Spanish Civil War Interpretation in Modern Spanish and International Discource
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CONTENTS 2
INTRODUCTION 3
CHAPTER 1. HISTORICAL MEMORY AS A CONCEPT 7
1.1 Theoretical Framework 7
1.2 The Development of Historical Memory 9
1.3 Memory Policy Implementation in Particular Countries of Western Europe 12
1.4 Spanish Civil War, Franco’s Dictatorship and Democratic Transition Milestones 24
1.5 Conclusions 29
CHAPTER 2. SPANISH CIVIL WAR INTERPRETATION IN MODERN SPAIN 30
2.1 Memorial Legislation 30
2.1.1 Amnesty Law 31
2.1.2 Historical Memory Law 33
2.1.3 Democratic Memory Law 35
2.2 Places of Memory 38
2.2.1 Valley of the Fallen 38
2.2.2 Guernica 41
2.3 The Association for the Recovery of Historical Memory 42
2.4 Conclusions 44
CHAPTER 3. INTERNATIONAL DIMENSION OF MEMORY POLICY IN SPAIN 46
3.1 Impact of the European Union 46
3.2 Influence of the United Nations 47
3.3 Conclusion 49
CONCLUSIONS 51
REFERENCES 54
INTRODUCTION 3
CHAPTER 1. HISTORICAL MEMORY AS A CONCEPT 7
1.1 Theoretical Framework 7
1.2 The Development of Historical Memory 9
1.3 Memory Policy Implementation in Particular Countries of Western Europe 12
1.4 Spanish Civil War, Franco’s Dictatorship and Democratic Transition Milestones 24
1.5 Conclusions 29
CHAPTER 2. SPANISH CIVIL WAR INTERPRETATION IN MODERN SPAIN 30
2.1 Memorial Legislation 30
2.1.1 Amnesty Law 31
2.1.2 Historical Memory Law 33
2.1.3 Democratic Memory Law 35
2.2 Places of Memory 38
2.2.1 Valley of the Fallen 38
2.2.2 Guernica 41
2.3 The Association for the Recovery of Historical Memory 42
2.4 Conclusions 44
CHAPTER 3. INTERNATIONAL DIMENSION OF MEMORY POLICY IN SPAIN 46
3.1 Impact of the European Union 46
3.2 Influence of the United Nations 47
3.3 Conclusion 49
CONCLUSIONS 51
REFERENCES 54
The events of the World War II had changed drastically the approach to global problems. In fact, the results of the war brought some new issues to agenda, and these issues were not previously examined thoroughly. The XX century was time when new political systems appeared, new blocks had been formed and the new way of thinking had settled.
The events of XX century should be examined and understood by the world population. This need pushed forward the development of historical reassessment process. This phenomenon could be seen in modern Europe. The collapse of the USSR provoked this process in the Eastern Europe in a way of condemnation the Soviet regime and everything related to it. In the Western Europe it resulted in equating the communist ideology to nazism. However, not only the events of the World War II are experiencing the attempts of reassessment the past. There are also countries that are rethinking their own tragedies, among them is Spain.
After the Spanish civil war that had place from 1936 to 1939 the dictatorship of Francisco Franco was established. It ended in 1975 with Franco’s death bringing a possibility to change Spanish political regime. Spain survived the democratic transition and changed a lot; however, it is impossible to suggest that there are no attempts to reconsider the period of Franco’s governance.
The aim of this Master’s Thesis is to determine how the modern Spanish and international institutions influence the memory policy adoption and the narrative formation on Spanish civil war and Franco’s regime.
Under the Spanish discourse are considered the Spanish media reports, the statements made by politicians, national Spanish organizations, such as The Association for the Recovery of Historical Memory (ARMH), and the legislative acts adopted by the Spanish parliament in different periods of time.
Under the international discourse we consider the discourse of the international organizations, such as the United Nations, especially the UN Committee on Enforced Disappearances (CED), and the institutions of the European Union.
