PARES | Spanish Archives

Identification

Type:

Person

Preferred form:

Champourcin, Ernestina de (1905-1999)Other forms

Dates of existence/Biographical dates:

Vitoria-Gasteiz (Álava, España) 1905-07-10 - Madrid (España) 1999-03-27

History:

Spanish poetess that was member of the Generation of '27 and was exiled in Mexico. Daughter of lawyer and deputy for Madrid, Antonio Michels de Champourcin y Tafanell, I baron of Champourcin, and of Ernestina Morán de Laredo, who was born in Montevideo. Ernestina de Champourcin was born in Vitoria in 1905 in a well-off family. Her father was a lawyer of French origin but born in Barcelona, and his mother was a housewife of Uruguayan origin. They moved to Madrid and she started to study her basic studies with private teachers, and later studied in "Sagrado Corazón" school. She soon began writing poems, influenced by modernist writers like Rubén Darío and Juan Ramón Jiménez, who was her master. She was in contact with the Generation of '27 through the "Residencia de Estudiantes", where she attended speeches with other colleagues like Concha Méndez. She met other poets like Rafael Alberti.

When the Spanish Civil War started, her family took shelter in an embassy because they were in favour of the monarchy and against the Republic. However, Ernestina stayed in her home and volunteered as nurse in the hospital led by Manuel Rivas Cherif and Lola Azaña.

The 6th November 1936, she married the poet Juan José Domenchina. She wrote in magazines such as "La Gaceta Literaria", "Manantial" and "La Hora de España" during the war. She did not take part in any political organization, though her husband did with the Republican Left. They moved to Valencia when the Republican Government did the same, because her husband was the director of the Information Sheet of the Ministry of Propaganda, where she worked as translator. They later moved to Barcelona until President Azaña left Spain. She and her husband's family had a close relationship with the President of the Republic and, following his advise, they went to France and took shelter in a house that the President himslef borrowed to them, among others. When they managed to get a diplomatic passport for the whole family, thus avoiding the concentration camps, they headed to Toulouse. They were there three months until her husband was invited to the "Casa de España" in Mexico.

They travelled on board "Flandre" ship and arrived to Veracruz (Mexico) the 15th June 1939. Some weeks later, they moved to Mexico City. Her husband was hired by the "Casa de España" and she began working as translator in the publishing house "UTEHA", and later in the "Fondo de Cultura Español". She also collaborated in literary and feminine magazines like "Romance" and "Rueca". She was raised in Catholicism and her family was practicing and she did not abandon her beliefs during the war, despite the difficulties. However, she had a religious crisis and introduce herself in the catholic group Opus Dei. She went back to Spain when her husband died in 1980. She passed away in 1990.

República Española, 1931-1939

Flandre (barco de vapor)

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: Puerto de Veracruz (México)

Spanish Civil War, 1936-1939

Date of the event: 1936 - 1939

Context:

El archivo personal de Ernestina Champourcin se custodia en el Archivo General de la Universidad de Navarra.

Occupations

Translators Obs.: de propaganda política y obras literiarias

Profession (carried on by):

Authors

Profession (carried on by):

Poetas españoles

Places

Sources

Balló, Tània. Las sinsombrero: sin ellas, la historia no está completa. Barcelona: Espasa. 2016. 301 páginas. ISBN: 978-84-670-4603-8.

Bibliothèque nationale de France

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..

DBpedia

Library of Congress National Authority File

CCBAE: Registro de Autoridad de Ernestina de Champourcín

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.