Maria Rosa Alorda Gràcia

Catalan anarchist and anarcho-syndicalist militant. From the age of 11 she began working in a clothing factory as a seamstress, learning to read and write in the rationalist school of the Calle Verdi de Gràcia and at the Ateneu Popular Vila, where she later worked as a teacher. A member of the Juventudes Libertarias, with the fascist coup of 1936 she enlisted in the Ferrer Carod, going to the Aragon front, where she taught militiamen who had not gone to school to read and write. Pregnant with her daughter Blanca, Blesa leaves and returns to Barcelona, ​​where postpartum she worked at the ammunition and weapons factory located in the former 'La Voz de su Amo' (Voice of his Master) record factory. During the Franco era she was the liaison between the committees of the underground CNT and sheltered many on-the-run comrades. Federica Montseny Mañé stayed in her home during her visit she made to Barcelona after Franco's death.

Maria Rosa Alorda Gràcia died January 11, 2006 in Barcelona. Her partner, Alfonso Sanchez Cruzado – who was interned in the Albatera concentration camp and after his release worked as a driver, using his vehicle to transport clandestine propaganda – and her daughter, Blanca Cruzado Alorda, were also anarchist militants.