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The tomb of former Spanish dictator Francisco Franco

Spanish parliament approves move to exhume remains of former ruler General Franco

General Franco is buried in a basilica carved into a mountain-face around 50 kilometres outside of Madrid.

SPANISH LAWMAKERS HAVE approved a decree by the Socialist government to exhume the remains of late dictator Francisco Franco from his mausoleum near Madrid.

General Franco, who ruled Spain with an iron fist from the end of the 1936-39 civil war until his death in 1975, is buried in an imposing basilica carved into a mountain-face around 50 kilometres outside of Madrid. 

The decision to move Franco’s remains from the monument was approved by a vote of 172 in favour and two against in a vote today.

164 MPs abstained, including members of the centrist Citizens Party and the conservative Popular Party (PP).

Socialist Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez, who came to power in June after toppling his conservative predecessor, made removing Franco’s remains from the grandiose monument in the Valle de los Caidos (Valley of the Fallen) one of his priorities.

“Justice. Memory. Dignity. Today Spain takes a historic step… today our democracy has become better,” he wrote on Twitter.

‘Extraordinary anomaly’

The mausoleum was built by Franco’s regime between 1940 and 1959 – partly by the forced labour of political prisoners – and holds the remains of around 37,000 dead from both sides of the civil war, triggered by Franco’s rebellion against an elected Republican government.

Franco, whose Nationalist forces defeated the Republicans in the war, dedicated the site to “all the fallen” of the conflict in an attempt at reconciliation, but only the graves of of Franco and Jose Antonio Primo de Rivera, the founder of the far-right Falangist party which supported Franco, are marked.

Victims’ relatives and activists have campaigned against it because forced labour was used in its construction, and because it keeps Franco’s tomb in a prominent location, near the basilica’s altar.

The site was long used as a place to pay tribute to Franco on the anniversary of his death, but that was stopped by a 2007 law.

Valley of the Fallen in Spain The Valley of the Fallen in Spain DPA / PA Images DPA / PA Images / PA Images

Many on the left are repulsed by its existence, comparing it to a monument glorifying Hitler.

Others, often on the right, insist the Valley of the Fallen is just a piece of history whose critics have twisted its true meaning.

In parliament on Thursday, Deputy Prime Minister Carmen Calvo called for the end of the “extraordinary anomaly” of having a former dictator “exalted” in a state mausoleum.

“There will be no respect, no honour, no harmony as long as Franco’s remains are in the same place as his victims,” Calvo said.

She recalled that parliament had already approved a non-binding motion last year which called for Franco’s remains to be removed from the mausoleum, but the motion was ignored by the former conservative government of Mariano Rajoy.

Rajoy’s government condemned Francoism but had blocked previous attempts to exhume the dictator’s bones.

The Socialist government has indicated the body would be exhumed by the end of the year.

Franco’s family has fiercely opposed the decision, which has divided Spain and opened old wounds. 

The family has said it would if necessary “take care” of Franco’s remains which was taken to mean they will take them to a family vault in Madrid.

According to Calvo, if the family refuses to transfer his remains there, the government will pick a spot to rebury him.

The Francisco Franco Foundation, which receives state funding despite some calls to end it, has pledged to legally fight any moves to exhume Franco’s remains.

 © – AFP, 2018

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    Mute Dearbhla Russell
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    Sep 13th 2018, 10:26 PM

    Its just a step too far to erase history. It is what it is. Use the burial place to educate about the mistakes of history. I dont agree with this.

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    Mute Gary Quinn
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    Sep 13th 2018, 10:44 PM

    @Dearbhla Russell: next thing Europe was on holiday from 1939-45 yes sir nothing worth noting happened everyone was getting just fine.

    88
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    Mute Harry Whitehead
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    Sep 13th 2018, 11:04 PM

    @Dearbhla Russell: it’s hardly ‘history’ though. Franco only died in 1975 – many who suffered under his regime are still alive today. They haven’t called for the destruction of the monument, just the removal of that ghoul’s remains.

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    Mute Féach News
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    Sep 13th 2018, 11:06 PM

    @Dearbhla Russell: Ya cos the fact that Hitler never got a similar burial site means that he has been erased from history and nobody is educated about his ‘mistakes’.

