{"id":34671,"date":"2023-01-12T12:59:16","date_gmt":"2023-01-12T12:59:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blog.museunacional.cat\/?p=34671"},"modified":"2023-01-12T13:03:48","modified_gmt":"2023-01-12T13:03:48","slug":"lina-odena-the-legend-of-the-militiawoman-who-committed-suicide-and-the-mayor-of-el-prat","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.museunacional.cat\/en\/lina-odena-the-legend-of-the-militiawoman-who-committed-suicide-and-the-mayor-of-el-prat\/","title":{"rendered":"Lina \u00d3dena, the legend of the militiawoman who committed suicide, and the mayor of el prat"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Eduard Vall\u00e8s<\/p>\n\n\n\n

18 November 1939. Camp de la Bota, Barcelona<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

At a quarter to six in the morning Llu\u00eds Serra Giribert<\/a> (Manresa, 1903 \u2013 Barcelona, 1939) was executed by firing squad at Camp de la Bota. He was 36. Born in Manresa, he was adopted by a well-to-do family in Horta de Sant Joan (Terra Alta) because his mother had died in childbirth. At the village school he met Dolors Sancho, whom he later married. They had two children, Lolita and Llu\u00eds. When he came of age, he moved to El Prat de Llobregat to work at \u201cLa Papelera Espa\u00f1ola\u201d. There he came into contact with the trade union movement, and he joined the UGT and \u2013 spurred on by political events \u2013 the PSUC. Serra was elected mayor of El Prat de Llobregat, and he resigned to enlist as a volunteer at the front, although he was later stationed at the airfield in Reus. After the Battle of the Ebre had been lost, it was suggested that he should go into exile from Reus, but he chose to stay with his family, confident that they would not be able to accuse him of anything other than his ideas. He estimated that he might be sentenced to 30 years in prison which would be reduced to 10 or 12 years at the most. But after a summary court-martial in which he was accused of \u201cmilitary rebellion\u201d \u2013 something that thousands of soldiers were accused of \u2013 he was sentenced to death. He was executed by firing squad after three months of torture in the Model prison in Barcelona, leaving his wife, Dolors, and his 19-month-old son, Llu\u00eds. His daughter Lolita had died a few months earlier.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Llu\u00eds Serra Giribert, wearing the cap with the air force insignia, at the Airfield in Reus.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

14 September 1936. The frontline, Granada<\/strong> <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The young Paulina \u00d3dena Garcia <\/a>(Barcelona, 1911 \u2013 Granada, 1936), born in Passatge Pellicer in Barcelona, enlisted as a volunteer in the Civil War in Andalusia, where she happened to be when the war broke out. She joined a column made up mainly of airmen from the airbase at Armilla. Despite her youth, \u00d3dena had been fully active in politics for some years and was a member of the Communist Party. She took up arms during the uprising in October 1934, and due to the 1936 general election that would be won by the Popular Front she accompanied Dolores Ib\u00e1rurri, La Pasionaria<\/em>, at some of the meetings she gave in Spain.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Police file opened on Lina \u00d3dena during the uprising in October 1934.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It seems that in the first few months of the war \u00d3dena ended up playing an important part, and from those days we have some photographs in which she can be seen dressed as a militiawoman, wearing the air force insignia on her chest.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Lina \u00d3dena, in two photographs taken shortly before her death, between July and September 1936, with the air force insignia on her chest.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

