More than 2,000 people were executed in Paterna during Franco's regime, twenty of whom were women. Their often-forgotten stories are now the focus of this exhibition, which will be available until April 23.
For a decade, Eva Mañez has dedicated her work to following exhumations and investigating over 2,000 files to reconstruct the lives of these women, who ranged from 21 to 65 years old and held various professions, from housewives to nurses, farm workers, councilwomen, or union militants.
“"When a woman is executed and then forty years of Francoism pass, the stigma, shame, and labeling for families are immense."
Among the victims are Rosario from València, Trinidad from Torrent, and Rosa from Cullera. Mañez emphasizes the difficulty of finding information about some of them, as they were "doubly condemned: first to death and then to oblivion".
Jesús Espinós, a relative of Mercedes Martínez from Camporrobles, illustrates this reality. Mercedes' story, who never went to school, was raped at 14, and executed with her husband at the end of the war, remained hidden until 2012. Espinós novelized her tragic life.
The exhibition not only recovers their stories but also displays images of personal objects found in the graves, such as a brassiere or high-heeled shoes, elements that help reconstruct the memory of these women thanks to the perseverance of their families and projects like Eva Mañez's.
