Franco’s body being moved today

I didn't see that jura, perhaps they will repeat it at some time.

I was 12y when we had a holiday in Spain in 1965. My sister and I went with my parents to Sitges. (Now a popular gay resort, like Torremolinos). Franco would have still been in power.

Beach regulations at the time were very strict. NO beachwear off the beach - we had to make sure we were modestly covered when we came up from it. No bare torsos for men and skimpy bikinis for women allowed when strolling about! Actually upon reflection not a bad thing!

I have ‘Ghosts of Spain’ by Giles Tremlett on my bookcase out here Gaunt it’s a very informative read. He has lived out here (in Madrid) for over 20y and used to write for the Guardian as a correspondent.

I’ve not spent enough time here in Spain for long enough or have learned enough Spanish in the last six years to form an opinion or to spout on the rights and wrongs of past events to form an opinion current events.

I have so many neighbours with different views that I nod respectfully and acknowledge my ignorance on the subject .

Do you live in Spain?

Perhaps read Victoria Hislop, The Return- as she teaches so much about history as part of great novels.

My father Juan Taule, was a Catalan, he fought in the Spanish civil war as a republican. He would have danced on Franco's grave if he had the chance. He gave his country, his family and his youth up to fight for the for the rights that we take for granted today. It's a happy day for me and I am sure the rest of my Catalan family. Watch out for the seduction of the far right.

Sorry Jura but Victoria Hislop does not write great novels ! Pleasant enough paperback reads for the train or for a holiday, which can be thrown away to save on the baggage allowance, but even The Island was underwhelming!

My first father in law was Spanish. He'd babble away to me before I had learned enough to follow him. But he always ended up yelling BOOM and laughing hysterically

When Franco was in dictatorship they were only allowed to speak castilliano . So the small village i lived in spain where staunch valenciano . Being they were not allowed to speak it when Franco was around . My children were taught in it too .

I honestly think there is no defence for the fact that Franco was a dictator for 40 years. There is never an excuse for this.

@suziewoozie,@pantglas2, I've just started reading 'Ghosts of Spain' by Giles Tremlett that covers that period. Shocking what went on!

Thanks Mag

My family has links back to Barcelona & some of my mother's 2nd cousins lived there when I was young. I spent a lot of time there when I was young & I know his name was never mentioned- the main road through the city was always called El Diagonal instead of Avenida de Generalissimo Franco by locals.
I know how much this news would have meant to them. The people of Catalonia suffered badly as did the Basques. It is not such ancient history after all & still very raw in some memories.

Maw ''Sorry Jura but Victoria Hislop does not write great novels ! Pleasant enough paperback reads for the train or for a holiday, which can be thrown away to save on the baggage allowance, but even The Island was underwhelming!''

a matter of personal taste. I have personally learnt a lot about the history of the persecution of Jews in Thessaloniki, the partition of Cyprus, the persecution of Gipsies in Franco's Spain, the leper colonies of Crete, and more- thanks to VH's novels- which I would probably have not become aware of otherwise.

Re Catalan suppression- this happened in France too in the Perpignan South West region. My friend says her grandparents were not allowed to speak catalan at home, their native tongue, and kids were beaten and tied up at school if they were caught speaking catalan.

Can’t people be cruel to one another? So sad what some people have to endure during their short visit called life.
?

This is the Wikipedia entry for the Spanish poet Lorca:
'García Lorca achieved international recognition as an emblematic member of the Generation of '27, a group consisting of mostly poets who introduced the tenets of European movements He was executed by Rebel faction forces at the beginning of the Spanish Civil War. His body or bones have never been found'.

So sad, that last sentence. Maybe one day...

A lot of Spaniards who opposed Franco, or who are descended from those that did, feel (quite rightly IMO) that the pomp surrounding Franco's burial site is inappropriate and more sinisterly his tomb had become a rallying ground for neo-Fascists.

Unfortunately, whatever they do with Franco's remains is unlikely to stop the spread of right-wing movements, which are making themselves felt all over Europe.

We have just had trouble in Denmark with neo-Nazis commemorating "Die Kristalnacht" by desecrating Jewish graves and sticking the Nazi "Judenstern" on mail-boxes belonging to Jewish citizens.

I feel it is now all who oppose Fascism, Nazis etc. need to speak up.

This was the position 10 years ago, Lorca's remains are amongst the many unidentified. www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2009/oct/31/spain-franco-lorca-graves

Jura2 May I recommend CJ Sansom "Winter in Madrid" as a well researched and better written novel set in the same era.

I’ve just uploaded it now onto my Kindle Maw thank you for the recommendation.

I had an uncle who fought against Franco in the Spanish revolution, basically a mercenary I have to admit. Can just about recall the tales he told of the people's suffering at that time, not that much short of 100 years ago.

I remember seeing a street named " Franco" in Avila. Someone had sprayed over his name with red paint, good on them whoever it was. Franco invited the Fascist German Air Force to bomb his people during the civil war, he was a monster.

Thanks, yes, a great book.

I did Spanish O and A level and went on to do a BA and an MA. I became a teacher of Spanish too. First visited Spain in 1975 while in the Sixth Form, a month or so before Franco's death, and I was also there in 1977, when the first free elections since before the Civil War in 1936 were held. Fascinating atmosphere to say the least. In addition to the books already mentioned, I'd recommend George Orwell's 'Homage to Catalonia', Juan Benet's 'Return to Región' and Ramón J Sender's 'Requiem for a Spanish Peasant'. Laurie Lee also went to fight for the Republican side in the Spanish Civil War and wrote about it. There is still so much being discovered too.

I second ‘Winter in Madrid’.

‘We have just had trouble in Denmark with neo-Nazis commemorating "Die Kristalnacht" by desecrating Jewish graves and sticking the Nazi "Judenstern" on mail-boxes belonging to Jewish citizens’

grim