After Spain’s first fully fledged modern democracy and Second Republic began in 1931 despite ferocious opposition from hardline conservatives, Franco began a right-wing military rebellion on July 18, 1936, to put an end to its political and social reforms.Despite backing from fascist Italy and Nazi Germany, his uprising encountered greater resistance than expected from a makeshift pro-Republican coalition of left-wing trade unionists, political parties, some parts of the armed forces and pro-democracy activists, leading to a full-scale, brutal Civil War lasting three years.The republic finally surrendered on April 2, 1939, leading to his regime.Since the earliest days of the war, a brutal repression of suspected civilian rivals and their families had begun in the Franco-controlled areas of Spain. It was designed to silence and intimidate any possible opposition.The number of victims who were summarily executed is estimated at 130,000 to 200,000.In the half-century since Franco’s demise, exhumations have been slow and beset by logistical, financial and legal challenges. There are an estimated 6,000 unmarked mass graves dotted around the country, including everywhere from wells and woodlands to gardens, cemeteries and remote hillsides.But as Spain remembers the era’s victims and analyses exhumation efforts, it is grappling with the steady recent rise of a far-right party, Vox, and nostalgia for …
