Spanish Civil War Memory Project

Summary

María del Carmen "Carmina" Heras Mesa was born in 1938 in Madrid. Carmina recounts that Madrid was air-raided by the Nationalists while she was in her mother's womb. She recalls being frightened of loud noises throughout her childhood. Carmina describes her parents as apolitical. She explains that after the Civil War, her family was labeled as roja (red) because they did not participate in Fascist activities. Carmina tells that as a child she attended a school run by nuns. She relates marrying Luis Rubio Chamorro in 1967. Luis had been a captain of the Republican Army during the war and a political prisoner during the 1940s and 1950s. Carmina notes that she was in Germany in August 1975 when Franco became ill. She remembers that many Germans enthusiastically informed her that the dictator had died. Carmina thus considers herself to be one of the few people who lived Franco's death twice. In recent years, Carmina has taken care of her husband and has helped him recover documentation related to his various prison sentences