The State Secretariat of Democratic Memory has published the second of the monographic reports it is publishing on exhumations in Spain: Land of poets and bones.
The new work focuses on archaeological interventions in mass graves of Francoism in Andalusia in 2018 and 2019 and has been carried out by the journalist Juan Miguel Baquero. It should be noted that this study is the last of a trilogy on common graves of Francoism in Andalusia and whose previous titles are Que fue mi tierra (2015) and Las traces en la tierra (2016-2017).
The new volume, like previous reports, includes information on the exhumation work that is being carried out in several mass graves in Andalusia. In this case we talk about the work carried out in 19 Andalusian localities.
The book also includes, and possibly is one of the most interesting elements of the publication, testimonies of descendants of people buried in the mass graves about which this monograph talks. These stories not only reflect the personal dramas, but as a whole serve to show a reliable image of how Franco’s repression developed during the war and dictatorship.
The publication of these monographs is directly related to one of the main lines of action of the Secretary of State; the preservation and maintenance of the memory of the victims of the Civil War and the Franco dictatorship, through the knowledge of the truth understood as a right of the victims themselves, as well as the recognition of them.
These reports are presented in a very didactic format and with accessible language, not only for experts, but for the general public, and they cover a growing demand for information by society. When the State begins to develop a policy of democratic memory, one has the idea that exhumations remain in the private sphere of the relatives of the people buried in the graves. However, the interest of the relatives has been linked to that of neighbors of the places where the graves are located, municipalities, professionals, university students who have shown some information needs that are now covered with these publications.
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