Pilar Millán Astray (1879 – 22 May 1949) was a Spanish writer and playwright. Recent research shows that she was a spy for the Germans before

World War I World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

and her literary success. She was later imprisoned for her

fascist Fascism ( ) is a far-right, authoritarian, and ultranationalist political ideology and movement. It is characterized by a dictatorial leader, centralized autocracy, militarism, forcible suppression of opposition, belief in a natural soci ...

views and it is said that she suffered from the misogynistic regime that she had helped bring to power.

Life

Astray was born into a privileged life in

A Coruña A Coruña (; ; also informally called just Coruña; historical English: Corunna or The Groyne) is a city and municipality in Galicia, Spain. It is Galicia's second largest city, behind Vigo. The city is the provincial capital of the province ...

. Her parents were José Millán Astray and Pilar Terreros. Her brother (also)

José Millán-Astray José Millán-Astray y Terreros (5 July 1879 – 1 January 1954) was a Spanish military officer who was the founder and first commander of the Spanish Legion. He was also a major early figure of the Francoist dictatorship. Astray was notable f ...

was a Spanish general and the founder of the

Spanish Legion For centuries, Spain recruited foreign soldiers to its army, forming the foreign regiments () such as the Regiment of Hibernia (formed in 1709 from Irishmen who fled their own country in the wake of the Flight of the Earls and the Penal la ...

. She married and had three sons Javier, Carmen and Pilar. She encouraged her three sons during World War I to work for German espionage in Barcelona according to historian

Fernando García Sanz Fernando is a Spanish and Portuguese given name and a surname common in Spain, Portugal, Italy, France, Switzerland, and former Spanish or Portuguese colonies in Latin America, Africa and Asia (like the Philippines, India, and Sri Lanka). It is e ...

. The most important character spied on was the

British Ambassador to Spain The Ambassador of the United Kingdom to Spain is the United Kingdom's foremost Diplomat, diplomatic representative in the Kingdom of Spain, and in charge of the UK's diplomatic mission in Spain. The official title is His Britannic Majesty's Am ...

Sir

Arthur Henry Hardinge Sir Arthur Henry Hardinge, (12 October 1859 – 27 December 1933), was a senior British diplomat. Early life Hardinge was born in London, the son of General Hon. Sir Arthur Edward Hardinge, (1828–1892), KCB, Commander of the Bombay Army and ...

. The German's representative, Alberto Hornemann, paid 1,000 pesetas for each document handed over. Her husband died in 1919 and her resulting literary career flourished. She was awarded the ''White and Black prize'' in 1919 for her novel ''La Sister Teresa''. She also wrote for ''

La Nación ''La Nación'' () is an Argentine daily newspaper. As the country's leading conservative newspaper, ''La Nación''s main competitor is the more liberal ''Clarín (Argentine newspaper), Clarín''. It is regarded as a newspaper of record for Argen ...

'', ''El Espectador'' and '' El Sol'' newspapers. Jacinto Benavente encouraged her to write her first play ''The Roar of the Lion'' in 1923. Other plays included ''La galana'' , ''Una chula de cor'' and ''La tonta del bote'' . The latter was a great success and it ran for 310 days. The cover of her comedy book''The haberdashery of the red dahlia'' contains a portrait of her by

Julio Romero de Torres Julio Romero de Torres (9 November 1874 – 10 May 1930) was a Spanish painter. His brothers, Rafael and , also became painters. Biography He was the son of Rafael Romero Barros, a painter who served as Director of the Fine Arts Museum o ...

. During the Second Spanish Republic she led the

Muñoz Seca Theater The Muñoz Seca Theater (''Teatro Muñoz Seca'') is a theater in Madrid, Spain. The theater is named after playwright Pedro Muñoz Seca. During the Second Spanish Republic The Spanish Republic (), commonly known as the Second Spanish Repu ...

in Madrid. Astray supported the military when they revolted in July 1936. She was imprisoned in

Alicante Alicante (, , ; ; ; officially: ''/'' ) is a city and municipalities of Spain, municipality in the Valencian Community, Spain. It is the capital of the province of Alicante and a historic Mediterranean Sea, Mediterranean port. The population ...

. Also in prison were Rosario Queipo de Llano, Carmen Primo de Rivera or Pilar Jaraiz Franco. In 1940 she published her prison writing in her book ''Imprisoned. 32 months in red prisons'' (1940) which featured poetry on fascist and catholic themes. She stopped writing plays and this has been said to have been caused by the misogynistic regime - that she had helped to bring to power. The imprisonment damaged her health and she died when she participated in a tribute to the actress Josita Hernán in

Madrid Madrid ( ; ) is the capital and List of largest cities in Spain, most populous municipality of Spain. It has almost 3.5 million inhabitants and a Madrid metropolitan area, metropolitan area population of approximately 7 million. It i ...

in 1949. In 1970 her play, The Complete Idiot, was made into a film. It was a remake of a film of the same name released in 1939.Bentley, Bernard. A Companion to Spanish Cinema. Boydell & Brewer 2008, page 84

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Astray, Pilar Millán 1879 births 1949 deaths People from A Coruña Spanish women writers Spanish dramatists and playwrights