This year, the Ministry of the Presidency, Relations with the Courts and Democratic Memory, through the State Secretariat for Democratic Memory, will fund 114 projects to locate, exhume and identify people buried in mass graves. In addition, grants have been approved for 44 other Democratic Memory recovery projects.
On the one hand, 66 grants have been awarded directly by the Secretary of State for Democratic Memory through Order PCM/725/2020, of July 27, which establishes the regulatory bases for the concession. The grants provided by this Order are intended for associations, foundations and other private non-profit entities, as well as universities and public research bodies, as well as groups of natural persons whose objectives or activities include those related to the recovery of the Democratic Memory and the recognition of the victims of the Civil War and the dictatorship.
The total amount of these subsidies reaches 750,000 euros, of which 60% (450,000 euros) are intended for the exhumation of people buried in mass graves.
In total, 22 exhumation projects will be subsidized through this regulation, which are distributed among ten autonomous communities: Andalusia, seven; Extremadura, three; Madrid, three; Castilla y León, two; Valencia, two and Aragón, Canary Islands, Castilla-La Mancha, Catalonia and Murcia, one project each.
In addition to the aid for exhumations, through Order PCM/725/2020 grants have been granted to 44 other projects, of which nine focus on studies and research related to the recovery of the Democratic Memory, 24 to the organization of courses, conferences, exhibitions and publications and 11 to the collection, conservation, study and dissemination of written, oral and audiovisual documentary heritage.
These projects are distributed among ten autonomous communities as follows: Madrid, 21; Catalonia, eight; Andalusia, three; Euskadi, one; Asturias, two; Valencian Community, two; Galicia, two; Castilla y León, three; Castilla-La Mancha, one and Murcia, one.
Support through the FEMP
The remaining 92 exhumation grants are based on the provisions of Royal Decree 887/2020, of 6 October, on granting a direct grant from the Ministry of the Presidency, Relations with the Courts and Democratic Memory to the Spanish Federation of Municipalities and Provinces, for actions related to Democratic Memory. Through this aid, the actions carried out by the municipalities to investigate, locate, exhume and identify missing persons in graves of the Civil War and Franco’s regime will be financed. The total amount of the same amounts to 750,000 euros.
The 92 actions included in this plan will be carried out in 92 municipalities in 25 different provinces. These consistories are spread over 12 autonomous communities. On the part of Andalusia, 46 municipalities participate; in Aragon, five; in Asturias, four; in the Balearic Islands, one; in the Canary Islands, two; in Castilla-La Mancha, two; in Castilla y León, six; in Catalonia, three; in Madrid, two; in the Valencian Community, 13; in Extremadura, seven; and in the Basque Country, one.
With regard to the type of actions to be subsidized, these include exhumations, research projects, collection of testimonies, prospecting of graves, and analysis of remains.
Below is the table with the number of subsidized exhumation projects in each Autonomous Community in each of the two aid lines.