Elisabeth Eidenbenz

After the fall of the Spanish Republic many Republican exiles sought refuge in France, including the Roussillon, which is part of the Northern Catalonia region.

There, fenced in the beach without any infrastructure, with the sand as the only protection and without any sanitary measure, many of them died of malnutrition, disease and other afflictions.

Elisabeth had arrived in Madrid on April 24, 1937 as a volunteer as part of the aid team Ayuda Suiza but had relocated to the south of France.

She spoke[2] both Spanish and Catalan and, appalled by the situation of mothers and children amongst the refugees, Elisabeth decided to convert an abandoned mansion in Elne (adjacent to Argelès-sur-Mer) into a maternity home.

In 2002 her work started gaining recognition with the publication of several books on her life and a reunion just before Easter 2002 when 60 of the survivors she helped save reunited in Elne to honour La Señorita.