Rufina Balbás cuenta que su padre estuvo desterrado en Segovia y Valladolid durante la dictadura de Primo de Rivera. Rufina nota que durante la República su padre fue delegado de la Izquierda Republicana y Secretario del Ayuntamiento del Valle de Manzanedo. Recuerda que al estallar la Guerra Civil, los Falangistas encarcelaron a su padre en Burgos antes de matarlo en 1936. Rufina explica que después de la muerte de su padre, sufrió un trauma severo, se enfermó dos veces, y tuvieron que operarla. Describe los métodos que la Falange usaba para aterrorizar a los pueblos. Rufina agradece la solidaridad del Presidente Lázaro Cárdenas y el pueblo mexicano con los exiliados españoles. Recuenta que cuando la guerra terminó, el cura del pueblo y hermano del jefe de la Falange le negó el subsidio a su familia. Rufina narra que se fue a Madrid para trabajar y su madre se dedicó a pescar cangrejos. Relata que en Madrid se hizo enfermera y trabajó en la Cruz Roja, donde se rehusaba a revelar detalles sobre su vida personal ya que el médico y las enfermeras eran Falangistas. Rufina detalla lo difícil que ha sido su lucha por ubicar el lugar donde su padre fue enterrado y destaca que en 1970 descubrió que está enterrado en una fosa común en la cueva de Humarraña. Habla sobre la muerte de Franco. Rufina recita poemas y cantares de la República.

Rufina Balbás recalls that her father was banished in Segovia and Valladolid during Primo de Rivera's dictatorship. Rufina notes that during the Republic her father was a delegate for the Republican Left and Secretary of the Valle de Manzanedo Municipal Council. She remembers that at the start of the Civil War, the Falangists detained her father in Burgos before killing him in 1936. Rufina explains that after her father's death, she suffered a severe trauma, became ill twice, and had an operation. She describes the methods the Falange used to terrorize the population. Rufina expresses gratitude to President Lázaro Cárdenas and the Mexican people for their solidarity with the Spanish exiles. She recounts that when the war ended, the town priest whose brother was the head of the Falange denied subsidy to her family. Rufina narrates moving to Madrid to find employment and tells that her mother fished crabs for a living. She relates becoming a nurse in Madrid and working for the Red Cross, where she refused to reveal details about her personal life because the doctor and nurses were Falangists. Rufina details her difficult struggle to locate her father's burial place and highlights that in 1970 she discovered that he is buried in a mass grave in the Humarraña cave. She speaks about Franco's death. Rufina recites poems and songs of the Republic

• July 15, 2008

• Balbás, Rufina

• Cordova, Jessica
• Pimienta, Omar

• Asociación de Ex-presos y Represaliados Políticos
• Asociación para la Recuperación de la Memoria Histórica
• Federación Estatal de Foros por la Memoria

• University of California, San Diego

3 video files : digital, sound, color

Interviews in Spanish

Rufina Balbás testimony was recorded in her home in Madrid

Testimony of the Spanish Civil War and the Francoist dictatorship

• Burgos (Spain)
• Madrid (Spain)
• Spain

• International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement

• Civil War (Spain : 1936-1939)
• Exiles
• History
• Interviews
• Nonfiction films
• Oral history
• Personal narratives-Spanish

• video

• Spanish; Castilian

Mms: 991005708499706535

Online exhibit

• Spanish Civil War Memory Project

Madrid, Spain : Spanish Civil War Memory Project 2008

• Balbás, Rufina

Balbás, Rufina. Testimony of the Spanish Civil War and the Francoist Dictatorship. University of California, San Diego, 2008

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2023-10-26