Paper short abstract:

This paper explores the tensions among the ways in which relatives, civil associations and political authorities commemorate the memory of the defeated of the Spanish Civil War, as expressed in the spaces of death made public through the exhumation of mass graves resulting from Franco's repression.

Paper long abstract:

This paper explores the tensions and crossfertilizations among the different ways in which relatives, civil associations and political authorities and entities commemorate the memory of the defeated of the Spanish Civil War, as expressed in the management of the spaces of death, that were made public through the exhumation of the mass graves that were a result from Franco's repression. These commemorations are rather diverse and range from spontaneous shrines improvised by relatives to full-fledged political acts sponsored from different instances of government. The paper will present comparative analysis based on fieldwork data from three different locations: Valdediós (Asturias), La Barranca (La Rioja), and Villamayor (Burgos).