Spain

Spain's New Citizenship Law for Exiles from Franco Portends Massive Return from Latin America

Between the beginning of the Spanish Civil War and the end of the dicatorship in 1978, an estimated 2 million Spaniards fled political persecution by leaving the country. 

Spanish Right Seizes Conquistador Legacy in Political Culture Wars

Spain's Popular Party condemned Pope Francis's recent call for Catholics in Mexico to revisit the nation's history to consider indigenous conquest. 

Review: Does "The Princess Spy" Pierce the Veil of its Subject's Fictions?

by Robert Huddleston

A new biography of Aline Griffiths, Countess of Romanones, takes on the self-fashioned myths of the American-born woman who married a Spanish aristocrat after serving the OSS in Madrid during World War II. Does it succeed in finding the facts of her career as a spy?

Franco: Melilla Enclave Removes Last Statue of Fascist Dictator on Spanish Soil

The statue was the last standing after a 2007 law recognized the suffering caused by Francoism and began a process of removing memorials to the dictator. 

How the Fascists Rewrote Spanish National History

The revision of myths of Spanish heritage under Franco was rapid and broad, showing how critical those myths were to the goals of fascist rule. 

Who Was Junipero Serra, and Why Do Activists Want His Name Stripped From Institutions and His Statues Toppled?

The architect of the Spanish Mission system in California has some defenders among historians, but Native American activists associate his legacy with genocide. 

Manipulation of Spanish History Has Manufactured A Constitutional Crisis

by Christopher Binetti

The history of Spain does not support the Spanish nationalist claim that Castilian is the natural language and culture for all people of the Peninsula.

Franco’s Remains Are Exhumed and Reburied After Bitter Battle

The removal of the dictator’s remains from a basilica near Madrid, weeks before a national election in Spain, was denounced by some for stirring painful memories.

Spanish Court Approves Franco’s Exhumation

The decision follows a yearlong judicial battle between the caretaker Socialist government of Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez and the family of Franco, who sought to block the exhumation.

Searching for El Dorado: The Colonial Fantasy of the Amazon

by Ed Simon

There is a direct ideological thread that runs from the early explorers of the Caribbean and South America and the current environmental catastrophe unfolding in the Brazilian rainforest as fire burns its way across the length of a land which was once called paradise. 

World War II Didn’t Begin in 1939. It Began in 1936 — In Spain.

by Paul Richard Huard

Revisiting world history might be one way to break Spain’s national silence about its civil war.

The Original Border Wall

by Robert T. C. Goodwin

Spanish Presidios and Mexican Leather-Jackets in 1772

70 years later, Spanish historian repeats the act that led to his arrest under Franco

Nicolas Sanchez-Albornoz was sent to a prison labor camp in a wave of repression by Spain’s Franco dictatorship for painting the words “Long Live Free University!”

Some Hispanics With Jewish Roots Pursue an Exit Strategy: Emigrate to Spain

A growing number of Hispanics from the United States are choosing to benefit from a 2015 Spanish law seeking to atone for one of the grimmest chapters in Spain’s history: the expulsion of thousands of Sephardic Jews in 1492. The law offers citizenship to descendants of those Jews.

In Spain’s ‘Stolen-Babies’ Scandal, Doctor Escapes Punishment

Spanish dictator Francisco Franco’s regime removed infants from families that opposed him.

Spain to Exhume Franco From Monument He Had Built

Franco had the site built, in part with forced labor, to honor those who “fell for God and Spain” in the Spanish Civil War, and it became one of Europe’s largest mass graves, with the remains of at least 33,000 people.

Researchers uncover Northwest secrets in Spanish shipwreck

But for quirks of colonial competition, the troubles with managing empire, and the shifting fortunes of international commerce, the Pacific Northwest could have been part of the Spanish Empire.

Digging up Franco: why Spain still can’t decide what to do with the dictator’s body

by Mark McKinty

The story of Spain during the 20th century is a complex one.

Plan to Exhume Franco Renews Spain’s Wrestle With History

Within days of taking office, Socialist Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez announced that his government wanted to exhume Franco and move him to a more modest burial place, as part of an effort to atone for the crimes of the civil war and the repression that followed the conflict.

A Botched Statue Restoration in Spain. Is That St. George or Tintin?

Instead of returning the statue to its original glory, the so-called restoration left St. George looking more like a childish model of a cartoon character than a precious piece of art.