View source for Historical Memory Law

{{short description|Spanish law passed in 2007 dealing with the legacy of Francoism}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=January 2020}}
{{Infobox legislation
|short_title            = Historical Memory Law
|long_title             = Law 52/2007, of 26 December, which recognizes and expands rights and establishes measures in favor of those who suffered persecution or violence during the Civil War and the Dictatorship
|legislature            = [[Cortes Generales]]
|citation               = [https://www.boe.es/buscar/act.php?id=BOE-A-2007-22296 BOE-A-2007-22296]
|enacted_by             = [[Congress of Deputies]]
|enacted_by2            = [[Senate of Spain|Senate]]
|assented_by            = [[Juan Carlos I]]
|royal_assent           = 26 December 2007
|date_effective         = 28 December 2007
|bill_history_url       = https://www.congreso.es/es/proyectos-de-ley?p_p_id=iniciativas&p_p_lifecycle=0&p_p_state=normal&p_p_mode=view&_iniciativas_mode=mostrarDetalle&_iniciativas_legislatura=VIII&_iniciativas_id=121/000099
|introduced_by	        = [[First government of José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero]]
|bill_date              = 28 July 2006
|passed                 = 31 October 2007
|passed_for             = 184
|passed_against         = 137
|passed_abstention      = 3
|passed_absent          = 26
|passed2                = 10 December 2007
|passed2_for            = 127
|passed2_against        = 119
|repealed_by            = [[Democratic Memory Law]]
|status                 = repealed
}}
[[File:SPA-2014-San Lorenzo de El Escorial-Valley of the Fallen (Valle de los Caídos).jpg|250px|thumb|Valley of the Fallen – Franco's burial place until 2019. The law prohibits political events at the site.]]
{{PoliticsES}}
'''Law 52/2007''', commonly known as '''Historical Memory Law''' (Sp: ''Ley de Memoria Histórica''), recognises and broadens "the rights and establishes measures in favour of those who suffered persecution or violence during the [[Spanish Civil War|civil war]] and the [[Francoist regime|dictatorship]]."<ref group=n>in [[Spanish language|Spanish]]: ''por la que se reconocen y amplían derechos y se establecen medidas en favor de quienes padecieron persecución o violencia durante la Guerra Civil y la Dictadura.''</ref> It was passed by the [[Congress of Deputies (Spain)|Congress of Deputies]] on 31 October 2007,<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://elpais.com/diario/2007/11/01/espana/1193871618_850215.html|title=La ley de memoria se aprueba entre aplausos de invitados antifranquistas|first=Carlos E.|last=Cué|newspaper=El País|date=31 October 2007|via=elpais.com}}</ref> on the basis of a bill proposed by the [[Spanish Socialist Workers' Party|PSOE]] government of [[Prime Minister of Spain|Prime Minister]] [[José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero]]. The Historical Memory Law principally recognizes the victims on both sides of the [[Spanish Civil War]], gives rights to the victims and the descendants of victims of the Civil War and of the subsequent dictatorship, and formally condemns the repressions of the Franco regime. 

The conservative [[People's Party (Spain)|Popular Party]] and the [[Republican Left of Catalonia]] (ERC) both voted against the law, for opposite reasons.<ref name="thinkspain" /> For its vote, the Popular Party accused the Socialist Party government of weakening the political consensus of the [[Spanish transition to democracy|transition to democracy]] and "using the Civil War as an argument for political propaganda", while the Republican Left of Catalonia rejected the law on the basis that it did not go far enough.<ref name="typically" /><ref>{{cite news| url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2007/oct/11/spain.international | location=London | work=The Guardian | first=Paul | last=Hamilos | title=Spanish MPs to vote on law recognising Franco's victims | date=10 October 2007}}</ref>

== Provisions ==

The main provisions of the law are:<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2007/10/31/europe/EU-GEN-Spain-Civil-War-Legislation.php |title=International Herald Tribune: Main points of Spain's Historical Memory Law |access-date=3 September 2008 |archive-date=7 July 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200707155611/http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2007/10/31/europe/EU-GEN-Spain-Civil-War-Legislation.php |url-status=dead }}</ref>

