Rosa Markmann
Encyclopedia
Chile
Chile ,officially the Republic of Chile , is a country in South America occupying a long, narrow coastal strip between the Andes mountains to the east and the Pacific Ocean to the west. It borders Peru to the north, Bolivia to the northeast, Argentina to the east, and the Drake Passage in the far...
an First Lady from 1946 to 1952, during the presidency of her husband, Gabriel González Videla
Gabriel González Videla
Gabriel González Videla was a Chilean politician. He was a deputy and senator in the Chilean Congress and was President of Chile from 1946 to 1952...
. She was born in Taltal
Taltal
Taltal is a Chilean commune and city in Antofagasta Province, Antofagasta Region. According to the 2002 census, the commune population was 11,000 and has an area of ....
, Chile
Chile
Chile ,officially the Republic of Chile , is a country in South America occupying a long, narrow coastal strip between the Andes mountains to the east and the Pacific Ocean to the west. It borders Peru to the north, Bolivia to the northeast, Argentina to the east, and the Drake Passage in the far...
.
Known by her nickname "Mitty" and also as "The Chilean Eva Peron" Markmann was born in Taltal
Taltal
Taltal is a Chilean commune and city in Antofagasta Province, Antofagasta Region. According to the 2002 census, the commune population was 11,000 and has an area of ....
, from German
Germans
The Germans are a Germanic ethnic group native to Central Europe. The English term Germans has referred to the German-speaking population of the Holy Roman Empire since the Late Middle Ages....
descent and her parents were the banker Ladislao Markmann and Ana Reijer. Her maternal grandfather was ambassador in Sweden
Sweden
Sweden , officially the Kingdom of Sweden , is a Nordic country on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. Sweden borders with Norway and Finland and is connected to Denmark by a bridge-tunnel across the Öresund....
.
Rosa's great-grandfather, was born in Hamburg
Hamburg
-History:The first historic name for the city was, according to Claudius Ptolemy's reports, Treva.But the city takes its modern name, Hamburg, from the first permanent building on the site, a castle whose construction was ordered by the Emperor Charlemagne in AD 808...
.
She was married to González Videla until his death in 1980. She exercised a positive influence during the presidency of her husband, playing a key role in the Chile
Chile
Chile ,officially the Republic of Chile , is a country in South America occupying a long, narrow coastal strip between the Andes mountains to the east and the Pacific Ocean to the west. It borders Peru to the north, Bolivia to the northeast, Argentina to the east, and the Drake Passage in the far...
an women's suffrage
Women's suffrage
Women's suffrage or woman suffrage is the right of women to vote and to run for office. The expression is also used for the economic and political reform movement aimed at extending these rights to women and without any restrictions or qualifications such as property ownership, payment of tax, or...
movement in Chile.
In 1947 Rosa Markmann, announced the creation of the National Association of Housewives. Whose chief purpose was to prevent speculation in basic subsistence goods among producers, distributors and retailers. Markmann then began to patronize a number of women's organizations and to express her support for female suffrage. In September 1948 she appeared at one of the events of FECHIF's "Pro-Women's Suffrage Week" assuring its participants that the president too favored women's suffrage.
During her husband's presidency, Rosa became a symbol of fashion for women all over the country.
She was a passionate supporter of the military government of General Augusto Pinochet
Augusto Pinochet
Augusto José Ramón Pinochet Ugarte, more commonly known as Augusto Pinochet , was a Chilean army general and dictator who assumed power in a coup d'état on 11 September 1973...
. When an intervierwer asked Rosa (who was anti-communist), her opinion of Communists, Markmann replied, "I respect them because they honest who (carry on) the clean life led by the members of their Party. As evinced by Markmann's reference to "Clean Life" -Which echoed the term "Blood Clean" , used since colonial times to denote racial purity, the contrast between respectable workers and unrespectable others evoked racial as well as gender difference.
Markmann died, 101 years old, on July 12, 2009, in her mansion in Las Condes
Las Condes
Las Condes is a commune of Chile located in Santiago Province, Santiago Metropolitan Region. The area is inhabited primarily by upper-mid to high income families...
, Santiago de Chile.