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    Mute John Ryan
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    Sep 13th 2018, 11:10 PM

    @Féach News: Having a look at some of the comments here some days you’d wonder about that…

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    Mute Sean Conway
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    Sep 14th 2018, 5:23 AM

    @Dearbhla Russell: Spain was becoming a beacon for the poor of the world to rise up. until franco and his wealth backed mercenaries ruined it.

    33
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    Mute Padraig Corcoran
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    Sep 14th 2018, 7:28 AM

    @Harry Whitehead: Family Guy quote there.

    1
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    Mute Nicky O'Donnell
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    Sep 14th 2018, 1:09 PM

    @Dearbhla Russell: No one is rewriting history. What on earth are you on about? Franco was an unapologetic fascist, guilty of extraordinary atrocities against the Spanish people. There is a reason why there aren’t similar monuments dedicated to Hitler, Mussolini, and Pinochet. They don’t bloody deserve them. That’s why.

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    Mute Mark McDermott
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    Sep 14th 2018, 4:46 PM

    @Nicky O’Donnell: Well said.

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    Mute Jurgen Remak
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    Sep 13th 2018, 10:34 PM

    It’s about time the Franco’s remains were removed away from his victims. It’s inevitable but sad that some still revere a dictator like Franco.

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    Mute Lambo Moonski
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    Sep 14th 2018, 4:37 AM

    @Jurgen Remak: yes, it’s almost as if none of it ever happened

    17
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    Mute Quentin Moriarty
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    Sep 14th 2018, 7:27 AM

    @Jurgen Remak: dump remains into the sea for the suffering and misery he caused

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    Mute Pat Mullin
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    Sep 14th 2018, 5:16 PM

    @Jurgen Remak: His war was against the freemasons who were trying to take over Spain. How many priests and religious were killed by the freemasons in this war?

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    Mute Stipe Miocic
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    Sep 13th 2018, 10:39 PM

    Will doing this reverse Spanish history? Undo the terrible events of the past? No. You can’t erase history, Just leave the site as a reminder to a nation, not to repeat these acts again

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    Mute Harry Whitehead
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    Sep 13th 2018, 11:06 PM

    @Stipe Miocic: They’re moving Franco’s remains, not the monument. No one is rewriting history.

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    Mute Paul Devlin
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    Sep 13th 2018, 11:50 PM

    @Stipe Miocic: the presence of his remains (though tellingly, not those of his wife) make it a shrine for phalangists and assorted other fascists. If it’s supposed to be a monument to all sides then remove the corpse of the man who started the war. His glorified presence is a mockery of the dead

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    Mute helen walsh
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    Sep 14th 2018, 12:41 AM

    @Stipe Miocic: more like repeat these acts and you too will be buried in a place of adulation

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    Mute Mick Barnier
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    Sep 13th 2018, 10:51 PM

    The Spanish ‘civil war’ resulted in Franco occupying the role of Dictator.
    Not many Dictators are revered after their time comes to an end.
    Took longer than expected for this to happen but with Catalonia being a place that Franco punished particularly harshly and with them now seriously pushing to separate, this was a political decision based on the politics of today.

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    Mute SC
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    Sep 14th 2018, 5:51 AM

    @Mick Barnier: Lots of prominent Catalans were Francoist, most of the rich former slave trading families that were Gaudí’s patrons especially. It’s a rich region. He also prevented the other regions from teaching their languages.
    On the other hand, Madrid, considered the heart of Castillian Francoist Spain, held out the longest and fought the hardest against him.

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    Mute Mick Barnier
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    Sep 14th 2018, 7:55 AM

    @SC: I just think it’s aimed at the Catalonian independence movement who would be linked in a historical sense to anti Franco sentiment.

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    Mute Jointheclubtoo
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    Sep 13th 2018, 11:23 PM

    Unfortunately he had many admirers and supporters in Ireland including even especially ‘men of the cloth’. Many went as far as going to Spain to help him in his war on democracy and are still fondly remembered in certain quarters.

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    Mute Ciarán FitzGerald
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    Sep 14th 2018, 10:12 AM

    @Jointheclubtoo: Viva la quinta brigada

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    Mute Erich Butler
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    Sep 13th 2018, 11:25 PM

    Should they exhume the bodies of all the kings of Spain from El Escorial too? They were responsible for thousands of deaths in the New World and at home during the Inquisition. What’s the difference?

