Maruja Lara (1917 - 2012)

Tue Sep 11, 1917

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Angustias Lara Sanchez, also known as “Maruja Lara”, was an anarchist author and member of the Mujeres Libres, born on this day in 1917 in Granada, Spain.

In Valencia, Lara became branch treasurer of the Mujeres Libres (Free Women) and got to know militants such as Lucia Sánchez Saornil, Suceso Portales, Isabel Mesa, and others. When the war ended in March 1939, she and Mesa got on to a truck for Almeria to catch a ship for Algeria, but was imprisoned in the infamous Francoist concentration camp of Albatera, where 25,000 people were murdered by the Francoists and thrown into mass graves.

After escaping Albatera, along with Isabel Mesa, she set up a newspaper kiosk in Valencia which secretly distributed the anarchist press. In 1942 with Isabel and others, she set up the underground group the Union of Democratic Women (UMD) to help prisoners and their families.

In 1955, Sanchez was arrested because of her anarchist activities. After the death of Franco, she was actively involved in the reconstruction of the CNT and supported the creation of the free radio station Radio Klara. In 1997, she also contributed to the anarchist journal “El Chico”.