Conchita Grangé Beleta

Conchita Grangé Beleta
Born(1925-08-06)August 6, 1925
Espui, Catalonia, Spain
DiedAugust 27, 2019(2019-08-27) (aged 94)
Toulouse, France
CitizenshipSpanish, French
OccupationsResistance fighter, activist
Known forParticipation in the French Resistance, surviving Nazi concentration camps
SpouseJosep Ramos (married in 1946)
AwardsLegion of Honor, Medal of the Resistance, National Order of Merit, War Cross 1939-1945

Conchita Grangé Beleta (August 6, 1925, Espui - August 27, 2019, Toulouse), also known as Conchita Ramos, was a Spanish-born French Resistance fighter and Nazi concentration camps survivor.

Biography

Early life

Conchita Grangé Beleta was born on August 6, 1925, in Espui, in the province of Lleida, Catalonia. The daughter of Josep Grangé and Maria Beleta, she was one of eight siblings. Due to her mother's illness, she was entrusted at a very young age to her maternal uncle and aunt, Jaime Beleta and Elvira Ibarz, who lived in Toulouse, where she spent part of her childhood.[1][2][3][4]

Spanish Civil War

In 1936, at the outbreak of the Spanish Civil War, the family returned to Catalonia to support the Spanish Republic.[5][2] Her uncle Jaime participated in the construction of military airfields until the Republican defeat, after which they took refuge in France, settling in Gudas, Ariège.[3]

World War II

During World War II, at the age of 17, Conchita Ramos joined the French Resistance, operating mainly in Haute-Garonne and Ariège. She was integrated into the 3rd guerrilla brigade in April 1943.[1] Under the pseudonyms "Nina" or "la Neboudo" (meaning "the niece" in Occitan),[6][7] she served as a liaison agent,[8] transporting messages and weapons by bicycle[8] and facilitating crossings between France and Spain.[9]

After being denounced, on May 24, 1944, the Foix French Militia (political police created under the Occupation)[10][11] raided her house in Gudas, where she was hiding resistance fighters.[12][5][13] Arrested along with her aunt Elvira Ibarz [es] and her cousin María Ferrer,[14][1] she was first imprisoned in Foix, then in Caffarelli barracks in Toulouse,[15] then transferred to Saint-Michel prison in Toulouse,[8] then handed to the Gestapo for interrogation.[16][17][1] She endured seven interrogations and torture inflicted by the Gestapo, never revealing any information.[1][18]

On July 3, 1944, Conchita Ramos was deported on the "phantom train [fr]", a convoy that departed from Toulouse with around 800 prisoners to reach the Dachau concentration camp on August 28, 1944.[8][19][20][17] Upon arrival, she was registered under the number 93,887.[21] On September 9, 1944, she was transferred to the Ravensbrück camp,[22][3][23] where she received the number 62,480,[24][15] then to the Oranienburg-Sachsenhausen camp.[8][9][22] In 1945, she survived the death marches before being liberated by the Red Army in May.[8][9][25][26]

After World War II

After the war, she returned to France and settled in Toulouse.[22] In 1946, she married Josep Ramos, a former Catalan guerrilla fighter,[6][1] and became actively involved in preserving the memory of the Resistance and the Deportation. She participated in the activities of the Museum of Resistance and Deportation of Haute-Garonne from its inception and tirelessly shared her testimony with younger generations.[12][9][1]

Death

Conchita Grangé Beleta died on August 27, 2019, in Toulouse, at the age of 94.[8][27][3]

Legacy

Conchita Grangé Ramos Square (Toulouse)

