Historical Memory Law

Valley of the Fallen – Franco's mausoleum. The law prohibits political events at the site.

The Historical Memory Law (in Spanish: Ley de Memoria Histórica or La Ley por la que se reconocen y amplían derechos y se establecen medidas en favor de quienes padecieron persecución o violencia durante la Guerra Civil y la Dictadura), is a Spanish law passed by the Congress of Deputies on 31 October 2007.^[1] It was based on a bill proposed by the Spanish Socialist Workers' Party government of Prime Minister José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero. The Historical Memory Law principally recognizes the victims on both sides of the Spanish Civil War, gives rights to the victims and the descendants of victims of the Civil War and the subsequent dictatorship of General Francisco Franco, and formally condemns the Franco Regime. The conservative Popular Party and the Republican Left of Catalonia (ERC) both voted against passage of the law.^[2] For its no vote the Popular Party accused the Socialist Party government of weakening the political consensus of the transition to democracy and "using the Civil War as an argument for political propaganda," while the Republican Left of Catalonia rejected the law on the basis it did not go far enough.^[3][4]

Provisions

The main provisions of the law are:^[5]

• Recognition of the victims of political, religious and ideological violence on both sides of the Spanish Civil War and of Franco's regime.
• Condemnation of the Francoist regime
• Prohibition of political events at the Valley of the Fallen – Franco's burial place.
• The removal of francoist symbols from public buildings and spaces. Exceptions may be given for artistic or architectural reasons, or in the case of religious spaces.
• State help in the tracing, identification and eventual exhumation of victims of Francoist repression whose corpses are still missing, often buried in mass graves.
• The granting of Spanish nationality to surviving members of the International Brigades, without requiring them to renounce their own nationalities.
• Rejection of the legitimacy of laws passed and trials conducted by the Francoist regime.
• Temporary change to Spanish nationality law, granting the right of return and de origen citizenship to those who left Spain under Franco for political or economic reasons, and their descendants.
• Provision of aid to the victims and descendants of victims of the Civil War and the Francoist regime.

Criticism

Criticism of the law has come from two sides, those who think that the law is not effective enough and those who support the Pact of forgetting. Doubt has been expressed about how effective the law is as a means of obtaining retroactive justice. Republican Left of Catalonia (ERC), the left wing and Catalan nationalist party, opposed the law for not overturning verdicts reached by judges in political trials conducted during the dictatorship, although the new legislation did declare these trials illegitimate.^[2] Another example of the limits placed on judicial activity is what happened in 2008 when Judge Baltasar Garzón opened a national investigation into Franco and his allies. He dropped the investigation the same year after state prosecutors questioned his jurisdiction over Francoist crimes. In a 152-page statement, he passed responsibility to regional courts for opening 19 mass graves believed to hold the remains of hundreds of victims.^[6] Subsequently a Spanish court upheld the 1977 Amnesty Law, declaring that Garzón had opened the investigation without proper authority.

Members of the conservative Popular Party have tended to support the Amnesty Law, arguing that the Historical Memory Law goes against the spirit of Spain's transition to democracy. For example, while in opposition the leader of the Popular Party Mariano Rajoy claimed that Garzón´s attempt to compile a list of victims would needlessly open up old wounds.^[7] However, the Popular Party did offer support for some elements of the Historical Memory Law, including seven amendments to the original text of the law, facilitating the "depoliticisation" of the Valle de los Caídos (Valley of the Fallen) and monetary aid to victims of the Civil War and Franco regime.^[3]

Implementation of the Law

As of present the conservative Popular Party government of Mariano Rajoy has neither repealed nor amended the Historical Memory Law. The Centro Documental de la Memoria Histórica gives information on victims of Francoist repression,^[8] but the government has curtailed State help in the exhumation of victims.^[9]

See also

• Damnatio Memoriae
• General Archive of the Spanish Civil War

External links

• Full text of the bill prior to passing (PDF) (Spanish)

Notes

1. El País, 1/11/2007, La ley de memoria se aprueba entre aplausos de invitados antifranquistas
2. "Congress approves". 2007. Retrieved 1 October 2012.
3. "Spanish Congress". 2007. Retrieved 1 October 2012.
4. Hamilos, Paul (10 October 2007). "Spanish MPs to vote on law recognising Franco's victims". The Guardian. London.
5. http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2007/10/31/europe/EU-GEN-Spain-Civil-War-Legislation.php International Herald Tribune: Main points of Spain's Historical Memory Law
6. Burnett, Victoria (18 November 2008). "Spanish Judge Drops Probe Into Franco Atrocities". 'The New York Times. Retrieved 6 August 2012.
7. ELPAÍS.COM / AGENCIAS (2008). "Rajoy: "Abrir heridas del pasado no conduce a nada"". El País. Retrieved 31 July 2012.
8. "Portal de Víctimas de la Guerra Civil y Represaliados del Franquismo". Retrieved 29 August 2012.
9. "Rajoy cierra la Oficina". March 2012. Retrieved 29 August 2012.