THE “POLITICAL PRISONERS” OF THE PENITENTIARY OUTPOST OF BENAGÉBER (VALENCIA,1941-1944)

Abstract

The presence of political prisoners working and shortening their sentences in the construction of dams at the end of the Civil War in the area of the Júcar Hydrographic Confederation (CHJ for its initials in Spanish), was a known fact but one which had not been studied. It was not known in which works they took part in, how many there were or who they were, nor for whom they actually worked. While undertaking a brief study on the history of the construction of the Alarcón Dam, I was able to confirm that a penitentiary outpost was built at Benagéber. This was the subject of my research project required to obtain my diploma in advanced studies. At the time the project was presented, information was available about very few of the working prisoners, despite there being almost 400 quoted in the bibliography. The opportunity to later access the archives of Valencia Prison in Picassent allowed me to obtain a copy of the prison records of 343 prisoners who worked in the Benagéber construction projects.