Colette Durruti Morin (1931–2025) was a Spanish-French

businesswoman A businessperson, also referred to as a businessman or businesswoman, is an individual who has founded, owns, or holds shares in (including as an angel investor) a private-sector company. A businessperson undertakes activities (commercial ...

and

activist Activism consists of efforts to promote, impede, direct or intervene in social, political, economic or environmental reform with the desire to make changes in society toward a perceived common good. Forms of activism range from mandate build ...

. The daughter of the

Spanish anarchist Anarchism in Spain has historically gained some support and influence, especially before Francisco Franco's victory in the Spanish Civil War of 1936–1939, when it played an active political role and is considered the end of the golden age of c ...

Buenaventura Durruti José Buenaventura Durruti Dumange (14 July 1896 – 20 November 1936) was a Spanish anarchist revolutionary involved with the CNT and the FAI in the periods before and during the Spanish Civil War of 1936–1939. Durruti played an influe ...

and the

French anarchist Anarchism in France can trace its roots to thinker Pierre-Joseph Proudhon, who grew up during the Restoration and was the first self-described anarchist. French anarchists fought in the Spanish Civil War as volunteers in the International Brigad ...

Émilienne Morin Émilienne Léontine Morin (29 October 1901 – 14 February 1991) was a French anarchist activist, journalist and stenographer. Born into an anarcho-syndicalist family, she joined the French anarchist movement at an early age, going on to wri ...

, she grew up in poverty and constantly moving. After her father was

killed in action Killed in action (KIA) is a casualty classification generally used by militaries to describe the deaths of their personnel at the hands of enemy or hostile forces at the moment of action. The United States Department of Defense, for example, ...

in the

Spanish Civil War The Spanish Civil War () was a military conflict fought from 1936 to 1939 between the Republican faction (Spanish Civil War), Republicans and the Nationalist faction (Spanish Civil War), Nationalists. Republicans were loyal to the Left-wing p ...

, her mother took her to France, where she lived for the rest of her life. She involved herself in campaigns to preserve the historical memory of her father and later moved to

Brittany Brittany ( ) is a peninsula, historical country and cultural area in the north-west of modern France, covering the western part of what was known as Armorica in Roman Gaul. It became an Kingdom of Brittany, independent kingdom and then a Duch ...

. There she ran a dairy business, raised her family and provided

primary source In the study of history as an academic discipline, a primary source (also called an original source) is an Artifact (archaeology), artifact, document, diary, manuscript, autobiography, recording, or any other source of information that was cre ...

s about her father to historians until she retired to

Northern Catalonia Northern Catalonia, North Catalonia or French Catalonia is the Catalan language, Catalan-speaking and cultural territory ceded to France by Spain through the signing of the Treaty of the Pyrenees in 1659 in exchange for France's effective renu ...

Biography

Colette Durruti Morin was born in

Barcelona Barcelona ( ; ; ) is a city on the northeastern coast of Spain. It is the capital and largest city of the autonomous community of Catalonia, as well as the second-most populous municipality of Spain. With a population of 1.6 million within c ...

, on 4 December 1931, the daughter of the Spanish anarchist

and French anarchist

. Her family lived in poverty at the time of her birth, with her father having to charge a former employer an

indemnity In contract law, an indemnity is a contractual obligation of one party (the ''indemnitor'') to compensate the loss incurred by another party (the ''indemnitee'') due to the relevant acts of the indemnitor or any other party. The duty to indemni ...

to buy her essential items. When Durruti was only two months old, on 10 February 1932, her father was arrested and deported to Africa for his involvement in an anarchist insurrection. To provide for her without her father, her mother took a job as an usher at a cinema and left her in the care of the trade union activist Teresa Margaleff. By the time her father was able to return home and stay there, following the proclamation of an

amnesty Amnesty () is defined as "A pardon extended by the government to a group or class of people, usually for a political offense; the act of a sovereign power officially forgiving certain classes of people who are subject to trial but have not yet be ...

in 1934, Durruti had grown and learnt to walk and speak without her father's presence. He returned to caring for his daughter, singing her revolutionary songs as he bathed and fed her. Following the outbreak of the

, Durruti's parents went to fight on the and left her in the care of Margaleff. She was only five years old when her father was

, but she remembered him affectionately. Her father's friend Joan Garcia Oliver held Durruti up as an example of "all the children whose parents have perished". Her mother returned to Barcelona to care for her, seeking to raise her in accordance with her anarchist ideals. Not long after her father's death, Durruti left Spain together with her mother and went into exile in

France France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...

. Durruti grew up in France, becoming a

French citizen French nationality law is historically based on the principles of ''jus soli'' (Latin for "right of soil") and ''jus sanguinis'', (Latin for "right of blood") according to Ernest Renan's definition, in opposition to the German definition of nat ...

after she married Roger Mariot in the 1950s. Together they had two children: Yvon and Rémi. Durruti rarely participated in any anarchist campaigns, whether by Spanish exiles or local French activists. Her activism was largely dedicated to preserving the historical memory of her father. Anti-Francoist activist , who met Durruti during the 1950s, described her approach to activism as " tokenistic". By the 1970s, she was living in the

Breton Breton most often refers to: *anything associated with Brittany, and generally **Breton people **Breton language, a Southwestern Brittonic Celtic language of the Indo-European language family, spoken in Brittany ** Breton (horse), a breed **Gale ...

city of Kemper. There she managed a dairy company until her retirement. Durruti provided letters written by her father to

Abel Paz Abel Paz (August 12, 1921 – April 13, 2009) was a Spanish anarchist and historian who fought in the Spanish Civil War. He wrote multiple volumes on anarchist history, including a biography of Buenaventura Durruti, an influential anarchist dur ...

, who used them as

s while writing the biography ''Durruti in the Spanish Revolution''. On 29 May 1971, she was interviewed about her father by the German writer

Hans Magnus Enzensberger Hans Magnus Enzensberger (11 November 1929 – 24 November 2022) was a German author, poet, translator, and editor. He also wrote under the pseudonyms Andreas Thalmayr, Elisabeth Ambras, Linda Quilt and Giorgio Pellizzi. Enzensberger was regarde ...

. She told him that: Durruti retired to

, where she died on 19 April 2025.

References

Bibliography

* * * *

Biography

References

Bibliography

Further reading