Letter Sent to the New York Times
My son Andrés and I were recently able to witness first-hand the extraordinary work of the Spanish NGO, Association for the Recuperation of Historical Memory (memoriahistoria.org), which aids descendants and relatives of Spanish Civil War victims locate and recover the remains of loved ones. We volunteered at an (unsuccessful) exhumation in Columbrianos, on the Way of Saint James (road in photo), near Ponferrada, in the region known as El Bierzo, Province of León.
Re: Spain Confronts Years of Pain Over Lost Babies
Congratulations are due to the New York Times for your excellent front-page coverage of this terrifying story. Many of us hope you might be able to give similar prominent coverage to a much larger and related story: that of the over 100,000 victims of the Franco regime whose remains are buried in mass graves all over the Iberian peninsula. The aging descendants of many of those victims long to give a proper burial to their loved ones, but the wheels of justice in Spain –in this particular instance– are remarkably slow, and occasionally even seem to turn in reverse. A front-page story in the New York Times just might help accelerate this long overdue process of justice and healing.
July 7, 2011
During my recent readings about the Spanish Civil War I have come across some really gross atrocities committed by both sides, but this seems one of the worst. While I consider children to be parasites on their parents’ lives, there are those who welcome them nonetheless and should not have had them taken away. I can’t believe that this, the abduction of newborns and then their re-sale, was going on for about forty years and it is really only coming to light now. Also, it is equally unbelievable that the unmarked graves of the fallen Republican supporters remain as such. I never really realized how completely neglected the Spanish Civil War and it resulting dictatorship truly are.
Spain needs to get on with providing the opportunity for proper burials to the immediate families of Franco’s victims. The accounts of the inhumane acts committed during the Civil War have horrified me and it seems very disrespectful and unjust that the victims have yet to be properly buried. It’s a shame, really.