The government’s Ministry of Territorial Policy and Democratic Memory is preparing a royal decree to launch a detailed catalog of the symbols of the uprising and the Franco dictatorship that public administrations and other institutions will be obliged to eliminate. This is a provision contained in the Law on Democratic Memory, which in its article 36 instructs the General Administration of the State to prepare this inventory of elements “contrary to democratic memory”, as the text describes them. .
The decree, which aims to put an end to the lack of precision of the framework standard, aims to “specify and precisely define the content of the catalog” and to “specify the deadlines and procedures” in order to guarantee “effectiveness and safety legal” of the catalog. the application of the measure, as stipulated by the Government in the text of the public consultation which has just closed, a process in which citizens and other administrations were able to make suggestions.
“This catalog is an essential instrument for the deletion of elements which, in accordance with the law, are considered contrary to democratic memory and facilitates the obligations of those who are called upon to delete them,” explains the ministry, justifying this development. by decree.
Thus, the Royal Decree aims to regulate the procedures to be followed for the removal of symbols and constitutes the first step for the subsequent development of the catalog, which will be done “in collaboration with the rest of the public administrations”. Sources from the department headed by Ángel Víctor Torres explain that the list will include symbols sent by communities or town halls and may also include those requested by associations or victims of the dictatorship: “All this will be seen and examined by a technical commission . of experts and experts” to move, if necessary, to the catalog, specify the same sources, who add that if “we consider” that an element is missing “it will be automatically included”.
Even if, in light of the previous memory law of 2007, many symbols have already been removed from the streets, the reality is that Francoist vestiges still remain. And the Government’s desire is to eliminate them. To this end, the new standard goes further and provides not only for detailing which elements must be deleted from the catalog, but also establishes a procedure to oblige administrations, entities or institutions to do so in the event of refusal, which can also be applied. for example, to a municipal council which voluntarily refuses to remove a symbol, specify ministerial sources.
In this case, the administration can “initiate ex officio” the withdrawal procedure by hearing “interested persons” and communicating the resolution within a maximum period of six months. If the resolution consents to the elimination of the element, this must be completed within three months, specifies the law, which reserves the possibility of “imposing coercive fines”, up to ten successive fines per period of one month between 200 and 1,000 euros. (i.e. between 200 and 10,000 euros). In addition, the rule considers non-compliance with resolutions when the symbols “imply discredit, contempt or humiliation” of victims as a “serious offense” punishable by penalties of between 2,001 and 10,000 euros.
The symbology that survives
The law, which came into force in October 2022, considers as “elements contrary to democratic memory” buildings, constructions, shields, badges, plaques or any other element or object fixed or located on the public highway in which commemorative exaltations are reflected . military uprisings and dictatorship, “of their leaders, participants in the repressive system or organizations that supported it”, as well as civilian and military units that collaborated with the Germany-Italy-Japan Axis during the Second War worldwide.
Expressly, the standard also refers to place names, in the street map or in the names of public centers. And, in general, it establishes their removal whether they are in public space or if they are located in private or religious buildings “but with projection in public space or use”. It also envisages the exception of symbols which relate “strictly to private memory” or when there are artistic reasons.
The law seeks to end any trace of Francoist symbolism that has not already been removed or intervened – a possibility that very rarely occurs. Because elements that exalt the dictatorship still survive in Spain, notably in the form of plaques on houses, but also in street names, inscriptions or coats of arms. There are 6,000 of them, according to the DeberiaDislessly project, launched by the Jesús Pereda Foundation of CCOO, which locates on a map the exact points where they are based on compilations from local administrations or memorial associations, specialized surveys and media communication.
Although most of the symbols identified refer to the typical plaques of the National Housing Institute with the yoke and arrows, there are also crosses and tombstones “to the dead”, eagle shields and around 600 streets . There, San Pedro del Pinatar (Murcia) takes the prize, the town in Spain with the most names linked to the uprising on its street map, with eleven. Furthermore, seven municipalities, including Alberche del Caudillo, in Toledo, or Alcocero de Mola (Burgos), are still resisting Franco’s change of toponym.
The monuments are much larger like the War Memorial in Pamplona, the second largest in the country after the Cuelgamuros Valley and currently embroiled in a debate over what to do with it, or the monument to Franco in Santa Cruz de Tenerife . , which Justice obliged to declare as an Asset of Cultural Interest (BIC). At that time, Minister Torres had already stressed that “there is no place” for Francoist symbols in the streets and he was in favor of their “elimination” or even their “resignification” if they have a artistic or historical value.
The example of Santander
One of the most notable cases of non-compliance with the law is that of Santander, which is on track to keep names associated with the Franco regime on the streets for two decades.
This is highlighted by an exceptional situation that has arisen in recent months. The renovation of the former headquarters of the Bank of Spain, in the capital of Cantabria, constituted an event that did not transcend the local level but which is relevant due to its political context and because it constitutes a exception in a Town Hall which, for the last three decades, it has not respected the legal obligation to remove Francoist symbols from streets and buildings.
This is the large overhead window, with the eagle of Franco’s arms, which presided over the operations patio of the Bank of Spain when its doors were open. Now that it has been “emptied” to undertake the adaptation of the space as the future associated headquarters of the Reina Sofía National Museum, it has been dismantled and duly collected for its conservation.
Santander City Hall has not indicated where a stained glass window is stored, the future of which has always concerned the far right of Santander, as have PP and Ciudadanos, who were interested in its “artistic value” in the past.
The irony of the situation is due to the fact that this is practically the only movement that the Santander City Council has carried out in recent years, not so much for compliance with the legislation on Historical Memory, but for the dynamics of the needs of the work in progress for the future museum where the Lafuente Archives will be located.
To get out of dead end produced by the lack of initiative of certain administrations, such as that of Santander, when it comes to complying with the law, which is precisely why the State is finishing the drafting of a decree that will clarify and will detail to municipalities, autonomous governments and councils which symbols linked to the Franco uprising and the dictatorship must be removed and what is the procedure to follow.
