La depuración de las matronas de Madrid tras la Guerra Civil

Abstract

SUMARIO: 1.-Introducción. 2.-La implicación de varios Ministerios en la depuración de las matronas de Madrid. 3.-Depuración y sanción de las trabajadoras en la Universidad Central. 4.-Depuración y sanción de las matronas que actuaron como funcionarias de prisiones. 5.-La depuración de las matronas por el Colegio de Médicos de Madrid. 6.-Matronas sancionadas por el Colegio de Médicos de Madrid. 7.-Conclusiones.

Enfermería durante la guerra civil española y su posguerra (1936-1949): olvido e inhabilitación

“…During the Civil War, Francoist regime enacted the Political Responsibility Law of February 9, 1939, which established the rules for the purge of public employees. Therefore, all persons who had worked for the state, including health professionals, had to go through a purging process (Pérez Aguado et al, 2012;Domínguez Isabel et al, 2019;Ruiz-Berdún & Gomis Blanco, 2012).…”

“…The documents of health professionals who joined the Prison Corps during the Second Republic were reviewed by the judge who purged the prison staff and, ultimately, by the Ministry of Justice. However, the files of those midwives who worked in local corporations were reviewed by the General Directorate of Health and since 1940 by the Medical Associations of the different provinces (Ruiz-Berdún & Gomis Blanco, 2012). Therefore, some health professionals were subject to double repression, first with the Royal Decree of 21 July 1936, which brought about the dismissal of all public employees who had participated in the subversive movement or were against the Republic, and later, with the Law of 10 February 1939 of the Francoist side, which established the norms for the purge of public employees (Table 2).…”

“…This may have contributed to the fact that many midwives who practiced their profession at the beginning of the Civil War did not request their reincorporation after the war, for various reasons: fear of being purged, as they had acquired a certain relevance during the government of the Second Republic, due to their trade union significance until the Civil War and their involvement in assisting relevant women during the war, among others. Therefore, it can be considered that some midwives may have died during the conflict, others may have been imprisoned, and for many others exile outside Spain was their only option (Ruiz-Berdún & Gomis Blanco, 2012). The census conducted by the French government in the summer of 1939 indicates that the final count of Spanish exiles was approximately 527,843, including doctors, dentists, pharmacists, nurses, and optometrists (Guerra, 2002).…”

“…Thanks to it, Spain was a guiding example in public health matters for neighboring countries during the 1930s (Rodríguez Esteban, 2008). Many studies have been carried out on the social wounds that the Spanish Civil War produced in the civilian population, due to the existence of two sides (National side and Republican side), on the repression that the teaching community endured during the war and postwar, as well as on the fragmentation and paralysis experienced by the public institutions (Mirón- González, 2013;Ruiz-Berdún & Gomis Blanco, 2012). However, Spanish society is still unable to accurately quantify the demographic footprint of the conflict among health professionals (Atenza Fernández, 2008).…”