Spanish Civil War Memory Project

Summary

Mariana Díaz remembers being fourteen years old when the Civil War began. Mariana relates that her brother was nineteen years old when he was imprisoned, trialed, given the death penalty, and executed in the Granada cemetery by the Francoists. She narrates that two days later, the Falange detained and killed her father because he was a Socialist. Mariana recounts the suffering she and her mother endured upon finding out about the death of her father and her brother. She states that her father and her brother are buried in a mass grave in Víznar. Mariana recalls the people that the Francoists killed in El Fargue. She explains that the Falange killed to instill fear in the population and silence all those who had ideas different from those of the Francoists. Mariana notes the censorship that prevailed and the impossibility to mourn those killed by the Francoists because the act of giving condolences was enough to merit imprisonment or death. She speaks of the acts of repression that she witnessed and the criminals, including the médico del agua (water doctor). Mariana describes the complicity of the Catholic Church with the Right. She discusses Franco's death. Mariana comments on the importance of remembering the Francoist repression, the value of creating archives that document the events of the war and the dictatorship, and the possibilities for attaining justice