Eva Forest
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Eva Forest | |
|---|---|
| Born | 6 April 1928 Barcelona, Spain |
| Died | 19 May 2007 (aged 79) Hondarribia, Spain |
| Pen name | Julen Agirre |
| Genre | Political literature |
| Spouse | Alfonso Sastre |
Genoveva Forest Tarrat (6 April 1928 – 19 May 2007) was a Spanish far-left activist, writer and political prisoner. Born into an anarchist family in Barcelona, she studied medicine in Madrid. During the 1970s, she supported the Basque separatist group ETA in their resistance to the government of dictator Francisco Franco. From 1974 to 1977, she was imprisoned for alleged complicity in the Cafetería Rolando bombing (1973) which killed 13 people in Madrid. After Spain's transition to democracy, she served a term as a senator from 1992 until 1993. The wife of the Spanish writer Alfonso Sastre, she died in May 2007.
Forest's writings were political in nature. Her best known books include Operación Ogro: Cómo y por qué ejecutamos a Carrero Blanco (1974), an account of the murder of the Spanish general Luis Carrero Blanco, and Testimonios de lucha y resistencia (1976), a testimony to the situation of political prisoners and the use of torture. Her first narrative text, Onintze en el país de la democracia (1985), is a fictional account of political violence under a democratic regime.
Life and education
Eva Forest was born in April 1928 in Barcelona. Her parents were anarchists and did not enrol their daughter in formal education until the end of the Spanish Civil War in 1939.[1] In 1950, she moved to Madrid to study medicine. It was there that she met her future husband,[1] the writer and critic of the Francoist government Alfonso Sastre.[2] Having been arrested in the 1956 university protests, Sastre and Forest fled to Paris where they lived in exile until 1962.[1]
Activism
After her return from France, Forest led a women's demonstration supporting the Asturian miners' strike of 1962, and was imprisoned for a month upon refusing to pay the resulting fine. Having visited Cuba in 1966, she began both her career as a writer as well as an organisational activist: she published a book about Cuba (Los Nuevos Cubanos) and founded solitary committee for the island nation, followed by two illicit bulletins. During this period, she joined the Communist Party of Spain.[1]
In the early 1970, Forest became increasingly involved in the affairs of the Basque separatist group ETA. She founded a solidarity group for those members of the organisation who were subject to controversial death sentences at the Burgos trials (1970).[1] In 1974, having been approach by ETA,[3] she published a book about the assassination of Luis Carrero Blanco, a confidant of the Spanish dictator Francisco Franco (Operación Ogro) under the pseudonym Julen Agirre. Sympathetic to the Basque cause, the book was one of the reasons which led to Forest being imprisoned in the same year for alleged complicity in the Cafetería Rolando bombing which killed 13 people in Madrid.[2] Her imprisonment, during which she suffered "interrogation and torture", lasted from 1974 to 1977.[2] After her release, she and her husband settled in Hondarribia, Basque Country and continued to support the cause of Basque nationalism at Herri Batasuna, a far-left political party.[1]
Later life
Eva Forest | |
|---|---|
| Member of the Senate of Spain | |
| In office 13 May 1992 – 13 April 1993 | |
| Constituency | Gipuzkoa |
| Personal details | |
| Political party | Herri Batasuna |
In her later life, Forest engaged in the party politics that emerged from Spain's transition to democracy. Running for Herri Batasuna, she was elected to the Senate of Spain[4] for Gipuzkoa[5] in the 1992. She served in this position until 1993.[1] In 2005, she joined the Basque party Herritarren Zerrenda which was later declared unconstitutional by the Spanish Supreme Court.[4] She died in May 2007, aged 79, after a long period of illness.[4] She was survived by her husband Alphonso and their three children, Juan, Pablo and Eva.[1]
Literary work
Forest's writings, all centred around political themes, were concerned with the resistance to Spain's dictatorship, the fight for Basque independence and political violence. Two of her widely known works (Diario y cartas desde la cárcel, 1975 and Testimonios de lucha y resistencia, 1976) are testimonies to her experience in prison and the use of torture. Her book on the murder of Luis Carrero Blanco (Operación Ogro: Cómo y por qué ejecutamos a Carrero Blanco, 1974) sheds light on ETA's motives and tactics in carrying out the crime. Her fist attempt at narrative writing, Onintze en el país de la democracia (1985), is a fictional account of political violence under a democratic regime.[2]
References
- ^ a b c d e f g h Eaude, Michael (6 June 2007). "Eva Forest: Spanish revolutionary, psychiatrist and writer who supported Eta". The Guardian.
- ^ a b c d Morocco, Glenn (2002). "Forest Eva (1928-)". In Ihrie, Maureen; Perez, Janet (eds.). The Feminist Encyclopedia of Spanish Literature. Vol. 1. Westport. pp. 240–2.
{{cite encyclopedia}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link) - ^ Casanova & Asensio 1999, p. 173.
- ^ a b c Gastaminza, Genoveva (21 May 2007). "Eva Forest, escritora e intelectual fiel al compromiso 'abertzale'". El Pais.
- ^ "Forest Tarrat, Genoveva". Senado de España. Retrieved 2020-11-18.
Bibliography
- Casanova, Iker; Asensio, Paul (1999). Argala. Tafalla. ISBN 978-8481361421.
{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
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