The Basque women's organizations of Argentina and their assistance to the exile of the Spanish Civil War: a political activism with growing autonomy

Abstract

During the Spanish Civil War, Basque women established in Argentina who adhered to the nationalist ideology deployed actions to assist exiles fleeing Franco's repression. This occurred within two women's groups that emerged in 1938 in Buenos Aires and Rosario, called Emakume Abertzale Batza (Meeting of Patriotic Women). In relation to the latter, we will analyze two main questions: on the one hand, how these entities were formed and evolved from 1938 to 1945, and on the other, what was their degree of autonomy with respect to the institutional structure of Basque nationalism in Argentina. To do this, we will rely on primary sources (newspapers of the Basque community and documents located in the Archive of Basque Nationalism – Sabino Arana Fundazioa of Bilbao, Spain) and bibliography on the subject.