Paulina ÃÂdena GarcÃÂa (22 January 1911 â 14 September 1936), known as Lina ÃÂdena, was a Spanish anti-fascist, communist, and miliciana. She participated in the Revolution of 1934 and was a combatant for the Republican faction during the Spanish Civil War (1936âÂÂ1939).
ÃÂdena was born on 22 January 1911 in Passatge Pellicer in Barcelona, Spain. Her parents, José and MarÃÂa Dolores, ran a tailors shop and she worked as an apprentice seamstress for her parents.
In May 1931, ÃÂdena joined the Communist Party of Spain (, PCE) and was assigned to work for the Communist Youth of Catalonia (, JCC).
In August 1931, ÃÂdena was sent by the Communist International (Comintern) to attend the International Lenin School in Moscow, Soviet Union for a year, with four other activists. At the International Lenin School, she met Spanish communists Jesús Hernández, Enrique Lister Forján and Juan Guilloto León.
After returning to Spain, she served on the editorial board of the communist newspaper Workers World (). She was a member of the Association of Anti-Fascist Women (, AMA) and participated in the Revolution of 1934.
In 1935, ÃÂdena was a member of the Spanish delegation that attended the 4th Congress of the Communist Youth International (IJC) in Copenhagen, Denmark. In February 1936, ÃÂdena was commissioned by the PCE to work as Dolores Ibarruri's assistant in the campaign for the 1936 Spanish general election. She travelled with Ibarruri to rallies in the Asturias, Andalusia and Madrid.
During the Spanish Civil War, ÃÂdena was a leader of the anti-fascist resistance and fought on the front lines against Nationalist faction soldiers at AlmerÃÂa, Andalusia. She then established a headquarters in Guadix, Granada and organised a column for the capture of Granada as commandant. She made trips to Madrid and Barcelona with Antonio Pretel Fernández [<nowiki/>] to gather weapons for the cause and was appointed as the Spanish national secretary of the World Committee of Women Against War and Fascism (, CMF) [<nowiki/>].
On 14 September 1936, ÃÂdena and her driver took a wrong turn while travelling to Deifontes and were met by members of the fascist Falangist group Falange Española at a checkpoint on the Jaen Highway. She shot herself in the temple with her pistol rather than be captured, and died by suicide. ÃÂdena was aged 25 when she died. Her car was seized and was taken to the San Jerónimo barracks, the driver was arrested and her body was taken to Grenada. A military judge ordered that she be buried in the municipal cemetery of Granada.
The news of ÃÂdena's death reached Barcelona on 22 September 1936 and was announced by the communist newspaper TREBALL. From October 1936, she was invoked as an example for women to follow by leftist newspapers who promoted the formation of the Lina Odena Battalion and called for female volunteers between 25 and 35 to join the battalion in Madrid.
After her death, ÃÂdena was the subject of poems and paintings, including in a poem by Peruvian writer César Vallejo, representing her as a heroine who died fighting. A square and plaque in Barcelona are dedicated to ÃÂdena and she was featured on a postage stamp.
According to the Falangist historian Julio Belza, ÃÂdena shot and killed a priest named Manuel Vázquez Alfaya shortly before her own death, but this was disputed by others, such as by the writer Manuel Moreno Barranco.