Gretel Ammann
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Margarita Ammann Martínez, better known as Gretel Ammann (17 January 1947 in Donostia – 2 May 2000 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 ...
) was a Spanish philosopher, essayist, activist, radical feminist, and lesbian separatist. She was a pioneer of feminism in Barcelona.


Early years and education

Margarita Ammann Martínez was born in Donostia. Her mother was Basque and her father was Austrian, a fugitive from
Nazi Germany Nazi Germany, officially known as the German Reich and later the Greater German Reich, was the German Reich, German state between 1933 and 1945, when Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party controlled the country, transforming it into a Totalit ...
. When she was two years old, the family moved to Barcelona, where she lived the rest of her life. From childhood, she was trained in different artistic disciplines, including writing, drawing, photography and music. During her baccalaureate and elementary school studies she studied at the German school in Barcelona, where she created her first magazine, in which she was very critical of the school's policies, leading her to being asked to leave. Ammann studied philosophy and literature at the
University of Barcelona The University of Barcelona (official name in ; UB), formerly also known as Central University of Barcelona (), is a public research university located in the city of Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain. It was established in 1450. With 76,000 students, ...
. In the first year, she organized a public poetry reading in which she performed her own poetry, accompanying herself on guitar with her own composition. She also established a student magazine. In 1971, Ammann went to Paris for a year, where she studied at the Sorbonne and learned French, one of five languages that she spoke fluently. After returning to Barcelona, she worked in various schools and academies before entering the ''Escola Tramuntana'' in
El Carmel El Carmel (), or simply Carmel, is a neighbourhood in the district of Horta-Guinardó, in Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain. Carmel is in the municipal district of Horta-Guinardó. The area was developed mainly in the 1960s and 1970s when immigrant w ...
.


Career


Activist

Ammann's involvement with working families led her to settle in the same neighbourhood where she worked, El Carmel, and to get involved in the politics of the neighbourhood and her school. Working in a clandestine manner in different militant parties and collectives, in 1976 Ammann joined the
Communist Movement of Catalonia Communist Movement of Catalonia (; MCC) was the federated political party of the Communist Movement (MC) in Catalonia. The MCC was founded in 1974. Ideology Originally the MCC was a Maoist party, inspired by the Chinese Cultural Revolution, but ov ...
, which was
Trotskyist Trotskyism (, ) is the political ideology and branch of Marxism developed by Russian revolutionary and intellectual Leon Trotsky along with some other members of the Left Opposition and the Fourth International. Trotsky described himself as an ...
-leaning. She was an active participant in movements in favour of peace and disarmament, ecology and human rights, but was above all an activist in the '' movimiento feminista'' and a defender of women's rights. She was a leader in lesbian issues in Catalonia and the rest of Spain.


Feminist

Throughout her life Ammann combined militancy and activism with her artistic side. From a very young age, she participated in the creation and promotion of women's groups and publications, most of them financed with her own money. In 1976, she participated in the first Jornadas Catalanas de la Mujer. In 1978, she created the first musical group of women. In the following year, she presented her work "Feminism of Difference" at the 2nd Jornadas Estatales sobre la Mujer en Granada, which served as a starting point for the long discussion of feminism throughout the Spanish state that would take place in the following years. In 1980, with three friends, Ammann opened the first Casa de la Dona on Cardenal Casanyes Street in Barcelona. This was the beginning of an intense feminist militancy. Ideologically, she defined herself as a
radical feminist Radical feminism is a perspective within feminism that calls for a radical re-ordering of society in which male supremacy is eliminated in all social and economic contexts, while recognizing that women's experiences are also affected by other ...
and
lesbian separatist Feminist separatism or separatist feminism is the theory that feminist opposition to patriarchy can be achieved through women's sex segregation from men.Christine Skelton, Becky Francis, ''Feminism and the Schooling Scandal'', Taylor & Francis, ...
. She translated and published the SCUM manifesto of
Valerie Solanas Valerie Jean Solanas (April 9, 1936 – April 25, 1988) was an American radical feminist known for her attempt to murder the artist Andy Warhol in 1968. Solanas appeared in the Warhol film '' I, a Man'' (1967) and self-published the '' SCU ...
, and contributed to the Spanish version of the book "Our bodies, our lives" by the Boston women's collective (ed. Icaria). In 1981, she created ''Amazonas'' magazine, an exclusively lesbian publication, and participated in the first television program on lesbianism broadcast by public television in the country. In 1984, Ammann founded the Center for Women's Studies "El Centro", a non-profit association from which various entities and projects would emerge. She was actively involved in the foundation of various different women's initiatives, such as the Assembly of Independent Feminists of Barcelona, the Cultural Association of Women "La Nostra Illa", ''Gram Teatro de mujeres'', the first feminist summer school, and the "Amazonas" network that organized the First Lesbian Week in Barcelona in 1987, with European participation.


Work

In 1989, Ammann created the magazine ''Laberint'', whose heading stated: "This magazine aims to open a debate from Radical Feminism and Separatist Lesbianism. For this, we contribute reflections, discussion, creations and information". There were 36 issues published, the last of them in 1999. Ammann contributed on behalf of all the demands of women's spaces, such as Casa la dona and the Francesca Bonmaison Women's Culture Center, as well as in the establishment of the Feminist Network of Catalonia. Most of Ammann's work was developed in conferences, meetings, journals, and assemblies, and was not published, or was published in what is called
grey literature Grey literature (or gray literature) is material and research produced by organizations outside of the traditional publishing, commercial or academic publishing and distribution channels. Common grey literature publication types include reports (a ...
, which does not use the usual channels of production and distribution. Upon her death in 2000, the Feminist Network published a compilation book of some of these texts, with the title ''Escritos'' ("Writings"). Her file of feminist documentation was donated to the Documentation Center of Ca la Dona, by her companion of the previous 18 years, Dolors Majoral.


References


Bibliography

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Ammann, Gretel People from San Sebastián 2000 deaths Lesbian feminists Lesbian separatists Spanish people of Austrian descent Spanish people of Basque descent Spanish women's rights activists 1947 births Spanish lesbian writers Spanish women philosophers Spanish essayists 20th-century Spanish women writers Spanish women essayists Radical feminists University of Barcelona alumni Spanish magazine publishers (people) American women magazine editors Women writers from Catalonia Philosophers from Catalonia 20th-century essayists 20th-century Spanish LGBTQ people