At the same time, in those days she also worked as a correspondent for the El Mundo Obrero<\/a><\/em>,newspaper, due to her proximity to the war front. On 14 September 1936 \u2013 not yet two months after the war had begun \u2013 when she was travelling in a car by the Cubillas reservoir, near Granada, her driver approached an army checkpoint. Just as they were about to make contact with them, they realized that they were Falangist soldiers \u2013 they had disastrously taken a wrong turning. They attempted to get away but it was too late, and when she felt that she was about to be captured, and knowing perfectly well what awaited her, the young militiawoman shot herself in the head. She was just 24 years old.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It was by no means an anonymous death. In Granada the Ideal<\/em><\/a> newspaper reported it straight away, and even published the photograph of the car in which the young woman was travelling, with the El Mundo Obrero<\/em> sign and, on the side, the initials U.H.P. (the acronym of the expression Un\u00edos hermanos proletarios<\/em>).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The car in which Lina \u00d3dena was travelling shortly before her death. Photograph from the Ideal<\/em> newspaper in Granada.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But the projection of her death was even more powerful. As she was a young woman killed in the war, it was used as a propaganda weapon. Cards with her picture on, calendars and stamps were printed, and a battalion made up only of women was even created, called the Lina \u00d3dena Battalion. It is however less well known that her memory was present in the Spanish Pavilion at the 1937 Universal Exhibition in Paris no less, better known as the Pavilion of the Republic<\/a>. The most iconic work in the Pavilion was undoubtedly Picasso\u2019s Guernica<\/a><\/em>, apart from Mir\u00f3\u2019s El Segador<\/em> (The Reaper), now lost, but there was also La Montserrat<\/em> <\/a>by Juli Gonz\u00e1lez, Mercury fountain<\/em><\/a> by Alexander Calder and the large-format sculpture by Alberto S\u00e1nchez, El pueblo espa\u00f1ol tiene un camino que conduce a una estrella<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/a><\/figure><\/div>
\"\"<\/a><\/figure><\/div>
\"\"<\/a><\/figure><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n

La Montserrat<\/em>, de Juli Gonz\u00e1lez, El pueblo espa\u00f1ol tiene un camino que conduce a una estrella<\/em>, d’Alberto and El segador<\/em>, de Joan Mir\u00f3. \u00a9Espa\u00f1a. Ministerio de Cultura y Deporte. Centro Documental de la Memoria Hist\u00f3rica. PS-FOTOGRAFIAS, 42-13; 42-11; 42, 28; \/ Roness-Ruan. \u00a9 Alberto S\u00e1nchez, VEGAP, Barcelona, 2022<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But it is a lesser-known fact that hundreds of works by less well-known, or completely unknown, artists were also sent and also exhibited. They were on the whole very uneven in quality, due to the combination of haste and eagerness, but in that wartime context it was imperative for the government of the Republic to provide a response that would be echoed internationally. Among this second level of works an oil painting portrait was sent of Lina \u00d3dena dressed in her militiawoman\u2019s overalls, holding a pistol, with the air force insignia clearly visible. The work appears signed by \u201cJ. Pons\u201d, and is part of the Museu Nacional\u2019s collections.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

J. Pons. Lina \u00d3dena<\/em><\/a>, 1937. Oil on canvas, 100 \u00d7 75 cm. From Exposici\u00f3n Internacional de Par\u00eds, 1937. Museu Nacional d’Art de Catalunya.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In this propaganda\/counter-propaganda dialectic, several photomurals made by Josep Renau were also exhibited in the Pavilion of the Republic, one of which showed a militiawoman in action, also in overalls, probably the same age as Lina \u00d3dena.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Fotomural del Pabell\u00f3n de la Rep\u00fablica de Par\u00eds realizado por Josep Renau con la imagen de una miliciana.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Therefore the presence of the painting of Lina \u00d3dena in the Pavilion was wholly relevant in this dynamic, but the reading of the work \u2013 and its frame, highly distinctive \u2013 confirms it. The frame is austere, greenish in colour, and the name of the militiawoman is inscribed at the top in big letters. It is not at the bottom on a small plaque, as is often the case, but it is deliberately visible; in actual fact it functions as a kind of secular altar to a young martyr who had fought for the legitimate government against the military uprising. In this painting, the documentary nature prevails over the artistic, it is a creation made in a rush with just one objective, to be exhibited in the Pavilion of the Republic. The iconography refers us to the famous photograph by Gerda Taro of the militiawoman doing shooting practice on a beach, which could have inspired the painter of the work.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Gerda Taro. [Republican militiawoman training on the beach, outside Barcelona]<\/a>,<\/a> 1936. Gift of Cornell and Edith Capa, 1986. International Center of Photography<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the background, on the battlefield, a black soldier can be seen, almost certainly a reference to the African troops who fought on Franco\u2019s side. With regard to the colours, it is extremely garish, with the young woman very well dressed and wearing heeled shoes, so from an aesthetic point of view it is closer to a poster than to a conventional painting. When the work returned to Barcelona after being exhibited in the Pavilion, it was hidden in the Palau Nacional building \u2013 now the home of the Museu Nacional \u2013 for almost five decades, until 1986, when it was exhibited as part of a couple of consecutive temporary exhibitions about the Pavilion of the Republic, one in Madrid and the other in Barcelona. In 2017 it was chosen by the artist Francesc Torres to appear in the extraordinary exhibition The Entropic Box<\/a>,<\/em> held at the Museu Nacional, and it was reproduced in the exhibition catalogue. In 2021 it was exhibited permanently for the first time in the Modern Art rooms as a result of the reorganization and enlargement of the Civil War rooms, where it now is.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Photograph of the Modern Art room where the portrait of Lina \u00d3dena is exhibited.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

