Healing Disregarded Wounds: Forensic Recovery and Identification of Victims of the Spanish Civil War

From July 1936 to April 1939 Spain was engulfed in a civil war.  The coup was led by General Francisco Franco, who received support from the economic elites, other military officials, and the Catholic Church of Spain.  Collectively, they were displeased with the several decades of liberal and democratically elected leadership that led to equalities for all, including freedom of the press and religion, more rights for women, economic opportunities for all, and more.  Franco and his compatriots sanctioned the rape and murder of all who opposed him, and he received monetary and military support from Nazi Germany and its Axis allies in Italy and Russia.  Even though the civil war ended in 1939 Franco’s demands to destroy his enemies did not.  From 1939 to 1948 Franco legally sanctioned the kidnapping of anyone suspected of dissenting against his dictatorship.  Men and women, including pregnant women, of all ages were taken.  Many were tortured and raped, followed by murdered or imprisoned for life with no judicial review or oversight.  Those who were imprisoned were often enslaved in state sanctioned labor programs.  Franco celebrated his cruelty with state sanctioned holidays and celebrations, as well as memorializing his greatest supporters with monuments and roads named after them.

 

Franco’s death in 1975 ended his dictatorship and ushered in a new democracy for Spain.  Relatives of missing and murdered victims began searching for their lost loved ones, often opening mass graves to recover their bodies to provide them proper burials and provide the living closure.  Unfortunately, these efforts were short lived as the new democracy did not come easy.  A failed military coup occurred shortly thereafter, and Spain opted to forget what happened for the sake of healing the nation.  This has led to a repression of history and a miscarriage of justice for those who were murdered and their families who continue to live with these traumatic events.

 

In 2000 efforts began to restore justice and reunite the living with their missing and murdered family members.  Teams made up of sociocultural anthropologists, forensic anthropologists, forensic archaeologists, forensic pathologists, geneticists, and historians came together to work collectively and collaboratively in the search and recovery efforts.  Sociocultural anthropologists spoke and continue to speak with victims’ families and survivors, historians conducted and continue to conduct historical research, and forensic archaeologists and anthropologists work on recovery and identification of the victims.  Forensic pathologists and geneticists are integral in the reunification of the victims with their living family members by conducting genetic tests. 

 

Forensic anthropologists and pathologists have also, upon request of the living, been working to identify the causes of death of the victims.  The purpose of this is to chronicle what happened during the Franco Dictatorship, particularly since the realities were purposefully concealed.  They want the truth to come out, and many of them feel that having this knowledge is needed as part of their healing processes. 

 

Currently, it is estimated that as many as 300,000 to 600,000 people lost their lives during the Spanish Civil War and subsequent Franco sanction repression.  About half of these individuals were combatants, but the other half were civilians.  At least 2000 mass graves have been identified, but a little under half have been investigated fully.  The delay is in part due to inconsistent funding and a lack of trained individuals to complete the excavations and identifications.  These challenges have been and are continuing to be addressed.  In 2000 the Spanish government legally mandated funding to each province to aid in these investigations, and more forensic anthropologists and archaeologists are being trained.  Living relatives are feeling safer and more comfortable in coming forward to share their stories and claim their dead family members, which is also expediting the process.  Additionally, geophysical techniques for noninvasive identification of potential mass graves are also enabling the quicker identification of mass graves, thereby leading to speedy justice.  Over time hopefully the Spanish people will acknowledge their history and begin the collective healing process, learning and never forgetting so this does not happen again-be it in Spain or elsewhere.

 

References

Etxeberria, F., González-Ruibal, A., Herrasti, L., Márquez-Grant, N., Muñoz-Encinar, L., & Ramos, J. (2021). Twenty years of forensic archaeology and anthropology of the Spanish Civil War (1936-1939) and Francoist Regime. Forensic science international. Synergy, 3, 100159. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.fsisyn.2021.100159

   

Fernandez-Alvarez, J-P, Rubio-Melendi, D, Martinez-Velasco, A, Pringle, JK and Aguilera, D (2016) Discovery of a mass grave from the Spanish Civil War using GPR and forensic archaeology. Forensic Science International, 267. pp. 10-17. 

González-Ruibal, A. (2007). Making things public: Archaeologies of the Spanish Civil War. Public Archaeology, 203-226.

Herrasti, L., Márquez-Grant, N., & Etxeberria, F. (2021). Spanish Civil War: the recovery and identification of combatants. Forensic Science International, 1-17.

Milligan, M. (2021, May 24). Forensic archaeologists begin to recover Spanish Civil War missing bodies. Heritage Daily.