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    Mute judy burke
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    Sep 13th 2018, 10:36 PM

    Can never understand why people kick a sleeping tiger …

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    Mute Josh Hanners
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    Sep 13th 2018, 11:45 PM

    All civil wars are vicious, but the Spanish Civil War was particularly vicious, with atrocities committed by both sides. Nobody’s hands were clean.

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    Mute FlopFlipU
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    Sep 13th 2018, 10:34 PM

    It’s a heap of bones of a man who was loved and hated according to a point of view ,I don’t think he cares so why would anyone else

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    Mute Clifford Brennan
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    Sep 13th 2018, 11:31 PM

    @FlopFlipU: You should ask the people of Spain.

    33
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    Mute Isabel Oliveira
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    Sep 13th 2018, 11:48 PM

    @FlopFlipU: because it’s recent and because many are still alive who remember what he ang his regime did . The same in Portugal , if anyone decided to bring Salazar to be buried in the national pantheon in Lisbon I and many would be incensed and I can’t assure you I and many wouldn’t turn to violence . It’s a lack of respect and total disregard for the years , decades of misery these people inflicted on us, our parents and grandparents . Just the thought of it angers me .

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    Mute DJ François
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    Sep 14th 2018, 8:02 AM

    @FlopFlipU: it is what he represented. You may not care, the Spanish do.

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    Mute Seán J. Troy
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    Sep 14th 2018, 5:50 AM

    To those saying this will remove history, how far do you take it?

    Was history erased when the union flag was taken down from Dublin castle? Or when the Soviets blew up the swastika on top of the Reichstag? What about toppling the statue of Saddam in Iraq?

    There is a difference between erasing history like the Nazis tried when they blew up some of the gas chambers in Auschwitz and removing public exaltation of an evil individual or event.

    Franco had this built for his own ego and because he knew societies build memorials to to their greatest achievements in the public square. He didn’t build it as an educational museum to the horrors of his rule and I don’t understand why people are retconning that.

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    Mute John Ryan
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    Sep 13th 2018, 10:16 PM

    My understanding is that he didn’t want to be buried there in the first place…

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    Mute DJ François
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    Sep 14th 2018, 7:03 AM

    Good. The grave is a disgrace. Let the body be interred in one of the mass graves of his victims.
    History is not being erased, what a silly thing to argue.

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    Mute Fearghal
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    Sep 14th 2018, 7:25 AM

    About time. It’s an insult to the people buried there and the families related to them. He needs to be exhumed and moved away.

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    Mute Jointheclubtoo
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    Sep 13th 2018, 11:23 PM

    Unfortunately he had many admirers and supporters in Ireland including especially ‘men of the cloth’. Many went as far as going to Spain to help him in his war on democracy and are still fondly remembered in certain quarters.

    12
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    Mute John Ryan
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    Sep 14th 2018, 12:59 AM

    @Jointheclubtoo: You’d be surprised how many still fall for the auld guff about O’Duffy and how he and his followers fought gallantly in Spain. They seem to be laboring under the misapprehension “that at least they fought for what they believed in” or some other nonsense. Bottom line is that the only action his brigade saw was during a friendly fire incident after which Franco decided they were more a liability than a help and sent them home.

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    Mute Sean Butler
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    Sep 14th 2018, 5:54 AM

    @John Ryan: Not actually correct, that was where they lost most of their numbers. However they were also involved in very limited fighting across one section of the front and did hold a small section of the line. They refused to attack after they lost a member in one engagement with Repubilcan forces. That and their poor behaviour was why they were withdrawn.

    The Irish in the International forces stood for something brave and decent. The Blue Shirts are a sorry stain on our national history.

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    Mute Micheál
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    Sep 14th 2018, 6:27 AM

    @Sean Butler:
    Maith an fear a Sheáin!

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    Mute Peter Canada
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    Sep 14th 2018, 7:36 AM

    Many on the left are repelled* by its existence, not repulsed.

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    Mute Brendan Grehan
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    Sep 14th 2018, 11:52 AM

    Just imagine if the other side had won the Spanish civil war, the devastation that would have unfolded. There were atrocities on both sides, people seem to forget that especially in Ireland. Franco was as much a Spanish Nationalist as he was a fascist. His period of rule led to the establishment of democracy in Spain.

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    Mute Micheal S. O' Ceilleachair
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    Sep 14th 2018, 1:33 PM

    Is wjocj the Polish for which? (Sic!).

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