19 (?) November 1939. Model Prison, Barcelona<\/strong> <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Dolors, Llu\u00eds Serra\u2019s wife, went to see him in the Model prison on visiting day, and she became aware of the tragic news when she saw her husband\u2019s name on the feared list of executed prisoners. She went to collect her husband\u2019s personal belongings \u2013 most of which had been shared out among his cellmates \u2013 and found a goodbye letter addressed to her and their son Llu\u00eds, in which he asked her expressly never to hate those who had killed him. Hidden among the folded clothes she discovered a card with the picture of Lina \u00d3dena and the legend \u201cYouthful heroes\u201d, and the words to \u201cThe Internationale\u201d in Catalan on the back. This card, however, was returned to her with a bloodstain, still visible after all these years. It is not known who it belonged to.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure><\/div>
\"\"<\/figure><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Front and back of a card with the picture of Lina \u00d3dena and the words to \u201cThe Internationale\u201d in Catalan. Llu\u00eds Serra Sancho Collection.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

10 September 2021. El Prat de Llobregat<\/strong> <\/p>\n\n\n\n

On 10 September 2021 his son Llu\u00eds, who has kept this document all his life, was present in El Prat de Llobregat at the naming of a boulevard after his father<\/a>: \u201cPasseig de Llu\u00eds Serra Giribert, republican mayor executed at Camp de la Bota\u201d. At the unveiling ceremony of the name plaque, in a gesture full of symbolism, Llu\u00eds Serra Jr handed over the mayor\u2019s staff that had belonged to his father to Llu\u00eds Mijoler, the current mayor of El Prat. With regard to Lina \u00d3dena, her body was buried in the Patio de la Ermita cemetery in Granada, in grave 122, but over all the years it was never claimed by anybody and it ended up in the common ossuary. Despite that, her memory is very much present in the city of Barcelona. Not only is there a Casal Popular<\/em> (squatted building) named after her (Passatge de Batll\u00f3, 4 bis), but some gardens too, in Carrer de Sardenya.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Eduard Vall\u00e8s 18 November 1939. Camp de la Bota, Barcelona At a quarter to six in the morning Llu\u00eds Serra Giribert (Manresa, 1903 \u2013 Barcelona, 1939) was executed by firing squad at Camp de la Bota. He was 36. Born in Manresa, he was adopted by a well-to-do family in Horta de Sant Joan (Terra…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":29,"featured_media":34655,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[15,30,18,2,811,42],"tags":[362,1870,1867,1868,395,405,1871],"class_list":["post-34671","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-collection","category-communication","category-exhibitions","category-general-en","category-publications-en","category-research","tag-20th-century","tag-gerda-taro","tag-lina-odena","tag-lluis-serra-giribert","tag-modern-art","tag-spanish-civil-war","tag-spanish-republica","author-eduard-valles"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/blog.museunacional.cat\/wp-content\/uploads\/capcalera-22.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p4tWCI-91d","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.museunacional.cat\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34671","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.museunacional.cat\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.museunacional.cat\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.museunacional.cat\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/29"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.museunacional.cat\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=34671"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/blog.museunacional.cat\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34671\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":34679,"href":"https:\/\/blog.museunacional.cat\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34671\/revisions\/34679"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.museunacional.cat\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/34655"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.museunacional.cat\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=34671"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.museunacional.cat\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=34671"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.museunacional.cat\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=34671"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}