Spanish Civil War Memory Project

Summary

Francisco "Paco" Matarán describes the plight of his family in Granada during the Civil War. Paco recounts that his father was a teacher and was persecuted by the Falange. He details the accusations that were used to substantiate his father's execution and tells of the executions of his father and his cousin. Paco discusses the economic repression, the poverty that characterized his youth, and his family's displacement from house to house. He relates that at age twelve, he began holding various jobs to help alleviate the hunger and misery that threatened his family. Paco explains that he was forced to attend a Falange training camp. After completing the mandatory military service when he was twenty-six years old, he moved to Argentina to improve his circumstances. Upon returning to Granada, Paco opened a bookstore and sold censored and prohibited books. He recalls the repression enacted by the Right in collaboration with the Catholic Church. Paco emphasizes the impossibility of mourning his relatives whose bodies have yet to be recovered