* Recognition of the victims of political, religious and ideological violence on both sides of the Spanish Civil War and of Franco's State.
* Condemnation of the Francoist State
* Prohibition of political events at the [[Valle de los Caídos|Valley of the Fallen]] – Franco's burial place.
* The removal of objects which exalt the [[Spanish coup of July 1936|July 1936 coup]], [[Spanish Civil War|civil war]] and Francoist repression from public buildings and spaces. Exceptions may be given for artistic or architectural reasons, or in the case of religious spaces.
* State help in the tracing, identification and eventual exhumation of victims of Francoist repression whose corpses are still missing, often buried in mass graves.
* The granting of [[Spanish nationality]] to surviving members of the [[International Brigades]], without requiring them to renounce their own nationalities.
* Rejection of the legitimacy of laws passed and trials conducted by the Francoist State.
* Temporary change to [[Spanish nationality law]], granting the [[Right of Return#Spain|right of return]] and ''de origen'' citizenship to those who left Spain under Franco for political or economic reasons, and their descendants.
* Provision of aid to the victims and descendants of victims of the Civil War and the Francoist State.

== Criticism ==
Criticism of the law has come from two sides, those who think that the law is not effective enough and those who support the [[Pact of Forgetting]]. Doubt has been expressed about how effective the law is as a means of obtaining retroactive justice. Republican Left of Catalonia (ERC), the left wing and [[Catalan nationalism|Catalan nationalist]] party, opposed the law for not overturning verdicts reached by judges in political trials conducted in [[Francoist Spain]], although the new legislation did declare these trials illegitimate.<ref name="thinkspain">{{cite web | url=http://www.thinkspain.com/news-spain/13882/congress-approves-historical-memory-bill | title=Congress approves | date=2007 | accessdate=1 October 2012}}</ref>

Another example of the limits placed on judicial activity is what happened in 2008 when Judge [[Baltasar Garzón]] opened a national investigation into Franco and his allies.  He dropped the investigation the same year after state prosecutors questioned his jurisdiction over Francoist crimes. In a 152-page statement, he passed responsibility to regional courts for opening 19 mass graves believed to hold the remains of hundreds of victims.<ref>{{cite news | url=https://www.nytimes.com/2008/11/19/world/europe/19spain.html?hp | title=Spanish Judge Drops Probe into Franco Atrocities | work='The New York Times | date=18 November 2008 | accessdate=6 August 2012 | author=Burnett, Victoria}}</ref> Subsequently, a Spanish court upheld the [[Spanish 1977 Amnesty Law|1977 Amnesty Law]], declaring that Garzón had opened the investigation without proper authority.

Members of the conservative [[People's Party (Spain)|Popular Party]] have tended to support the Amnesty Law. The Amnesty Law is used as the basis of arguments that the Historical Memory Law goes against the spirit of Spain's transition to democracy.
For example, the leader of the Popular Party [[Mariano Rajoy]] claimed  while in opposition that Garzón's attempt to compile a list of victims would needlessly open up old wounds.<ref name="Rajoy">{{cite news | url=http://www.elpais.com/articulo/espana/Rajoy/Abrir/heridas/pasado/conduce/nada/elpepuesp/20080902elpepunac_9/Tes | title=Rajoy: "Abrir heridas del pasado no conduce a nada" | work=[[El País]] | year=2008 | accessdate=31 July 2012 | author=ELPAÍS.COM / AGENCIAS}}</ref> However, the Popular Party did offer support for some elements of the Historical Memory Law, including seven amendments to the original text of the law, facilitating the "depoliticisation" of the ''[[Valle de los Caídos]]'' (Valley of the Fallen) and monetary aid to victims of the Civil War and Franco regime.<ref name="typically">{{cite web | url=http://www.typicallyspanish.com/news/publish/article_13360.shtml | title=Spanish Congress | date=2007 | accessdate=1 October 2012 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121127224826/http://www.typicallyspanish.com/news/publish/article_13360.shtml | archive-date=27 November 2012 | url-status=dead }}</ref>

