INTRODUCTION TO DEMOCRATIC MEMORY
The Spanish Constitution of 1978 was based on a broad social and political commitment to overcome the serious and deep wounds suffered by Spanish society during the Civil War and the forty years of General Franco’s dictatorship. In this way, the recovery of freedoms and the rule of law assumed the democratic legacy that several generations of Spaniards had forged with the common objective of achieving and guaranteeing democratic coexistence, within respect for the pluralism of Spanish society, and achieving a more just economic and social order.
Since then, multiple political, legal, social and cultural initiatives have come to repair and repair these gaps to avoid division among citizens and promote cohesion and solidarity among the various generations of Spaniards around the superior values of our legal system, constitutional principles and fundamental rights and freedoms.
The articulation of public policies that comply with the principles of Truth, Justice, Reparation and guarantees of non-repetition are essential in the construction of a shared democratic memory that not only overcomes the wounds caused, but also serves as a solid foundation for a true democratic culture.
The real turning point to the recognition of historical memory is the approval of Law 52/2007, of December 26, which recognizes and extends rights and establishes measures in favor of those who suffered persecution or violence during the civil war and the dictatorship, popularly known as "Law of Historical Memory", approved with a broad consensus. The text of the Law is the result of the work of the Interministerial Commission for the Study of the Situation of the Victims of the Civil War and Franco's Regime, created by Royal Decree 1891/2004, of 10 September, for the study of the situation of the victims of the civil war and Franco's Regime and assumes the Declaration as well as the condemnation of Franco's regime contained in the Report of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe signed in Paris on 17 March 2006 in which the serious violations of Human Rights committed in Spain between 1936 and 1975 were denounced.
Royal Decree 2/2020, of 12 January, restructuring the ministerial departments, created for the first time within the Ministry of the Presidency, Relations with the Courts and Democratic Memory the State Secretariat for Democratic Memory. For its part, Royal Decree 139/2020, of 28 January, establishing the basic organizational structure of the ministerial departments, created the General Directorate of Democratic Memory attached to the aforementioned Secretariat of State.
Both bodies are designed to respond to and promote initiatives related to Law 52/2007, of December 26, which recognizes and extends rights and establishes measures in favor of those who suffered persecution or violence during the civil war and the dictatorship, and provide appropriate institutional support to the fulfillment of the objectives contemplated in the aforementioned law.
Memory being the exercise of reconstructing the past in the present moment, it has to be understood as a right; a right of citizenship. To this end, the fundamental objective of any memory policy and of this web portal in particular is to create conditions of social pedagogy that are constituted in guarantees of non-repetition"
Through this website that we make available to the citizen, you can consult a series of resources aimed at promoting these conditions of social pedagogy, as well as meeting the requests for information and reparation of the victims and their relatives. Likewise, other materials dedicated to cultivating and sustaining the deep democratic tradition of our country will be accessible.
