The 'app' that recovers forgotten remains of the Civil War

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Behind the great figures of the Civil War and the epic battles, be it that of the Ebro or the siege of Madrid, there are numerous remains forgotten by history books.

Shrapnel on the walls, bomb shelters, Czechs, former concentration camps, firing squads ... Traces that invade countless corners of Spain, but ignored for more than eight decades.

The

aims to change this reality. 

Created by Daniel Rodríguez, historian, and José Ignacio Naranjo, computer programmer, the collaboration of the users is essential to meet expectations.

It is the users themselves who geolocate the remains with their mobile and share them in the

.

To avoid mistakes, Rodríguez is in charge of comparing the findings.

Once validated, they will appear on the interactive map of the application.

And so with everything that goes up.

“There are too many dark areas regarding the Civil War heritage.

The vast majority are abandoned, vandalized or bricked up.

It is rare to find a place where they have been in charge of conserving it ”, maintains the historian.

Available for the moment only on Android - the creators promise that it will arrive in the coming weeks on iOS - all entries have the same format: where it is located, what role it played during the war and what remains remain.

This when we are in front of them, because, thanks to the interactive map and the phone's GPS, we can see which are the closest vestiges to our position.

“It is a base that serves any historical stage.

You can create the same

for the reign of the Habsburgs or World War II.

I don't know how far we'll go, because, honestly, it doesn't bring us any money, ”Naranjo reasons.

In just two weeks since its launch,

exceeds 500 entries and 10,000 downloads.

The culprit that finally saw the light has its own name: pandemic.

As the computer programmer acknowledges, the confinement gave him enough free time to develop the

hand in hand with Rodríguez;

Or rather, call to call.

They do not know each other personally.

Naranjo contacted him on Twitter commenting on the idea and, a few days later, they began to shape it.

“We have not yet had a chance to put up a face.

We live in different cities and with the coronavirus it is impossible for us to stay, ”says Naranjo.

They did not expect the good reception that the project has had.

The surprise has been such that they have found remains even outside of Spain.

In Equatorial Guinea, a former Spanish colony, a user informed them of a sunken ship used by the coup plotters to travel to the Peninsula at the beginning of the war.

“I had read about the uprising there, but it wouldn't have occurred to me to look there.

It is aground near the coast.

When the tide goes out, it can be seen, ”says Rodríguez.

In Spain they have encountered several surprises.

In Valencia, for example, the restoration of an art center revealed at first sight an old factory of military equipment.

However, as work continued on the building, the owners found a bomb shelter completely forgotten by history.

In the middle of the Mediterranean coast they have also located a merchant ship used by the Republicans.

"The only drawback is that, unless we know how to dive, it is impossible to contemplate it," says the historian.

Black and white photographs

Although the initiative has only just begun, its promoters are thinking about how to improve the

.

Naranjo has looked at the photographic archive of the Civil War.

He would like to take these black and white images and superimpose them on the ones that users are taking right now of an iconic site during the contest.

That is, someone portrays the Plaza del Callao in Madrid and the application would allow you to paste over it the mythical snapshot in which a militia woman appears with the Callao cinemas behind her.

“It is a technique already used by photographers like Javier Marquerie and Sebastian Maharg.

It creates a cool effect and it would be an additional attraction ”, ditch.

Rodríguez has always been very involved with the Civil War and new technologies.

At the end of 2017, he created the profile @Guerra_Civil_, from which he tweets what had happened that same day during the warfare.

Now he has diversified his historical memory efforts with the

.

Regardless of the community it creates, the purpose is none other than to rescue an abandoned heritage and give it visibility.

Something that, according to his own words, would serve to promote tourism.

“In Madrid, where there are many remains, it could be used to create routes.

If it was done well, the municipalities could restore the remains and put up an explanatory plaque ”.

It is impossible to predict what the map that users of the application will end up building will be like.

Of course, it has never been so easy to know one of the most tragic episodes in Spanish history.

With any phone we can know if the street where we live or where we walk was relevant between 1936 and 1939. "If someone looks at the screen and asks if there are things where they move that had not even been considered, they would be happy", he concludes Rodriguez.