Marina Ginestà i Coloma (29 January 1919 – 6 January 2014) was a

French French may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to France ** French language, which originated in France ** French people, a nation and ethnic group ** French cuisine, cooking traditions and practices Arts and media * The French (band), ...

-born Spanish

communist Communism () is a sociopolitical, philosophical, and economic ideology within the socialist movement, whose goal is the creation of a communist society, a socioeconomic order centered on common ownership of the means of production, di ...

, 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 (PC ...

, 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 northeastern coast of 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 c ...

during the

July 1936 military uprising in Barcelona The July 1936 military uprising in Barcelona, also known as the Battle of Barcelona, was a mutiny that occurred in Barcelona, the capital of Catalonia, from 19 to 20 July 1936. The uprising was carried out by the Nationalist faction of the Spa ...

. It is one of the most iconic photographs of the

Spanish Civil War The Spanish Civil War () was a military conflict fought from 1936 to 1939 between the Republican faction (Spanish Civil War), Republicans and the Nationalist faction (Spanish Civil War), Nationalists. Republicans were loyal to the Left-wing p ...

Life

Ginestà was born in

Toulouse Toulouse (, ; ; ) is a city in southern France, the Prefectures in France, prefecture of the Haute-Garonne department and of the Occitania (administrative region), Occitania region. The city is on the banks of the Garonne, River Garonne, from ...

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 either as a whole or of certain social hierarchies. Left-wing politi ...

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

Valencia Valencia ( , ), formally València (), is the capital of the Province of Valencia, province and Autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Valencian Community, the same name in Spain. It is located on the banks of the Turia (r ...

, and Bruno Ginestà Manubens, from

Manresa Manresa () is the capital of Bages county, located in the central region of Catalonia, Spain. Crossed by the river Cardener, it is an industrial area with textile, metallurgical, and glass industries. The houses of Manresa are arranged aro ...

. 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 (, 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 not from a sovereign state to be a full membe ...

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

Mikhail Koltsov Mikhail Efimovich Koltsov () (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. 138об–139.) – February 2, 1940), born Moisey Haimovic ...

, a correspondent of the

Soviet The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...

newspaper ''

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

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

Montpellier Montpellier (; ) 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 France, department of ...

. As France was occupied by the

Nazis Nazism (), formally named National Socialism (NS; , ), is the far-right politics, far-right Totalitarianism, totalitarian socio-political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in Germany. During H ...

, she fled to the

Dominican Republic The Dominican Republic is a country located on the island of Hispaniola in the Greater Antilles of the Caribbean Sea in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean. It shares a Maritime boundary, maritime border with Puerto Rico to the east and ...

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 1891 – 30 May 1961), nicknamed ''El Jefe'' (; "the boss"), was a Dominican military officer and dictator who ruled the Dominican Republic from August 1930 until Rafael Trujillo#Assassination, ...

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 "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 place where the ol ...

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 op ...

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 firing squad on 5 August 1939, just after the conclusion of the Spanish Civil War. Their execution was par ...

'' by

Carlos Fonseca Carlos Fonseca Amador (23 June 1936 – 8 November 1976) was a Nicaraguan professor, politician, writer and revolutionary who was one of the founders of the Sandinista National Liberation Front (FSLN). Fonseca was later killed in the mountains of ...

. 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 first in the history of bank ...

building.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ginesta, Marina 1919 births 2014 deaths Politicians from Toulouse French people of the Spanish Civil War French socialists Women in the Spanish Civil War 20th-century French women French women war correspondents French people of Spanish descent 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