The Memorialization of Genocide by Simone Gigliotti

Author:Simone Gigliotti [Gigliotti, Simone]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781138932111
Google: AFrBjgEACAAJ
Goodreads: 26408190
Publisher: Routledge
Published: 2015-08-24T11:10:40+00:00

Controversies at the Valley of the Fallen after the enactment of the Historical Memory Law

In 2007, in great part spurred by the historical memory movement and the nationwide exhumation of mass graves, the so-called Historical Memory Law was enacted. The law condemned the 1936 uprising and subsequent Franco dictatorship, recognized procedures for compensation for and recognition of the victims of the Civil War and Franco’s repression, and mandated the removal of Francoist symbols, plaques and statues from public buildings (unless they possessed religious or artistic value). It further avowed state help to find, identify and exhume victims of the Franco regime, and forbade acts of a political nature or any exaltation of the Civil War, its protagonists or Franco at the Valley of the Fallen.106 Unsurprisingly, the Historical Memory Law was highly controversial; for some it went too far and threatened to open old wounds, while for others it did not go far enough.

Due to the law exempting Francoist symbols from removal if they possess religious or artistic merit, symbolism connecting Franco’s regime to the monument is still existent at the Valley. There are, for example, Francoist escutcheons adorning the façade and the entrance door, as well as huge Francoist crests carved in stone on both sides of the entrance arcade to the basilica, thus forming part of the building. Also inside the basilica, the coat of arms is still present at various points; in some instances it is carved in stone, in others it forms part of the furniture.107

Two years after the passing of the Historical Memory Law, the government decided to close the Valley to the public due to the delicate state of Ávalos’ pietà. The closure was decried by right-wing groups and activists associated with the Benedictine order as a first step by the socialist government towards permanently closing the Valley and avoiding the controversies surrounding it,108 and even as an attack on Christianity.109 It is clear, then, that the site of the Valley of the Fallen now represents a ‘contested site of memory’.110 According to Forest and Johnson, at times of critical juncture, lieux de mémoire become sites of major conflict and will often suffer one of three possible fates, depending on ‘changing official conceptions of national identity’.111 As discussed above, the Valley started as a ‘co-opted or glorified’ site under the Franco regime. However, memory sites can also become ‘disavowed’; these sites are either neglected and ignored, or actively destroyed by the state. The third category encompasses ‘contested’ memory sites, which are sites that are objects of political conflict and neither clearly ‘glorified’ nor ‘disavowed’. The Valley clearly fits that profile in contemporary times; the time of critical juncture in question here, it could be argued, began with the ‘memory boom’ in the 1990s, followed by the enactment of the Historical Memory Law and subsequent crucial events, such as the first criminal investigation into crimes committed during the Spanish dictatorship in 2008, instigated by Judge Baltasar Garzón, in which the mass grave at the Valley’s basilica was one of the first ordered to be opened.

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