Giving birth in the middle of a war

During the Spanish Civil War, Madrid underwent a harsh siege at the hands of the rebel troops. Hunger and bombing were unremitting. The Casa de Salud de Santa Cristina became the Casa Central de Maternidad y Escuela Oficial de Matronas (Central Maternity and Official School of Midwifery) on August 24 1937. The Sisters of Charity abandoned the centre and the Trust changed after its members left their posts at the outbreak of the war. Management of the Trust fell to Dolores Ibárruri, La Pasionaria. Midwife Catalina Mayoral Arroyo was one of the spokespersons named by the Ministry of Health and Public Education. The corridor to the Levant allowed the OCEAR (Central Office for Aid to Refugees) to evacuate vulnerable infants to somewhere safer to live than a city in ruins.

Refuges for pregnant women were also set up, improvised maternity wards in places away from the frontline so that women could spend the last days of their pregnancy, their delivery and postpartum in peace. One of these was set up in the Palacio de los Gosálvez which had been abandoned by its owners. The palace was located in the «Puente de Don Juan» parkland, in the municipality of Casas de Benítez near Villalgordo del Júcar (Cuenca), about 200km from Madrid. In December 1936 a group of 200 pregnant women from Madrid made their way there along with midwife Carmen Parra and student María Gil, from the Central Maternity Hospital. In the photo they are looking out from the balcony. As many mothers were unwilling to leave their children behind, they were allowed to take those under 6 with them and a crèche was set up in a building near the palace. Despite all the careful preparation of these installations, the stay in the refuge was not as quiet as expected: in February 1937 an outbreak of measles in the crèche led to the death of several children. Shortly afterwards, a fire broke out, although fortunately there were no serious consequences for the refugees.