FUNDACIÓN VÍCTIMAS DEL TERRORISMO 93 - ENGLISH

75 TESTIMONY Lidia was eight years old when she lost her father, Bernardino Ortega. On 4 October 1988, while he was on duty as a national police officer in front of the DNI headquarters in Madrid, three GRAPO terrorists took his life. Over time, Lidia has learned to treasure the memories of her father and the family they formed, to relive the moments they shared and to keep alive the example of the person who was always her guide and role model. Between the childhood that was stolen from her and the life she has built, she carries with her the power of memory and the importance of not forgetting. "As long as I remember my father, he will live on in me. His memory gives me the strength to carry on" How did you find out what happened that day? How did that moment impact your understanding of the world? On the day of the attack, I didn't know what had happened. A neighbour pic- ked me up from school and left me in the care of some cousins. The afternoon passed in a strange silence; no one tur- ned on the television and no one said a word. I spent the night there and the next day at the home of some friends of my parents. My mother told me that my father had been shot and was in a very serious condition. When we returned home, I asked my sister, who was fif- teen at the time, if we could go and see him the next day. She replied: "Forget it, Lidi. Dad's been killed. You're not going to see him anymore." Over time, I learned the details of what happened that day. The terrorists wanted to steal ID cards to forge identities. They had caused a commotion in the queue outside the police station and shot my father at point-blank range. I was a child and they didn't tell me everything, but li- ttle by little I discovered what had happe- ned. There has always been an invisible barrier in my family; we talk about my father naturally, but without going into the details of his murder or how each of us felt. That has been our way of protec- ting ourselves and moving forward in the face of grief. LIDIA ORTEGA ORTEGA D AU G H T E R O F B E R N A R D I N O O R T E G A R A N S A N Z TEXT: ANA GARCÍA What was your family life like before the loss of your father? We were a normal family, like so many others in the 1980s. My mother was a housewife and my sister and I were ha- ppy girls, living a simple life. My father was a police officer and also did some extra work decorating and painting houses. Even so, he always found time for us. He was never too tired to play. He taught us how to ride bikes, took us to the park... I can see myself skating and him pulling me along to go faster, carrying me on his shoulders while hol- ding my sister's hand. I remember us as a happy, simple and very close-knit family. "They took my childhood away from me, my life was marked forever, but I wasn't going to let them steal anything else from me"