Survivors of Women's Protection Board Demand Archive Access from State and Church

white tent on brown field during daytime — Levi Meir Clancy / Unsplash

Survivors of the Patronato de Protección de la Mujer have demanded that the state and the Catholic Church open their archives to reveal the truth about what occurred in these institutions.

These reformatories were administered by the Franco regime for young women who disagreed with the values of the regime. The survivors have called for the state and the church to go beyond symbolic forgiveness and to recognize the events that took place in these centers.

During a hearing before the investigation commission of the Parlament de Catalunya, witnesses described the centers as prisons for sins where there were no trials or convictions based on evidence. The institutions imprisoned young women who rejected Catholic and Francoist morality, including lesbians and women who became pregnant outside of marriage.

Operating from 1941 until 1985, the centers depended on the Ministry of Justice. Witnesses stated that the state handled the imprisonment while the church handled the indoctrination, with various religious orders, such as the Adoratrices, acting as the executing arm of the institution.

Interned mostly by their own families, the young women were subjected to psychological and physical punishments. The environment consisted of silence, prayer, and work intended to ensure submission and doctrine to nullify the individuals as people.

Survivors reported that they performed forced labor without pay for various companies, including Bic, Pronovias, the Solsona biscuit factory, and El Corte Inglés. One witness has requested payment for the time worked at these institutions.