Spanish Civil War Memory Project

Summary

Celia Cazorla Tisserand was born in Madrid in 1934. Celia relates relocating to Valencia during the Civil War. She narrates that her father, Fernando Cazorla Maure, fought in the Battle of Guadarrama, and her uncle, José Cazorla Maure, participated in the Juventudes Socialistas Unificadas (Unified Socialist Youth) and was a representative of the Delegated Committee for the Defense of Madrid. Celia tells that her father was detained, sentenced to death in 1939, and his sentence was later commuted to twelve years in prison. She remembers visiting her father in a concentration camp in Salamanca and in prison in Oviedo, Gijón, Dueso, and Madrid. Celia recalls visiting her uncle in the Conde de Toreno prison a day before he was executed in 1940. She recounts the sorrow, hunger, and poverty of her childhood and youth. Celia speaks of the isolation, marginalization, and humiliation her family continuously experienced during the dictatorship. She explains that her father was ill when he was released from prison in 1943 after being granted amnesty. Celia notes that due to her father and uncle's criminal records, her grandfather lost his job and she, her father, and brother encountered many difficulties finding employment. She describes the abuse the Falangists subjected women to in jail. Celia discusses Franco's death, the Transition, the 1981 coup d'état, the 1982 elections, the mass graves, and historical memory