palacio Real de Pedralbes") is a building placed in the middle of an ample garden in the district of Les Corts, in Barcelona. From 1919 until 1931 it was the residence for t ...

. In addition to journalistic work, she also published several books of poetry. Her desperate and distressed style was similar to that of the Latin American poets

Juana de Ibarbourou Juana Fernández Morales de Ibarbourou, also known as Juana de América, (March 8, 1892 – July 15, 1979) was a Uruguayan poet and one of the most popular poets of Spanish America. Her poetry, the earliest of which is often highly erotic, is no ...

, Alfonsina Storni, and Gabriela Mistral. After her first book of poetry, ''Caminos'', was published in 1930, Alberto Insúa compared Martínez Sagi to Rosalía de Castro. As a feminist, Martínez Sagi espoused ideas which came from France. She founded the first club of women workers of Barcelona, which worked to improve literacy among women. In 1932, she fell in love the writer

Elisabeth Mulder Elisabeth Mulder Pierluisi (married name, Elizabeth Mulder de Dauner; Barcelona, 9 February 1904 – Barcelona, 28 November 1987) was a Spanish writer, poet, translator, journalist and literary critic. Her father, Enrique Mulder García (Marquis ...

, but her feelings were not reciprocated and Martínez Sagi's family separated them. After the end of the civil war, Martínez Sagi was exiled to France, where she lived in Paris and then

Chartres Chartres () is the prefecture of the Eure-et-Loir department in the Centre-Val de Loire region in France. It is located about southwest of Paris. At the 2019 census, there were 170,763 inhabitants in the metropolitan area of Chartres (as d ...

. When World War II broke out, she participated in the

and in 1942 was nearly captured by the

when they raided her apartment and she left through a window. Selling handkerchiefs on the streets of Cannes she met the wife of the

and worked for her as an interior designer, before moving to

Provence Provence (, , , , ; oc, Provença or ''Prouvènço'' , ) is a geographical region and historical province of southeastern France, which extends from the left bank of the lower Rhône to the west to the Italian border to the east; it is bor ...

. In 1950, she moved to the US, and, having a degree in French Language and Literature, she was able to teach at the

. She returned to Catalonia in 1975, after the death of

, moving to

Moià Moià () (Spanish: Moyá) is a municipality in the ''comarca'' of Moianès, Catalonia, Spain. Since May 2015 it has been the capital of the new comarca of Moianès; previously it was in Bages Bages () is a comarca (county) in the center of C ...

near Barcelona. She retired to private life in which her neighbours knew nothing about her past and regarded her as a stern old lady. The novelist Juan Manuel de Prada tracked her down and interviewed. Her posthumously published her writings in ''La voz sola'' (2019). She died in 2000.

Selected works

*''Caminos'' *''Laberinto de presencias: antología poética'' *''Inquietud'' *''La voz sola''

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Martinez Sagi, Ana Maria 1907 births 2000 deaths Women writers from Catalonia Poets from Catalonia Journalists from Catalonia Spanish LGBT journalists Spanish LGBT poets Spanish LGBT sportspeople Sportswomen from Catalonia Spanish female javelin throwers LGBT track and field athletes Spanish trade unionists Spanish feminists FC Barcelona Spanish women poets Spanish women journalists 20th-century Spanish women writers 20th-century Spanish poets French Resistance members Athletes from Barcelona Exiles of the Spanish Civil War in France 20th-century Spanish LGBT people Catalan Anti-Francoists Spanish women trade unionists