Present research focuses on the modern interpretation of the civil war in Spain, however it also includes the analysis of the Francisco Franco’s dictatorship that followed the war. It is important because the measures that were implemented by Franco’s regime representatives included the suppression the ones who had opposed the Franco’s government during the civil war. In other words, two events of Spanish history are tightly interconnected.
In order to reach the mentioned aim there are set following objectives:
• To collect information on historical memory concept development;
• To elaborate criteria and to make observations on memory policy realization in particular countries of Western Europe;
• To determine the milestones of the Spanish civil war and Franco’s dictatorship;
• To study the legislative acts that were adopted in Spain in the area of historical memory;
• To examine the practical implementation of the concept ‘places of memory’ in Spain;
• To research on particular non-Governmental actors that perform in the area of historical memory in Spain;
• To analyze how the international organizations do have an impact on Spanish memory policy initiatives.
The object of current research is Memory studies and the subject is the approach of Spanish and international society to Civil war in Spain and Franco’s regime.
The relevance of this study is conditioned by the engagement of international organizations and different civil groups and also by the continuing process of historical policy making.
This Master’s Thesis is composed of three chapters. The first one analyses the main scientific papers related to historical memory and the implementation of memory policy in different countries of the Western Europe. This part also studies the historical background of the issue under study and the modern approach to memory policy in Spain.
The second chapter focuses on the internal dimension of memory policy in Spain. The analysis is making on a basis of legislative cases, political statements, Spanish organizations approach and the researches of scholars and political scientists. Within the framework of this chapter the concept ‘places of memory’ practical implementation in Spain is examined.
The last chapter of the Master’s Thesis is devoted to international dimension of memory policy in Spain. The third part presents the UN reaction on memory policy in Spain, especially the analysis of the Committee on Enforced Disappearances resolutions, and the main trends of memory policy in the European Union.
Each chapter has a conclusion that summarize the results of previous analysis. Mentioned findings are taking into consideration in the last part of the current paper.
At the present stage, the Spanish Civil war and Franco’s dictatorship are well-observed. Each year appear papers and monographies on various matters related to francoist regime. In Russia, the valuable contribution to examination of Francoism is made by S.P. Pozharskaya1, G.A. Filatov2, S.M. Henkin3, V.L. Vernikov4, A.A. Orlov5 etc. Among international outstanding scholars could be distinguished P. Preston6, E. Beevor7, S.G. Payne8 and others. This research encompasses papers of P. Preston (“Franco”; “Franco: a biography”; “Franco and Hitler: The Myth of Hendaye 1940”, etc.); E. Beevor (“The Spanish Civil War”); S.M. Khenkin (“Introduction: The Historical Significance of Spain's Transition To Democracy”; “Politico-Territorial Organization of Spain: Old Problems and New Challenges”; “Spain and the EU”; “The Monarchy and the Transition to Democracy in Spain”) and other researchers....
The events of XX century should be examined and understood by the world population. This need pushed forward the development of historical reassessment process. This phenomenon could be seen in modern Europe. The collapse of the USSR provoked this process in the Eastern Europe in a way of condemnation the Soviet regime and everything related to it. In the Western Europe it resulted in equating the communist ideology to nazism. However, not only the events of the World War II are experiencing the attempts of reassessment the past. There are also countries that are rethinking their own tragedies, among them is Spain.
After the Spanish civil war that had place from 1936 to 1939 the dictatorship of Francisco Franco was established. It ended in 1975 with Franco’s death bringing a possibility to change Spanish political regime. Spain survived the democratic transition and changed a lot; however, it is impossible to suggest that there are no attempts to reconsider the period of Franco’s governance.
The aim of this Master’s Thesis is to determine how the modern Spanish and international institutions influence the memory policy adoption and the narrative formation on Spanish civil war and Franco’s regime.
Under the Spanish discourse are considered the Spanish media reports, the statements made by politicians, national Spanish organizations, such as The Association for the Recovery of Historical Memory (ARMH), and the legislative acts adopted by the Spanish parliament in different periods of time.
Under the international discourse we consider the discourse of the international organizations, such as the United Nations, especially the UN Committee on Enforced Disappearances (CED), and the institutions of the European Union.
