The Forgotten Contribution of Women Translators in International Sanitary Units and Relief Organizations During and in the Aftermath of the Spanish Civil War

Abstract:

In this article we aim to describe the pioneering endeavours of translators and interpreters Aileen Palmer, Nan Green and Rajsa Rothman in two different periods of their lives, before and after the end of Spanish Civil War in 1939.

In the first part of the article, we illustrate their personal, academic and professional backgrounds, as well as their duties as linguistic mediators within the foreign medical units integrated in the sanitary detachments of the International Brigades, or in the military health contingents of the Republican army during the Spanish civil confrontation, when most recruiting and learning happened in situ, in a time of scarce professional training.

In the second part of the article, we outline their translating assignments after the conflict, with special reference to their presence in relief organizations which tried to help thousands of Spanish civil war refugees, and in humanitarian missions reclaiming fair trials for political prisoners in Franco’s dictatorship, as well as to their ultimate professional practices in the state publishing houses of the communist parties of China and Vietnam.

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