Marina Ginestà i Coloma (29 January 1919 – 6 January 2014) was a French-born Spanish

communist Communism (from Latin la, communis, lit=common, universal, label=none) is a far-left sociopolitical, philosophical, and economic ideology and current within the socialist movement whose goal is the establishment of a communist society, a s ...

, a member of the

Unified Socialist Youth The Unified Socialist Youth (Spanish: Juventudes Socialistas Unificadas; JSU) was a youth organization formed in the spring of 1936 in Spain through the amalgamation of the Spanish Socialist Workers' Party (PSOE) and Communist Party of Spain (PCE) ...

, and an iconic figure of the Spanish Civil War. She became famous due to the photo taken by Juan Guzmán on the rooftop of the Hotel Colón, Plaça de Catalunya 9,

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 ...

during the

July 1936 military uprising in Barcelona The July 1936 military uprising in Barcelona was a military uprising in Barcelona, the capital and largest city of Catalonia, Spain on 19 July 1936 which contributed to the start of the Spanish Civil War. Most of the Spanish Army officers in the ...

. It is one of the most iconic photographs of 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 ...

Life

Ginestà was born in

Toulouse Toulouse ( , ; oc, Tolosa ) is the prefecture of the French department of Haute-Garonne and of the larger region of Occitania. The city is on the banks of the River Garonne, from the Mediterranean Sea, from the Atlantic Ocean and from Par ...

to, on 29 January 1919, into a working-class

leftist Left-wing politics describes the range of political ideologies that support and seek to achieve social equality and egalitarianism, often in opposition to social hierarchy. Left-wing politics typically involve a concern for those in soci ...

family that had emigrated to France from Spain. Her parents were both tailors: Empar Coloma Chalmeta, from

Valencia Valencia ( va, València) is the capital of the Autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Valencian Community, Valencia and the Municipalities of Spain, third-most populated municipality in Spain, with 791,413 inhabitants. It is ...

, and Bruno Ginestà Manubens, from

Manresa Manresa () is the capital of the Comarca of Bages, located in the geographical centre of Catalonia, Spain, and crossed by the river Cardener. It is an industrial area with textile, metallurgical, and glass industries. The houses of Manresa are ...

. She moved to Barcelona with her parents at the age of 11. Ginestà later joined the

Unified Socialist Party of Catalonia The Unified Socialist Party of Catalonia ( ca, Partit Socialista Unificat de Catalunya, PSUC) was a communist political party active in Catalonia between 1936 and 1997. It was the Catalan branch of the Communist Party of Spain and the only party n ...

. As the war broke out in 1936, she served as a reporter and a translator assisting

Mikhail Koltsov Mikhail Efimovich Koltsov (russian: Михаи́л Ефи́мович Кольцо́в) (The record of the birth of Moisey Fridlyand in the metric book of the Kiev rabbinate for 1898 ( ЦГИАК Украины. Ф. 1164. Оп. 1. Д. 442. Л. 13 ...

, a correspondent of the

Soviet The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, ...

newspaper ''

Pravda ''Pravda'' ( rus, Правда, p=ˈpravdə, a=Ru-правда.ogg, "Truth") is a Russian broadsheet newspaper, and was the official newspaper of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, when it was one of the most influential papers in the co ...

''. Before the end of the war, Ginestà was wounded and evacuated to

Montpellier Montpellier (, , ; oc, Montpelhièr ) is a city in southern France near the Mediterranean Sea. One of the largest urban centres in the region of Occitania (administrative region), Occitania, Montpellier is the prefecture of the Departments of ...

. As France was occupied by the

Nazis Nazism ( ; german: Nazismus), the common name in English for National Socialism (german: Nationalsozialismus, ), is the far-right totalitarian political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in Na ...

, she fled to the

Dominican Republic The Dominican Republic ( ; es, República Dominicana, ) is a country located on the island of Hispaniola in the Greater Antilles archipelago of the Caribbean region. It occupies the eastern five-eighths of the island, which it shares wit ...

where she married a former Republican officer. In 1946, she was forced to leave the country because of the persecution by the dictator

Rafael Trujillo Rafael Leónidas Trujillo Molina ( , ; 24 October 189130 May 1961), nicknamed ''El Jefe'' (, "The Chief" or "The Boss"), was a Dominican dictator who ruled the Dominican Republic from February 1930 until his assassination in May 1961. He ser ...

and relocate to Venezuela. In 1949, she divorced her husband and moved to France. In 1952, Ginestà married a Belgian diplomat and returned to Barcelona. She moved to Paris in 1978. Marina Ginestà died there at the age of 94 in January 2014.

The photograph

The famous photograph was taken on 21 July 1936. It shows the 17-year-old Ginestà wearing an army uniform and posing with a rifle on the top of the original Hotel Colón,

Plaça de Catalunya Plaça de Catalunya (, meaning in English language, English "Catalonia Square"; sometimes referred to as Plaza de Cataluña, its Spanish name) is a large square in central Barcelona that is generally considered to be both its city centre and the p ...

9. The picture was taken during the 1936 military uprising in Barcelona. The rifle that Marina is holding is a M1893 Spanish Mauser, manufactured at the Oviedo factory in Spain for the Spanish Army. Because she was a reporter, it was the only time Ginestà had carried a gun. The picture was soon published in a socialist newspaper. The picture later exploded in popularity due to the representation of the Spanish Civil War and is a now universal image of

anti-fascism Anti-fascism is a political movement in opposition to fascist ideologies, groups and individuals. Beginning in European countries in the 1920s, it was at its most significant shortly before and during World War II, where the Axis powers were ...

and conflict. Marina stated about the picture: ''"It’s a good photo. It reflects the feeling we had at that moment. Socialism had arrived, the hotel guests had left. There was euphoria. We retired in Columbus, we ate well, as if bourgeois life belonged to us and we would have changed category quickly."'' The picture was later used on the cover of the book ''

Las Trece Rosas "Las Trece Rosas" (the ''Thirteen Roses'') is the name given in Spain to a group of thirteen young women who were executed by a Francoist Spain, Francoist Execution by firing squad, firing squad on 5 August 1939, just after the conclusion of the ...

'' by

Carlos Fonseca Carlos Fonseca Amador (23 June 1936 – 8 November 1976) was a Nicaraguan teacher, librarian and revolutionary who founded the Sandinista National Liberation Front (FSLN). Fonseca was later killed in the mountains of the Zelaya Department, Nicar ...

. The hotel was destroyed after the war and the site is now occupied by the

Banco Español de Crédito Banco Español de Crédito, S.A. (), “Spanish Credit Bank”) better known as Banesto, was a Spanish multinational financial services company. Prior to the Spanish Government's historical intervention in 1993, the very first in the history of ...

building.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ginesta, Marina 1919 births 2014 deaths Politicians from Toulouse French people of the Spanish Civil War French socialists Black-and-white photographs Spanish Civil War photographs Women in the Spanish Civil War 20th-century women Women war correspondents French people of Spanish descent 1936 works 1936 in art 1930s photographs Women writers from Catalonia French people of Catalan descent Spanish people of Catalan descent History of Catalonia People notable for being the subject of a specific photograph

Life

The photograph

See also

References