Site of memory and dismemory: the Valley of the Fallen in Spain

Abstract

This article focuses on the Valley of the Fallen in Spain as both a site of memory and dismemory. The monument at Cuelgamuros was constructed as a burial site for the Francoist fallen and the commemoration of their victory between 1940 and 1958 with the help of forced labour, consisting of thousands of Republican prisoners. Not only did many of these prisoners suffer serious injuries or death, but, in addition, thousands of Republican remains were exhumed from mass graves throughout the country, transferred and anonymously interred at the Valley in 1959 over and above the authorized burial of Francoist bodies. The destruction of the mass graves in the process, as well as the transfer of the bodies, was instrumental in disguising committed atrocities, and must be viewed as an attempted ‘mnemocide’ of the Republicans. The interment of dictator Francisco Franco's remains in 1975 at the basilica of the Valley certainly highlights the contested nature of this memory site. In this discussion, it will be argued that the Valley of the Fallen represents a site with blurred distinctions between a mass grave, a monument and an unacknowledged site of suffering for Republican prisoners, whose memories and stories continue to be silenced and unacknowledged at the site. The article will focus on the ‘dissonant heritage’ of the Valley, which has become a focal point of controversies and debates in recent years. It will further be argued that the unacknowledged ‘heritage of violence’ of the Valley has transformed the site into a contested lieu de mémoire, and that debates about and clashes at the Valley of the Fallen reflect conflicts rooted in the past dictatorship and still existing in contemporary Spain.