Present research focuses on the modern interpretation of the civil war in Spain, however it also includes the analysis of the Francisco Franco’s dictatorship that followed the war. It is important because the measures that were implemented by Franco’s regime representatives included the suppression the ones who had opposed the Franco’s government during the civil war. In other words, two events of Spanish history are tightly interconnected.
In order to reach the mentioned aim there are set following objectives:
• To collect information on historical memory concept development;
• To elaborate criteria and to make observations on memory policy realization in particular countries of Western Europe;
• To determine the milestones of the Spanish civil war and Franco’s dictatorship;
• To study the legislative acts that were adopted in Spain in the area of historical memory;
• To examine the practical implementation of the concept ‘places of memory’ in Spain;
• To research on particular non-Governmental actors that perform in the area of historical memory in Spain;
• To analyze how the international organizations do have an impact on Spanish memory policy initiatives.
The object of current research is Memory studies and the subject is the approach of Spanish and international society to Civil war in Spain and Franco’s regime.
The relevance of this study is conditioned by the engagement of international organizations and different civil groups and also by the continuing process of historical policy making.
This Master’s Thesis is composed of three chapters. The first one analyses the main scientific papers related to historical memory and the implementation of memory policy in different countries of the Western Europe. This part also studies the historical background of the issue under study and the modern approach to memory policy in Spain.
The second chapter focuses on the internal dimension of memory policy in Spain. The analysis is making on a basis of legislative cases, political statements, Spanish organizations approach and the researches of scholars and political scientists. Within the framework of this chapter the concept ‘places of memory’ practical implementation in Spain is examined.
The last chapter of the Master’s Thesis is devoted to international dimension of memory policy in Spain. The third part presents the UN reaction on memory policy in Spain, especially the analysis of the Committee on Enforced Disappearances resolutions, and the main trends of memory policy in the European Union.
Each chapter has a conclusion that summarize the results of previous analysis. Mentioned findings are taking into consideration in the last part of the current paper.
At the present stage, the Spanish Civil war and Franco’s dictatorship are well-observed. Each year appear papers and monographies on various matters related to francoist regime. In Russia, the valuable contribution to examination of Francoism is made by S.P. Pozharskaya1, G.A. Filatov2, S.M. Henkin3, V.L. Vernikov4, A.A. Orlov5 etc. Among international outstanding scholars could be distinguished P. Preston6, E. Beevor7, S.G. Payne8 and others. This research encompasses papers of P. Preston (“Franco”; “Franco: a biography”; “Franco and Hitler: The Myth of Hendaye 1940”, etc.); E. Beevor (“The Spanish Civil War”); S.M. Khenkin (“Introduction: The Historical Significance of Spain's Transition To Democracy”; “Politico-Territorial Organization of Spain: Old Problems and New Challenges”; “Spain and the EU”; “The Monarchy and the Transition to Democracy in Spain”) and other researchers....
The presented Master’s Thesis is devoted to the issues of the Spanish civil war interpretation in modern Spanish and International discourse. Under the Spanish discourse were considered the Spanish media reports, the statements of politicians, internal Spanish organizations, such as The Association for the Recovery of Historical Memory (ARMH), and the legislative acts that were adopted by the Spanish Government in a different period of time. Under the international discourse were considered the international organizations, such as the United Nations, especially the materials of the Committee on Enforced Disappearances (CED), and the institutions of the European Union.
The aim of this research was in determination how the modern Spanish and International institutions influence the memory policy adoption and the narrative formation on Spanish civil war and francoist regime.
In order to reach the mentioned aim there were set following objectives:
• To collect information on historical memory concept development;
• To elaborate criteria and to make observations on memory policy realization in particular countries of Western Europe;
• To determine the milestones of the Spanish civil war and Franco dictatorship regime;
• To study the legislative acts that were adopted in Spain in the field on historical memory;
• To examine the practical implementation of the concept ‘places of memory’ in Spain;
• To research on particular non-Governmental actors that perform in the field of historical memory in Spain;
• To analyze how the international organizations do have an impact on Spanish memory policy initiatives.