== Implementation of the Law ==
The conservative Popular Party government of [[Mariano Rajoy]], which was in power from 2011 until 2018, neither repealed nor amended the Historical Memory Law but largely ignored it. The [[General Archive of the Spanish Civil War|Centro Documental de la Memoria Histórica]] provided information on victims of Francoist repression,<ref name="portal">{{cite web | url=http://pares.mcu.es/victimasGCFPortal/staticContent.form?viewName=presentacion | title=Portal de Víctimas de la Guerra Civil y Represaliados del Franquismo | accessdate=29 August 2012}}</ref> but the government curtailed State help in the exhumation of victims.<ref name="cierre">{{cite web | url=http://www.elplural.com/2012/03/02/rajoy-cierra-la-oficina-de-victimas-de-la-guerra-civil-y-la-dictadura-como-prometio-en-el-2008-%E2%80%9Cni-un-solo-euro-para-recuperar-el-pasado%E2%80%9D/ | title=Rajoy cierra la Oficina | date=March 2012 | accessdate=29 August 2012 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120304152026/http://www.elplural.com/2012/03/02/rajoy-cierra-la-oficina-de-victimas-de-la-guerra-civil-y-la-dictadura-como-prometio-en-el-2008-%E2%80%9Cni-un-solo-euro-para-recuperar-el-pasado%E2%80%9D/ | archive-date=4 March 2012 | url-status=dead }}</ref>

In 2020, the [[Second government of Pedro Sánchez|government of Pedro Sanchez]] resumed financial support to victim associations for exhumations.<ref name="pais20"></ref>

== New law ==
In 2020, ''El Pais'' reported that the Pedro Sánchez administration was working on the draft of a new historical memory law that would include a [[DNA database]] and an official list of Civil War victims.<ref name="pais20">{{Cite news |date=30 July 2020 |title=Spain to release funds for mass grave excavations |url=https://english.elpais.com/historical_memory/2020-07-30/spain-to-release-funds-for-mass-grave-exhumations.html |access-date=5 August 2020}}</ref> This new law, enacted in 2022, would come to be known as the [[Democratic Memory Law]].

The Democratic Memory Law included provisions for the following:
{{bulleted list |Education for students regarding the dictatorship |Nullification of military rebellion convictions from 1936 to 1938 |Creation of a registry for victims of the dictatorship who were buried in unmarked graves<ref name="thelocal">{{cite web|url=https://www.thelocal.es/20210721/new-law-aims-to-boost-hunt-for-spains-mass-graves-of-franco-era/|website=thelocal.es|title=New law aims to boost hunt for Spain's Franco-era mass graves|access-date=4 February 2023}}</ref> |Abolition of titles of nobility that were created by the dictatorship<ref name="jacobinmag2">{{cite web|url=https://jacobinmag.com/2021/08/whitewashing-general-fransisco-franco-fascism-spain-victims-memory-law|website=jacobinmag.com|title=The Whitewashing of Franco's Regime in Spain Must End|access-date=4 February 2023}}</ref> |Spanish citizenship being offered to descendants of Spanish exiles who were born before 1985<ref name="burgen">{{cite news| last=Burgen | first=Stephen | title=Spain's new citizenship law for Franco exiles offers hope in Latin America | newspaper=the Guardian | date=27 October 2022 | url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/oct/27/spains-new-citizenship-law-for-franco-exiles-offers-hope-in-latin-america}}</ref>}}

== Removal of statues ==
In February 2021, the last [[Statue of Francisco Franco, Melilla|statue of Francisco Franco]] in Spain was removed in [[Melilla]].<ref>{{cite web |url=https://elpais.com/espana/2021-02-23/la-ultima-estatua-de-franco-es-retirada-de-las-calles-de-melilla.html |title=La última estatua de Franco que quedaba en España es retirada de las calles de Melilla |website=El País |language=Spanish |date=23 February 2021 }}</ref>

==See also==
* [[Democratic Memory Law]]
* ''[[Damnatio memoriae]]''
* [[Denazification]]
* [[De-Stalinization]]
* [[Decommunization]]
* [[General Archive of the Spanish Civil War]]
* [[Revisionism (Spain)]]
* [[Ascención Mendieta]]

== Notes ==
{{reflist|group=n}} 
==References==
{{reflist}}

== External links ==
* [http://www.boe.es/aeboe/consultas/bases_datos/doc.php?id=BOE-A-2007-22296 Full text of the bill prior to passing] {{in lang|es}}
* {{usurped|1=[https://web.archive.org/web/20180309054703/https://www.peterowen.com/julio-llamazares-postmemory/ Postmemory]}}

{{Spain topics|state=collapsed}}

[[Category:Politics of Spain]]
[[Category:Anti-Francoism]]
[[Category:2007 in law]]
[[Category:2007 in Spain]]
[[Category:Law of Spain]]