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Victoria Kent
(March 3, 1891 - September 22, 1987) Spain

Victoria Kent

Lawyer, politician

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Victoria Kent Siano was born in Málaga, Spain. Shortly after her arrival in Madrid, she joined the Asociación Nacional de Mujeres Españolas y la Juventud Universitaria Femenina (a women's rights organization), directed by Maria Espinosa de los Monteros.

She became a member of the first Parliament of the Second Spanish Republic in 1931. That same year, the President of the Republic, Niceto Alcalá-Zamora, appointed her Director General of Prisons, a post she held until 1934, and she actively continued the reforms in the prison service.

Victoria was against giving women the right to vote immediately, arguing that, as Spanish women lacked at that moment social and political education enough to vote responsibly, they would be very much influenced by the Catholic priests, damaging left wing parties.

Due to the outbreak of the Civil War, Victoria Kent was forced to go into exile like many other Republicans. As she was going into exile, she helped children whose fathers were soldiers to be evacuated. She took refuge in Paris, and was named First Secretary of the Spanish Embassy in the capital so that she could continue taking care of refugee children. She was also responsible for the creation of shelters and nurseries for the same purpose.

She remained in Paris until the end of the Civil War, helping Spanish exiles in the capital and their departure to America. However, as Paris was being occupied on June 14, 1940 by the Nazi invasion (Wehrmacht), Victoria was forced to take refuge in the Mexican Embassy for a year.

After the Spanish Civil War, Victoria Kent went into exile in Mexico, but soon moved on to the United States. In New York City she published the Ibérica review from 1954 to 1974, which featured news for Spanish people exiled in the United States. This magazine was financed by Louise Crane for twenty years. In 1977, forty years after her exile in France, Victoria returned to Spain and was welcomed with affection and admiration. However, she came back to New York where she spent her last days.

She died in New York in 1987. Louise Crane and Victoria Kent are buried alongside each other at Umpawaug Cemetery, Redding, Connecticut.

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Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

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