This Master’s Thesis is composed of three chapters. Within the framework of the Chapter 1 were studied the key theoretical concepts applicable to the present research. The chapter is divided into 5 parts, each of which is dedicated to particular theoretical issue related to the main topic. The Chapter 1 establishes a constructivism paradigm as the most suitable for present research and collects the main information on the historical memory and the key concepts that exists in this field of study. This part of Master’s Thesis also examines how the memory policy was implicated in different countries of Western Europe in order to find certain similarities between the Spanish case and the other European states cases. In the result it was ascertained that there are similarities between the approaches to historical memory in Spain and France. These findings could be used in future for other independent research.
In the Chapter 2 were examined the initiatives in the field of historical memory that were taken within the borders of Spain by its internal actors. This chapter is divided into 4 parts, the first of which is dedicated to memorial legislation, the second studies how the concept of ‘places of memory’ was implicated in Spain and the third revises the actions of modern non-Governmental organizations that perform in the field of memory.
The first part of Chapter 2 presents documentary analysis on three particular laws of Spain. For the analysis were chosen the Amnesty Law, the Historical Memory Law and the Democratic Memory Law, which still was not adopted. According to the results of analysis, neither Amnesty Law, nor Historical Memory Law supposed any punishment for the lawbreakers, however, the project of Democratic Memory Law contains sanctions. In contrast to the Historical Memory Law, Democratic Memory Law determines status of the Valley of the Fallen.
The issue of the Valley of the Fallen was studied in the framework of the second part of Chapter 2, as well as the case of Guernica. While the disputes over the status of the Valley of the Fallen are still on going, the case of Guernica could be understood as a settled one. Guernica represents a notification on war tragedy, nevertheless, this tragedy was caused mostly by external actors. In other words, the Valley of the Fallen reminds on internal problems and the absence of reconciliation, while Guernica is a symbol of the international peace.
The third part of the Chapter 2 presents a study on the non-Governmental actor of the memory policy in Spain. The Association for the Recovery of Historical Memory (ARMH) plays a huge role in search, determination and exhumation of victims of Spanish civil war and francoist regime. The ARMH had exhumed more than 9000 bodies in the period from 2000 to 2020. This organization influences greatly on the memory policy development in Spain.
Within the framework of Chapter 3 was revised how the international organizations influence on memory policy implementation in Spain. This Chapter is divided into 3 parts, the first of which is dedicated to the European Union and the second is devoted to the United Nations. It could be stated that the actions of Spanish Government are in the mainstream of European approach towards memory policy. It also must be highlighted that the United Nations through the Committee on Enforced Disappearances (CED) observes the actions of Spanish Government especially in the sphere of memorial legislation and expresses its concern with the speed of Democratic Memory Law adoption process. The involvement of international organizations in the process of memory policy development signifies that the adoption of the Democratic Memory Law is only a matter of time. The Law will provide some reparations to the victims of the francoist regime, however, it could also produce obstacles for further comprehensive researches because of the narrative that it creates.
Based on the results of the study it could be concluded that the memory policy implementation in Spain depends on internal and external reasons. Among internal reasons could be distinguished the Spanish society’s polarization, the absence of reconciliation, and the victim’s recognition. Among external reasons could be named the issues of integrational policy and the global concern the human rights violation. Both internal and external dimensions compose narrative on Spanish civil war and francoist regime and determine the behavior of Governmental and Non-Governmental actors in the field of memory policy.
For this research was elaborated the hypothesis that the memory policy in Spain is developing under the demand of Spanish population and could be changed if this demand disappears. Probably, this hypothesis is partially incorrect, because the vector of memory policy development is influenced not only by the demand of Spanish population, but as well by the requirements of international actors.
The aim of this research was in determination how the modern Spanish and International institutions influence the memory policy adoption and the narrative formation on Spanish civil war and francoist regime.
