Benita Uribarrena Bollaín (

Durango Durango (), officially named Estado Libre y Soberano de Durango ( en, Free and Sovereign State of Durango; Tepehuán: ''Korian''; Nahuatl: ''Tepēhuahcān''), is one of the 31 states which make up the 32 Federal Entities of Mexico, situated in ...

, 16 March 1922 –

Le Soler Le Soler () is a commune in the Pyrénées-Orientales department in southern France. Geography Le Soler is located in the canton of La Vallée de la Têt and in the arrondissement of Perpignan. Population See also *Communes of the Pyr� ...

, 12 October 2011) was a member of the Communist Party of Spain and the Antifascist Women Union. She took part in 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 ...

during the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

Early life and Civil War

Her mother, Benita Bollaín Bilbao, was a communist and owned a press kiosk in the Ezkurdi place in

, Spain, which earned her the nickname of "Benita the Journalist". She was the first to announce the near proclamation of the II Republic in the town and was detained in a kennel for it. Her father, Santiago Uribarrena Munitxa, a socialist activist, was a railway worker. After the strikes of October 1934, the Civil Guard arrested him and forced him to get into a river to turn in weapons, getting sick and dying a few days later. His funeral was celebrated on 30 December 1934, which was the first civil funeral in Durango. Benita was the youngest of four siblings. After the

bombing of Durango The Bombing of Durango took place on 31 March 1937, during the Spanish Civil War. On 31 March 1937 the Nationalists started their offensive against the Republican held province of Biscay. As part of the offensive the ''Aviazione Legionaria'' and ...

on 31 March 1937, she was evacuated together with one of her sisters and her mother. They arrived in France in June 1937 with the Habana ship.

Exile

In France, she worked at a hotel and started her political activity in the Communist Party of Spain (PCE). She participated as a clandestine courier and guided people who fled Spain through the

Pyrénées-Orientales Pyrénées-Orientales (; ca, Pirineus Orientals ; oc, Pirenèus Orientals ; ), also known as Northern Catalonia, is a department of the region of Occitania, Southern France, adjacent to the northern Spanish frontier and the Mediterranean Sea. ...

border. In 1944, she joined the

. She was arrested and imprisoned for one month until the liberation of France. Uribarrena lived most of her life in Le Soler. Among other jobs, she was employed by

Pau Casals Pau Casals i Defilló (Catalan: ; 29 December 187622 October 1973), usually known in English by his Castilian Spanish name Pablo Casals,

, Catalan republican also living in exile.

Recognition

In 2000, she was decorated as a member of the resistance. On 6 October 2017, the City of Durango inaugurated a public park in her name.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Uribarrena Bollaín, Benita Communist members of the French Resistance 1922 births 2011 deaths Female resistance members of World War II People from Durango, Biscay Exiles of the Spanish Civil War in France Spanish Communist Party politicians