Almost 47 years after the death of Franco and on the 44th anniversary of the approval of the Spanish Constitution, the State has celebrated this Monday at the National Music Auditorium, in Madrid, the first commemorative act on the occasion of the Day of Remembrance and Tribute to all the victims of the military coup, the Civil War and the dictatorship.
The Government, almost in full, attended the ceremony, with the ministers and the Secretary of State for Democratic Memory, Fernando Martínez, sitting next to some of the victims of Francoism, elderly and very emotional.
"My heart is full," Hilda Farfante, 92, daughter of two teachers shot just a few hours apart in 1936, commented at the end of the act: Balbina Gayo and Ceferino Farfante.
The President of the Government, Pedro Sánchez, and the Minister of the Presidency, Félix Bolaños, have handed over 20 victims and relatives, among them, priests and republicans shot, imprisoned, victims of the LGTBi collective, feminist leaders, and a representative of the Union Democratic Military, Fernando Reinlein, a recognition document.
“We are late, too late”, Sánchez has said, “but we still have the power of memory to remember and honor those who fought for democracy”.
The head of the Executive has recalled that thousands of people are still looking for their relatives through graves and ditches and has lamented "the falsehoods" spread about the recently approved Democratic Memory Law.
“In the name of what can the duty of an entire State be denied to help them in that search?
They don't want to reopen wounds, but close them."
The Government had invited three leaders of the PP - its national leader, Alberto Núñez Feijóo;
the president of Madrid, Isabel Díaz Ayuso, and the mayor of the capital, José Luis Martínez-Almeida- attended the event, but none of the three attended.
Sources from Ayuso's team explain that they excused their attendance on October 24 and argue that "it is very difficult to accept invitations that arrive with only a week to spare, because the president's agenda is closed a month in advance."
Feijóo has assured that he will repeal the memory legislation if he comes to power.
Mariano Rajoy did not do so during his time at La Moncloa, although he withdrew the budget items to finance him.
Sánchez has underlined the date chosen to establish this day of homage to the victims, the anniversary of the Constitution: “No democracy can be built on pacts of silence.
You have to get rid of old mortgages.
Democracy, like the Constitution, is a collective conquest and cannot be patrimonialized by anyone”.
Honoring its spirit, he added —alluding to the rupture, by the PP, of the negotiations to renew the General Council of the Judiciary—“requires something more than proclaiming its validity.
It demands compliance from start to finish, without excuses or subterfuge”.
The president has also issued a warning: "The advances of reactionary forces in Europe remind us that neither progress nor democracy are irreversible."
The law of memory, has abounded,
01:47
Pedro Sánchez affirms that it is the duty of the state to help the victims of the Civil War
The President of the Government, Pedro Sánchez, accompanied by the Minister of the Presidency, Felix Bolaños, poses with victims of Francoism at the tribute ceremony held today Monday at the National Auditorium. Photo: LUIS SEVILLANO |
Video: Europe Press
"Today is a very important day for our country," insisted the Minister of the Presidency, who presented the act as a way of "paying off a debt" with the victims of Francoism and, thereby, contributing to "awareness social and democratic”.
“Spain will never leave you abandoned again.
All stories will be told.
No name is going to be forgotten”, he added.
On the verge of tears, the Secretary of State for Democratic Memory, Fernando Martínez, celebrated the tribute as a collective victory: "This dignifies us as a society."
Standing audience with 'Spain white shirt'
During the act, which began with a minute of silence in memory of all the victims, there were two musical performances, by the soprano María Bayo, and by the singers Ana Belén and Ede -the first, born during the dictatorship;
the second, 23 years old-, which they have interpreted
Spain white shirt
together with the entire auditorium standing.
Luis Pérez Lara, 86, president of the association of prisoners and political victims of Francoism, commented as he left the auditorium: “Today is one of the happiest days of my life.
I've been waiting for something like this to happen for 83 years, since when I was three years old they started insulting me for being the son of a Republican.
Seeing the Government almost in full in this act of recognition has been very moving”.
It was also celebrated by the historian Nicolás Sánchez-Albornoz, 96, who managed to escape from the camp where the prisoners who built the Valley of the Fallen, now called Cuelgamuros, worked.
