San Sebastián (EFE).- Donostia recovers the memory of 17 militiamen killed during the Civil War who participated in the defense of the city in 1936. Their mortal remains were discovered by the Aranzadi Science Society in a Francoist mausoleum in the Polloe cemetery.
The 17 murdered have received a solemn recognition organized this morning by the San Sebastian City Council and the Basque Government before this “Mausoleum of the Martyrs”. In compliance with the Historical Memory Law, last May a plaque was removed from this place with the inscription: “To the memory of those murdered for defending their ideals, of God and Spain. A prayer for their souls.”
Now, with the desire to “resignify” this pantheon, in which the militiamen were buried along with coup fighters, the relatives of the murdered Republicans have paid homage to their relatives.
The Deputy Minister for Human Rights of the Basque Government, José Antonio Rodríguez Ranz; the mayor of San Sebastián, Eneko Goia; the director of the Gogora Institute, Aintzane Ezenarro, and the Councilor for Solidarity, Ane Oyarbide, presided over the ceremony.
Sculpture “Dignity”
The event, which was also attended by members of all the political parties of the San Sebastián consistory, took place in front of the pantheon, together with a replica of the work “Duintasuna” (Dignity) by the sculptor Iñigo Arregi and a new plaque installed in the place with the names of the 17 militiamen
After the interpretation of several solemn pieces by the municipal band of txistularis, Eneko Goia has taken the floor. The mayor has ensured that the “resignification” of this place settles “debts with those who fought for our freedoms.”
“In this way, we carried out an exercise in historical memory to restore the dignity that belongs to this place, and we continue to recover spaces to remember and repair the damage that Francoism perpetrated in our town,” Goia stressed.
Democratic memory symbol
For his part, Deputy Minister José Antonio Rodríguez Ranz stressed that from now on this environment will cease to be a Francoist mausoleum in honor of the fallen to become a “symbol of democratic memory”.
“This is also an act of truth, justice, recognition and reparation”
“We reaffirm the principles of international law in relation to human rights violations and the victims of these violations. This is also an act of truth, justice, recognition and reparation”, he remarked.
“We also reaffirm our commitment as a country with the victims of the Civil War and the Franco dictatorship, with democratic memory and ethical and democratic principles -he added-, in the face of violations of rights and the real threat of old and new totalitarianism stamp”.
Advance of honor
Next, the authorities delivered a small replica of the “Duintasuna” sculpture to the relatives of the militiamen buried in the mausoleum, several of whom carried Republican and Communist Party flags, after which a couple of dantzaris performed an aurresku of honor.
Next, the assistants have carried out a floral offering of white and red carnations in front of the pantheon with which they have concluded the tribute.
The decision to “resignify” this mausoleum was adopted after a historical investigation and a survey of the state of the remains carried out by the Aranzadi Science Society.
The report concluded that it was not feasible to completely identify and recover the bodies of the at least 17 Republican victims buried in this mausoleum, where it is estimated that the remains of two hundred people are found.
I have been surfing online moгe thzn 3 hߋurs toⅾay,
yet I never found any іnteresting article ⅼike үoսrs.
Ιt’s pretty worth enoᥙgh for me. In my ᴠiew, if ɑll sote ownners
аnd bloggers maɗe good content as you did, the internet ᴡill Ƅe
a lot moгe useful than ever bef᧐re.
Stop by my webpage – Member of the Manitoba Real Estate Association (MREA)