Elvira Ballesté Naval, “Elvireta” (1928-2009)

Elvira Ballesté Naval was born on 30 November 1928 in Albelda (Huesca). The daugter of Elvira Naval and Roque Ballesté, she had two brothers Roque and Antonio, and one sister, Pilar. As she was the youngest, she was always called by the diminutive of her name, Elvireta.

The outbreak of the Civil War turned her family life upside down. Elvira was 8 years old. At that time her brother Roque was doing the military service in Jaca but decided to go over to the Republican and join the Durruti Column. As the war progressed, the Column was reorganised into the 26^th military Division under the command of Ricardo Sanz. Her brother Anthonio also decided to enlist after having been called up. Elvireta’s sister Pilar was entrusted with the direction of a colony of orphans in Llançà.

Meanwhile, Elvireta continued to live in Albelda with her parents, and they lived there until Franco’s troops arrived at their place. In Albeda, as in most places in Republican Aragon, the power vacuum that followed the uprising, together with the arrival of militia troops from Catalonia, led to the introduction of collectivism. With the dissolution of the Consell d’Aragó in August 1937, the collectivist structure of the region was dismantled. Regardless of his sympathies towards this revolutionary movement, Roque Balasté –Elvira’s father– felt compelled to join the local collectivity. Both his sons were fighting on the front, so he could not count on their work, and he could not replace them either with temporary labourers for the very same reason.

Fearing repression, in March 1938 most villagers left Albelda for Catalonia. Elvireta and her parents moved to a nearby town past Albelda, Castillonroy, as her brother Roque had warned them about the danger of escaping to Catalonia because of the constant fascist bombings. But soon after, Castillonroy was also taken by Franco’s troops. Since they were already on the rebel side, and afraid of having their properties looted, they returned to Albelda.

After the Republican Aragon was occupied by Franco’s troops, the repression against the defeated began. At 11 am on 26 July 1938, the Guardia Civil showed up at their home to arrest Elvireta’s father. Although her uncle, José Ballesté, was the first Francoist mayor of the village –thanks to his connections with Falange and the Catholic Centre–, he could not do anything to prevent Roque’s arrest. The following morning, as her wife was about to bring him some food, she saw a body leaving the police station. She recognized his shoes: “I came to bring lunch to my husband, although I think it will not be necessary after all, since I recognized his shoes, my husband’s shoes, the man you have murdered”. Although the authorities told her he had committed suicide in his cell, the ceiling was not high enough, the body showed signs of have been beaten up and it was covered in blood.

Elvireta’s mother was totally devastated, so the then ten-year-old girl became the family’s main pillar. At that time, she started going to school, as they had decided to move in with one of her uncles. Soon after, her mother fell ill. The repression continued and, this time, it hit Elvireta’s mother, who was arrested for allegedly acting as a liaison to the Republican army. Apparently, the Francoist authorities had found a letter addressed to her from her children, who were still on the battlefield. She was later tried in a court-martial in Tremp, where she was sentenced to prison. There, Elvireta provided for her mother’s needs through a woman in Lleida who brought food to the prisoners. With the help of her uncle, Elvireta tried to secure the little help she could provide and walked all the miles it took to reach Lleida.

With the fall of Catalonia, her brothers went into exile. Her sister Pilar immediately travelled to Figueres to look for Antonio, who had been injured in the war. He had been abandoned in the hospital, and Pilar managed to rescue him and take him to the French border using a cart to transport him. And then she returned to the colony and was transferred with all the orphans to the camp in Pas-de-Calais. With the occupation of France by the Nazis, the colony was dismantled and Pilar was transferred to Argelès-sur-Mer. Later, she reunited with her brothers.

In 1939, Elvira was practically alone. And in addition to that, she had to face 15,000 pesetas fine imposed on her father in accordance with the recently adopted Act of Political Responsibilities for sympathising with the Republic. And so Elvireta, who at that time was only 11 years old, had to go to the Civil Register in Tamarit to settle the matter. In order to have the fine cancelled, she engaged in a lengthy institutional claim in which she acted as a plaintiff although she was still a minor. The role played by the two officially accredited registering bodies, both on the part of the Town Council and on the part of the local parish, was particularly repressive. First, they refused to issue a death certificate for Elvireta’s father, and without the certificate she could not cancel her father’s debt and all his remaining assets were at risk.  The village’s chaplain, Juan Fusté Vila, proposed as a solution to issue a death certificate stating that the death should be attributed to “natural causes” and that he had been found dead in his cell. This way, the debt could be cancelled. But although she was only 11, Elvireta refused to sign such a lie. Her father had not died, he had been beaten up to death. Elvireta refused to sign, claiming that she was still a minor. Finally, after a long and lengthy procedure and several interrogations at the Tamarit court, the penalty was cancelled and she was able to keep her father’s assets.

Elvireta had to leave school again in march 1942 after her mother became seriously ill. Severely weakened by her time in prison, she died of a stroke in 1942, a year after her release. Elvireta was barely 14 years old when she became an orphan. Overwhelmed by the pressure caused by the repression of the defeated, and unable to manage with her uncles their heavily taxed estate, she fought the authorities for a tax rebate.

At the age of 16, she decided to resume studying at the Dominiques of Lleida, where she stayed for two years. Since she was under strong surveillance and the regime knew she had relatives abroad, she had to set up a plan with the nuns, who certified that she was staying with them throughout the year so the authorities would let her go to Andorra to visit some friends. Once in Andorra, she crossed the border and was reunited with her brothers.

After that, she went back to Albelda and waited for her brothers to return. They returned after having asked for the pardon granted by Franco to the fugitives. Roque returned in 1947. Pilar also returned to divide the property equally among them, although she ended up going back to Paris to her family. Antonio, however, never wanted to return.

Elvireta passed away in 2009 at the age of 81 in complete anonymity. Maria Antònia, Elvireta’s niece, wrote this poem in her memory:

I just want to open

that silence of yours

–that long forgetfulness

of the memoirs

that you secretly

share with your soul.

Uncover the truth

without fear.

Make justice to your

that belongs to everyone.

Give back its colour

to the universe

to feel the dawn

and the sunset.

Miserly those who tore

your childhood dream.

What was left between the hands

of those who murdered

your father?

They don’t even deserve a word.

I shall sing to you;

to your strength.

I shall sing to you.

You, who survived the holocaust

and populated the future

with smiles and roses.

I want to raise the flag

of the love you inspire in me.

Praise your pain, 

this pain that

is now my heritage

and show it to the children

of the Earth.

I shall sing to you.

I want the world to know you,

Elvira.

I want to sing the shadows

to revive the flight

of your lights.