Throughout her life, she received numerous honorary distinctions, including the Legion of Honor,[7] the Medal of the Resistance, the National Order of Merit,[6][9] and the War Cross 1939–1945.[8] In tribute to her commitment, a public square in the La Reynerie district of Toulouse bears her name.[28]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g Llor, Montserrat (June 13, 2010). "Supervivientes españolas en el infierno nazi". El País (in Spanish). ISSN 1134-6582. Archived from the original on January 2, 2013. Retrieved March 30, 2025.
  2. ^ a b "El Govern homenajeará a Conxita Grangé, última superviviente campo exterminio". La Vanguardia (in Spanish). July 25, 2019. Retrieved March 30, 2025.
  3. ^ a b c d "Government of Catalonia recognises Conxita Grangé for keeping alive the memory of the Holocaust and fighting fascism". catalangovernment.eu. Retrieved March 30, 2025.
  4. ^ "Mor la pallaresa Conxita Grangé, última supervivent catalana del camp de concentració de Ravensbrück". Viure als Pirineus (in Catalan). August 27, 2019. Retrieved March 30, 2025.
  5. ^ a b Cohn-Bendit, Daniel; Lemoine, Patrick (January 12, 2023). Français mais pas Gaulois - Des étrangers qui ont fait la France (in French). Groupe Robert Laffont. ISBN 978-2-221-26095-1.
  6. ^ a b c "L'Ordre du Mérite pour Conchita Ramos". ladepeche.fr (in French). Retrieved March 30, 2025.
  7. ^ a b Guerre, Association départementale de la Haute-Garonne les Filles et Fils des Tués- Morts pour la France Orphelins de (January 10, 2022). Le regard des pupilles 39-45 (in French). BoD - Books on Demand. ISBN 978-2-322-42231-9.
  8. ^ a b c d e f g h "Toulouse : Conchita Ramos, résistante et déportée, s'est éteinte". France 3 Occitanie (in French). August 29, 2019. Retrieved March 30, 2025.
  9. ^ a b c d e "Décès de la résistante Conchita Ramos". Haute-Garonne (in French). Retrieved March 30, 2025.
  10. ^ Laurens, André (1982). Une police politique sous l'Occupation: la Milice française en Ariège, 1942-1944 (in French). Centre Departemental de Documentation Pedagogique de L'ariege.
  11. ^ Szapiro, Élie; Cohen, Monique Lise; Léoutre, Pierre; Malo, Eric (January 17, 2014). Histoire des communautés juives de Toulouse des origines jusqu'au IIIè millénaire (in French). Books on Demand. ISBN 978-2-322-02765-1.
  12. ^ a b "La résistante Conchita n'est plus". ladepeche.fr (in French). August 29, 2019. Archived from the original on March 30, 2025. Retrieved March 30, 2025.
  13. ^ Nadouce, Suzel (2001). Et un train noir les emporta: les déportés de Varilhes (in French). Suzel Nadouce. ISBN 978-2-9512229-1-5.
  14. ^ Agustí, Ferran Sánchez (October 1, 2011). Maquis en el Alto Aragón (in Catalan). . ISBN 978-84-9743-552-9.
  15. ^ a b "Conxita Grangé Beleta". Banc de la Memòria Democràtica (in Catalan). Retrieved March 30, 2025.
  16. ^ Lutaud, Laurent; Scala, Patricia Di (2003). Les naufragés et les rescapés du "Train fantôme" (in French). Harmattan. ISBN 978-2-7475-3679-0.
  17. ^ a b Bois, Guy (2015). La revolución del año mil: Lournand, aldea del Mâconnais, de la antigüedad al feudalismo (in Spanish). Grupo Planeta (GBS). ISBN 978-84-9892-825-9.
  18. ^ "Funeral of last Catalan Ravensbrück concentration camp survivor held in Toulouse". www.catalannews.com. September 4, 2019. Retrieved March 30, 2025.
  19. ^ "Bordeaux et la Seconde Guerre mondiale : l’histoire du « train fantôme » qui a mis deux mois pour parvenir à Dachau" par Jean-Paul Vigneaud, Sud-Ouest, 4 juillet 2023.
  20. ^ "Histoire. Sur les traces des déportés du train fantôme". Lettre du cheminot (in French). September 22, 2018. Retrieved March 30, 2025.
  21. ^ Orquín, Amalia Rosado (June 17, 2024). Españolas en los campos nazis (in Spanish). Los Libros De La Catarata. ISBN 978-84-1352-995-0.
  22. ^ a b c Pike, David Wingeate (September 2, 2003). Spaniards in the Holocaust: Mauthausen, Horror on the Danube. Routledge. ISBN 978-1-134-58712-4.
  23. ^ "La increíble historia de las 11 españolas que sobrevivieron al horror de Ravensbrück, el campo de concentración de mujeres". BBC News Mundo (in Spanish). Retrieved March 30, 2025.
  24. ^ "L'odyssée des déportés du train fantôme - Le Vernet 30-06-1944". www.lesdeportesdutrainfantome.org. Retrieved March 30, 2025.
  25. ^ Meerwald, Johannes (September 28, 2022). Spanische Häftlinge in Dachau: Bürgerkrieg, KZ-Haft und Exil (in German). Wallstein Verlag. ISBN 978-3-8353-4951-3.
  26. ^ "Acte d'homenatge a Conxita Grangé". Memorial Democràtic (in Catalan). Archived from the original on June 16, 2023. Retrieved March 30, 2025.
  27. ^ "Résistante en Ariège, Conchita Ramos s'est éteinte à 94 ans". La Gazette Ariégeoise (in French). August 29, 2019. Retrieved March 30, 2025.
  28. ^ "Centre culturel de quartier Reynerie". Toulouse Mairie Métropole, site officiel. (in French). May 15, 2025. Retrieved March 30, 2025.
allikas: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conchita_Grang%C3%A9_Beleta