Benita Navacerrada, 90 years old, cried, very emotional and without letting go of a photo of her father, whose remains she is still looking for: "It's about time this happened."
On stage, when picking up an acknowledgment document,
The old woman hugged Sánchez and Bolaños, whom she thanked for the recent exhumation of a mass grave in the Colmenar Viejo cemetery (Madrid).
“The minister has told me that they are going to continue looking for him.
I'm very happy".
The singer Ana Belén performs in the first commemorative act on the occasion of the Day of Remembrance and Tribute to all the victims of the military coup, the Civil War and the dictatorship, this Monday in Madrid.Luis Sevillano
The President of the Government, Pedro Sánchez, during the tribute, in which around twenty diplomas were delivered to relatives of victims and associations linked to historical memory, such as the Thirteen Roses or Sinsombrero. Luis Sevillano
Applause from the participants in the tribute, this Monday in Madrid.Luis Sevillano
Tomás Montero, grandson of a person executed by firing squad and leader of the Memoria y Libertad collective, recalled how long they had been waiting for a moment like this: “This is the beginning.
From now on, every year, in addition to repairing families, this day will serve as a democratic teaching, so that those who have not lived it can know what happened.
A recent study points to worrying gaps in knowledge among young people about the Civil War and the dictatorship.
Fausto Canales has celebrated that the victims, "finally" have "a day of tribute and remembrance".
At 88 years old, he continues to fight to recover the remains of his father and his uncle, buried without family consent in the Cuelgamuros Valley.
Pro-Francoist groups tried to stop these exhumations in court and the City Council of San Lorenzo de El Escorial, governed by the PP,
now refuses to provide the building license for work to begin.
There is still much left to do.
List of the 20 victims of the Civil War and the dictatorship to whom a recognition document has been delivered:
Jose Ariztimuno Olaso,
Aitzol.
Priest assassinated in Hernani (Gipuzkoa) during the Civil War.
Adrian of Light.
Priest killed during the Civil War.
Melquíades Álvarez González-Posada.
President of Congress in 1922. Murdered in jail.
Facundo Navacerrada.
Founder of the UGT in San Sebastián de los Reyes, assassinated in Colmenar Viejo (Madrid) in 1939.
Luis Lucius Lobato.
Communist leader.
He spent 26 years in jail.
Julian Grimau.
Communist leader shot in 1963.
Ana Lopez Gallego.
One of the women executed on the walls of the Eastern Cemetery (Madrid) in August 1939 and known as Las 13 Rosas.
Elisa Garrido Grace.
She fought against the rebel army in Spain and against the Germans in France.
Legion of Honor of the French Government.
She imprisoned in concentration camps.
Ramon de la Sota.
Businessman and politician, member of the PNV, all his assets were seized.
Luisa Genoveva Carnes Caballero.
Writer and journalist, exiled in Mexico, she was one of the Spanish artists known as the Sin Sombrero.
Fernando Alvarez de Miranda Torres.
First president of Congress in democracy.
Balbina Gayo.
Teacher, shot along with her husband, also a teacher.
Jesus Alonso Montero.
Poet.
He was president of the Royal Galician Academy, retaliated against on several occasions.
Montserrat Dangers.
Stolen girl.
Francisco Martinez Lopez.
One of the last survivors of the anti-Franco guerrilla.
Jesus Soriano Carrillo.
Member of the Council of Freemasonry.
Juana Dona.
Feminist, trade unionist and politician from Madrid imprisoned for 14 years.
Jordi Lozano Gonzalez.
One of the first LGTBI activists in Spain.
Imprisoned by the Franco dictatorship.
Fernando Reinlein, member of the UMD, condemned by the Franco dictatorship.
Alejandro Ruiz Huerta, lawyer, sole survivor of the massacre of the labor office on Atocha Street.
04:26
Performance by Ede and Ana Belén in the act in homage to the victims of Francoism
Performance by the artists Ede and Ana Belén who have interpreted 'Spain white shirt' with the entire auditorium standing. Photo: Eduardo Parra |
Video: THE COUNTRY
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