Aurora Picornell

Aurora Picornell
Born (1912-10-01)1 October 1912 [1]
Palma, Majorca
Died 5 January 1937(1937-01-05) (aged 24)
Porreres, Majorca
Nationality Spanish

Aurora Picornell or Aurora Picornell Femenies (1 October 1912 – 5 January 1937) was a Spanish political martyr. She was a seamstress and a workers' activist known as "La Pasionaria mallorquina" ("La Pasionaria of Majorca"). She was a member of the Spanish Communist Party. In 1937, she was executed without trial by Francoist forces.

Life

Picornell was born in Palma, Majorca on 1 October 1912.

In 1931, she organized the seamstresses' union in the Balearic Islands. Later she joined the Communist Party of Spain (PCE), in which she was one of the main leaders of their Balearic Federation. At 16 she published her first of many articles in the Communist newspaper Nuestra palabra ("Our Word").

She lived for some time in Valencia, where she married fellow communist Heriberto Quinones.

In 1934, she helped establish the Communist Party on the island of Minorca. At the outbreak of the Spanish Civil War, Majorca fell into the hands of the Francoist rebels. Picornell was arrested in the Casa del Pueblo ("House of the People", i.e. Party headquarters), and incarcerated in Mallorca's women prison. Her colleagues tried to negotiate an exchange of prisoners, but before that was achieved she was taken by Falangists to the convent of Montuiri, where she was tortured.

She was murdered on 5 January 1937 [1] at the cemetery in Porreres [2] with other seamstresses: Catalina Flaquer Pascual, Antonia Pascual Flaquer, Maria Pascual Flaquer, and Belarmina Gonzalez Rodriguez. They are remembered in Majorca as Les Roges des Molinar ("The Reds of El Molinar").

Picornell's father, two brothers, and her husband all died during the civil war.

Legacy

Josep Articles Quetglas wrote, "Aurora Picornell, escrits 1930-1936". A school, IES Aurora Picornell, is named after her.[3] A play based on her life has been written by Aina de Cos.[2] She is also remembered in a Woman's Trail in Mallorca.[4]

References

  1. 1 2 Aurora Picornell i Femenias, Gran enciclopèdia catalana, Retrieved 2 September 2016
  2. 1 2 Only When It Rains, teatremao.com, Retrieved 2 September 2016
  3. IES Aurora Picornell, Retrieved 2 September 2016
  4. "111 Places on Mallorca that You Shouldn't Miss". Issuu: 44. 24 October 2014. Retrieved 2 September 2016.
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