In order to reach the mentioned aim there were set following objectives:
• To collect information on historical memory concept development;
• To elaborate criteria and to make observations on memory policy realization in particular countries of Western Europe;
• To determine the milestones of the Spanish civil war and Franco dictatorship regime;
• To study the legislative acts that were adopted in Spain in the field on historical memory;
• To examine the practical implementation of the concept ‘places of memory’ in Spain;
• To research on particular non-Governmental actors that perform in the field of historical memory in Spain;
• To analyze how the international organizations do have an impact on Spanish memory policy initiatives.
This Master’s Thesis is composed of three chapters. Within the framework of the Chapter 1 were studied the key theoretical concepts applicable to the present research. The chapter is divided into 5 parts, each of which is dedicated to particular theoretical issue related to the main topic. The Chapter 1 establishes a constructivism paradigm as the most suitable for present research and collects the main information on the historical memory and the key concepts that exists in this field of study. This part of Master’s Thesis also examines how the memory policy was implicated in different countries of Western Europe in order to find certain similarities between the Spanish case and the other European states cases. In the result it was ascertained that there are similarities between the approaches to historical memory in Spain and France. These findings could be used in future for other independent research.
In the Chapter 2 were examined the initiatives in the field of historical memory that were taken within the borders of Spain by its internal actors. This chapter is divided into 4 parts, the first of which is dedicated to memorial legislation, the second studies how the concept of ‘places of memory’ was implicated in Spain and the third revises the actions of modern non-Governmental organizations that perform in the field of memory.
The first part of Chapter 2 presents documentary analysis on three particular laws of Spain. For the analysis were chosen the Amnesty Law, the Historical Memory Law and the Democratic Memory Law, which still was not adopted. According to the results of analysis, neither Amnesty Law, nor Historical Memory Law supposed any punishment for the lawbreakers, however, the project of Democratic Memory Law contains sanctions. In contrast to the Historical Memory Law, Democratic Memory Law determines status of the Valley of the Fallen.
The issue of the Valley of the Fallen was studied in the framework of the second part of Chapter 2, as well as the case of Guernica. While the disputes over the status of the Valley of the Fallen are still on going, the case of Guernica could be understood as a settled one. Guernica represents a notification on war tragedy, nevertheless, this tragedy was caused mostly by external actors. In other words, the Valley of the Fallen reminds on internal problems and the absence of reconciliation, while Guernica is a symbol of the international peace.
The third part of the Chapter 2 presents a study on the non-Governmental actor of the memory policy in Spain. The Association for the Recovery of Historical Memory (ARMH) plays a huge role in search, determination and exhumation of victims of Spanish civil war and francoist regime. The ARMH had exhumed more than 9000 bodies in the period from 2000 to 2020. This organization influences greatly on the memory policy development in Spain.
Within the framework of Chapter 3 was revised how the international organizations influence on memory policy implementation in Spain. This Chapter is divided into 3 parts, the first of which is dedicated to the European Union and the second is devoted to the United Nations. It could be stated that the actions of Spanish Government are in the mainstream of European approach towards memory policy. It also must be highlighted that the United Nations through the Committee on Enforced Disappearances (CED) observes the actions of Spanish Government especially in the sphere of memorial legislation and expresses its concern with the speed of Democratic Memory Law adoption process. The involvement of international organizations in the process of memory policy development signifies that the adoption of the Democratic Memory Law is only a matter of time. The Law will provide some reparations to the victims of the francoist regime, however, it could also produce obstacles for further comprehensive researches because of the narrative that it creates.
Based on the results of the study it could be concluded that the memory policy implementation in Spain depends on internal and external reasons. Among internal reasons could be distinguished the Spanish society’s polarization, the absence of reconciliation, and the victim’s recognition. Among external reasons could be named the issues of integrational policy and the global concern the human rights violation. Both internal and external dimensions compose narrative on Spanish civil war and francoist regime and determine the behavior of Governmental and Non-Governmental actors in the field of memory policy.
For this research was elaborated the hypothesis that the memory policy in Spain is developing under the demand of Spanish population and could be changed if this demand disappears. Probably, this hypothesis is partially incorrect, because the vector of memory policy development is influenced not only by the demand of Spanish population, but as well by the requirements of international actors.
