Person
Champourcin, Ernestina de (1905-1999)Other forms
Vitoria-Gasteiz (Álava, España) 1905-07-10 - Madrid (España) 1999-03-27
Exiled Spanish poet. She was a member of the Generation of '27. Daughter of the French lawyer and deputy for Madrid, Antonio Michels de Champourcin y Tafanell, I Baron of Champourcin, and of Ernestina Morán de Laredo, from Montevideo. The family moved to Madrid and Ernestina started her first school years homeschooled. Later, she studied in the Sagrado Corazón school. She started writing poetry when she was still very young, influenced by modernist writers such as Rubén Darío and her teacher Juan Ramón Jiménez. She came into contact with the Generation of '27 through the Residencia de Estudiantes, where she attended conferences, with colleagues such as Concha Méndez. She interacted with poets such as Rafael Alberti. Once the Spanish Civil War broke out, her family found refuge in an embassy, as they were in favor of the Monarchy, and they had not sympathized with the republican system. She stayed at home, feeling the need to help, and she volunteered as a nurse in the hospital directed by Manuel Rivas Cherif and Lola Azaña. On 6 November 1936 she married the poet Juan José Domenchina. She had written for journals such as La Gaceta Literaria and Manantial, and in La Hora de España during the war. She did not participate in any political organization; nonetheless, her husband was a member of the Republican Left. They moved to Valencia when the Republican Government moved there as her husband was the director of the Information Bulletin of the Ministry of Propaganda, and she participated as a translator; later on, they moved to Barcelona until the president Azaña quitted Spain to go into exile. She and her family also crossed the border to France, and they moved to a house that Azaña offered them and other exiles. Once they obtained their diplomatic passports to be able to avoid having to enter a French concentration camp, they moved to Toulouse. They spent three months there until her husband received an invitation from the Casa de España in Mexico. They travelled to Mexico aboard the Flandre, arriving in Veracruz on 15 June 1939. Several weeks later, they moved to Mexico City. Her husband was hired by the Casa de España, and she started working as a translator for the UTEHA publishing house, and later for the Fondo de Cultura Español. She also collaborated in literary and women's magazines such as Romance y Rueca. She received Catholic religious training and her family attended church regularly. She did not stop attending church during the Spanish Civil War, even when it was complicated to do so. She had a religious crisis and joined the Opus Dei regilious christian group. Once her husband passed away, she returned to Spain in 1981 and passed away in 1999.
Description: Expedición que sale de Francia y llega a Veracruz en junio de 1939
Date of the event: 1939-06-15
Location associated with the date:
Date of the event: 1936 - 1939
El archivo personal de Ernestina Champourcin se custodia en el Archivo General de la Universidad de Navarra.
Balló, Tània. Las sinsombrero: sin ellas, la historia no está completa. Barcelona: Espasa. 2016. 301 páginas. ISBN: 978-84-670-4603-8.
Champourcin, Ernestina de. Aub, Elena. Proyecto de Historia Oral "Refugiados Españoles en México", Archivo de la Palabra, Instituto Nacional de Antropología e Historia (INAH), México : entrevista a Ernestina de Champourcin. Realizada Por Elena Aub [Para El Instituto Nacional de Antropología E Historia de México En Colaboración Con el Ministerio de Cultura de España]. [s.L.: S.N.]: 1979]. 63 H..
Pla Brugat, Dolores. Catálogo del fondo de historia oral : refugiados españoles en México : Archivo de la Palabra. 1ª ed.. Dolores Pla Brugat (coordinadora). México D.F.: Instituto Nacional de Antropología e Historia. 2011. 1 CD-ROM. 978-607-484-184-8.
Universidad de Navarra: Archivo General : Archivos personales