Appropriation and illegal adoption of hundreds of children in Franco's Spain in the 1960s and 70s.
Babies that supposedly died at birth, adoptive mothers who faked pregnancy with a cushion stuffed under their dresses, children for sale for $1000 and with a fake birth certificate thrown in. All were common practice in Franco's Spain in the 1960s and 70s. Hundreds of cases have already been turned up but it is anyone's guess how many more will never see the light of day.
In post-war Fascist Spain, the 'National Catholic' regime frowned upon single mothers and treated them like whores. It was a cross that many women found too heavy to bear. But those women who were willing to suffer the stigma had their children snatched from them. Murky 'adoption agencies' , religious institutions and doctors forged an unholy but highly profitable alliance to fulfill the dreams of childless couples. This meant running roughshod over the rights of biological mothers. These wrongs were peddled by the regime as 'acts of charity'.
Many doctors, eager to boost supply, told parents their baby had died at birth. Some doctors even had a tiny corpse on hand in the freezer to stop inquisitive mothers cold in their tracks. But there was never a death certificate or a cemetery register entry to record the infant's 'demise'. There was always that lingering doubt¿had the baby fallen into the clutches of an adoption ring?
Franco's regime used child-snatching as an instrument of political repression from the outset. Separating children from their 'left-wing' parents was seen as just another step on 'the right path' to creating racially and ideological pure Spaniards. In any case, the regime made sure that many of the children swiftly became orphans. Later on, the repression took on a moralistic tone. Church and State saw single mothers as an abomination in the sight of God. So they decided that a child's place was in a good Christian family that would not ask too many questions. The policy soon spawned a booming business in which the only losers were the real mothers and their babies.
During the making of "Franco's Children " (2002), which covered the children taken from Republican prisoners, we discovered the snatchings lasted throughout Spain's 40-year dictatorship.
That is what led us to make this documentary, which draws on original research and witnesses' and victims' accounts to tell a vivid, harrowing episode in Spain's all-too-recent history.
In post-war Fascist Spain, the 'National Catholic' regime frowned upon single mothers and treated them like whores. It was a cross that many women found too heavy to bear. But those women who were willing to suffer the stigma had their children snatched from them. Murky 'adoption agencies' , religious institutions and doctors forged an unholy but highly profitable alliance to fulfill the dreams of childless couples. This meant running roughshod over the rights of biological mothers. These wrongs were peddled by the regime as 'acts of charity'.
Many doctors, eager to boost supply, told parents their baby had died at birth. Some doctors even had a tiny corpse on hand in the freezer to stop inquisitive mothers cold in their tracks. But there was never a death certificate or a cemetery register entry to record the infant's 'demise'. There was always that lingering doubt¿had the baby fallen into the clutches of an adoption ring?
Franco's regime used child-snatching as an instrument of political repression from the outset. Separating children from their 'left-wing' parents was seen as just another step on 'the right path' to creating racially and ideological pure Spaniards. In any case, the regime made sure that many of the children swiftly became orphans. Later on, the repression took on a moralistic tone. Church and State saw single mothers as an abomination in the sight of God. So they decided that a child's place was in a good Christian family that would not ask too many questions. The policy soon spawned a booming business in which the only losers were the real mothers and their babies.
During the making of "Franco's Children " (2002), which covered the children taken from Republican prisoners, we discovered the snatchings lasted throughout Spain's 40-year dictatorship.
That is what led us to make this documentary, which draws on original research and witnesses' and victims' accounts to tell a vivid, harrowing episode in Spain's all-too-recent history.
