Franco buried thousands of people in the Valle de los Caídos, a monument that is a symbol of the dictatorship.
I'll get you out of here, Grandad! This solemn promise was made by Joan Pinyol, the grandson of a Republican soldier whose body was disinterred from the grave where he was buried and forcibly transported to the Valle de los Caídos without the consent or even the knowledge of his relatives.
The Valle de los Caídos was inaugurated in 1959 as a monument to reconciliation. The Franco regime had no qualms about desecrating tombs and mass graves of the fallen in the Spanish Civil War, whether Nationalists or Republicans, to fill up this huge mausoleum, making it the biggest mass grave in Spain.
Today hundreds of the families of those buried there are fighting for the right to remove their loved ones from the Valle de los Caídos and bury them near their homes. But the obstacles are many, both technical as well as political. For the relatives of the Republican soldiers who died in the fight against Franco's military uprising, it is an intolerable offense to know that their dead are buried far from home and, worst of all, in the same place as their executioner, Franco. It is an offense that was caused by the dictatorship and for which democracy has not yet done anything to make amends.
"Revealing... by the flagrant case denounced, by the strong arguments, by the exposed evidence, by how those who attempt to refute can't come clear and finally, by the excellent choice of witnesses involved". Mònica Planas, TV Critic, ARA, March 21st, 2013.
The Valle de los Caídos was inaugurated in 1959 as a monument to reconciliation. The Franco regime had no qualms about desecrating tombs and mass graves of the fallen in the Spanish Civil War, whether Nationalists or Republicans, to fill up this huge mausoleum, making it the biggest mass grave in Spain.
Today hundreds of the families of those buried there are fighting for the right to remove their loved ones from the Valle de los Caídos and bury them near their homes. But the obstacles are many, both technical as well as political. For the relatives of the Republican soldiers who died in the fight against Franco's military uprising, it is an intolerable offense to know that their dead are buried far from home and, worst of all, in the same place as their executioner, Franco. It is an offense that was caused by the dictatorship and for which democracy has not yet done anything to make amends.
"Revealing... by the flagrant case denounced, by the strong arguments, by the exposed evidence, by how those who attempt to refute can't come clear and finally, by the excellent choice of witnesses involved". Mònica Planas, TV Critic, ARA, March 21st, 2013.
