Summary
MERME project focused on the contribution of the women rights’ movement to the democracy in Europe and gave to all of them the visibility they deserved; starting with the fight for the women right to vote, accomplished in Spain in 1933 and going through the women resistance during the fight against fascism in the Spanish Civil War and the Second World War. The women struggle was complex, while fighting for their rights they also remained, in some cases, involved with their traditional family roles, as mothers, wives and sisters, and this fact undeniably affected their decisions to join the fight. The specific objectives persuaded by the project were:-To promote, stimulate and support all cultural actions, in the broadest terms, related to the mission and activity concerning the preservation, dissemination and research of the role of women in the construction of today's Europe-To serve as a meeting and information platform for researchers, organizations and European entities-To reach collaboration agreements with other national or international associations of similar characteristics and objectives-To promote activities at European level such as conferences, videos, cultural events, commemorations and tributesThe main focus of the project's activities was a travelling exhibition that explained the timeline of women's various contributions to democracy in Europe, focusing on their struggle against fascism. The exhibition toured several European cities: Tulle, France (“FEMMES RÉSISTANTES”, from 8th to 24th of October 2021), Madrid, Spain (“MUJERES RESISTENTES”, from 5th to 26th of November 2021), Bari, Italy (“DONNE RESISTENTI”, from 21st of January to 6th of February 2022) and Aachen, Germany (“FRAUEN IN WIDERSTAND” from 3rd to 31st of March 2022). In each city a presentation was held with members of the ARMH and renowned researchers from the area. It should be also noted that, in each complementary event of the project, priority was given to the knowledge of the facts through the living and family testimonies of the main characters of the history that was being tried to shed light on. Furthermore, the exhibition was complemented by conferences that provided a greater understanding of the context of the project. In addition, cultural events and pedagogical/ thematic visits were held in parallel at the different sites and focused on the importance of women in the democratic construction of Europe.In the events organised, members of ARMF, known researchers and experts on the area have delivered the presentations. Also, it is important to mention the proximity of the members of ARMF to the project topics, having these (or their relatives) living testimonies of the main characters in the events, what states the importance of first-hand knowledge of the history they were trying to give light to with this project. Furthermore, 35 organisations and 20 people from the four countries involved were collaborating in this project (concretely, 19 associated entities and 11 individuals by designing and organising the activities, and 16 archives, associations and museums and 9 individuals by lending materials for the exhibitions). The MERME project had a great impact in the four territories involved, counting with the participation of approximately 600 people in the four locations of the travelling exhibition and having reached indirectly approximately 150,000 people. Actually, the success of the first activities carried out in the framework of this project has determined the Applicant organisation, ARMF, to submit another project that not only gives continuity to this one but also, intends to extend the impact of the first one by approaching new European locations for the travelling expositions, in Belgium, Portugal and Croatia.
