Victims

The law "considers a victim to be any person, regardless of their nationality, who has suffered, individually or collectively, physical, moral or psychological harm, property damage, or substantial impairment of their fundamental rights, as a consequence of actions or omissions that constitute violations of international human rights standards and international humanitarian law during the period covering the coup d'état of July 18, 1936, the subsequent War and the Dictatorship, including the period until the entry into force of the Constitution. Spanish 1978…” (article 3.1.). Their family members are also considered victims (article 3.2.). In article 3.6. Special mention is made as victims of "the Basque, Catalan "Catalan (language)") and Galician communities, languages ​​and cultures in their linguistic territorial areas, whose speakers were persecuted for using them."

Victims are recognized for their right "to moral reparation and to the recovery of their personal, family and collective memory" (article 4.1.). To this end, "October 31 of each year is declared as a day of remembrance and tribute to all the victims of the military coup, the War and the Dictatorship" (article 7) and May 8 "as a day of remembrance and tribute to the men and women who suffered exile as a consequence of the War and the Dictatorship" (article 8).

"The department that assumes powers in matters of democratic memory" (which is not specified) is in charge of establishing a "public census of victims", "in order to guarantee the effectiveness of the principles of truth, justice, reparation and non-repetition", and which will include "those who died in combat during the War, regardless of their nationality" (article 9). Likewise, "the department responsible for democratic memory will have a victims' office for technical support and collection of testimonies from people who suffered persecution and their families, as well as to carry out dissemination and awareness-raising work on the sufferings and struggles suffered by the victims of the War and the Dictatorship" (article 10). Article 11 expressly mentions women, not only those who suffered "repression or violence of any kind... as a consequence of their public, political, union or intellectual activity, during the War and the Dictatorship, or as mothers, companions or daughters of those who were retaliated against or murdered", but also those who "suffered deprivation of liberty or other penalties as a consequence of the crimes of adultery and voluntary interruption of pregnancy" (article 11).

Article 31 "recognizes the right to compensation for seized assets and economic sanctions produced for political, ideological, conscience or religious belief reasons during the War and the Dictatorship." To this end, "the General Administration of the State will promote the necessary initiatives for the investigation of seizures produced for political, ideological, conscience or religious belief reasons during the War and the Dictatorship and, in particular, will carry out an audit of the assets looted in said period, including works of art, paper money or other fiduciary signs deposited by the Franco authorities, as well as the imposition of economic sanctions in application of the regulations of political responsibilities."

Article 32 expressly talks about "recognition and reparation for victims who performed forced labor (forced labor (penalty)"), which includes the preparation of "an inventory of buildings and works carried out by members of the Disciplinary Battalions of Working Soldiers, as well as by prisoners in concentration camps, Worker Battalions and prisoners in Militarized Penitentiary Colonies."

The twelfth additional provision establishes that within a period of six months "a working commission on Memory and Reconciliation with the Gypsy People in Spain will be established, which must prepare a report on the measures to apply the principles of truth, justice, reparation and non-repetition in relation to the historical situation of the Gypsy people in Spain."

Missing

The law establishes that the "search for persons missing during the War and the Dictatorship" corresponds to public administrations that will also collaborate with the victims themselves and with the entities that carry out such activity "through the financing and aid mechanisms that are established" (article 16). Likewise "the General Administration of the State will prepare an integrated map for the location of missing persons that includes the entire Spanish territory" (article 17). To facilitate the search for missing persons, "public administrations may authorize the temporary occupation" of "privately owned land" whose owners did not give consent, "always after hearing the affected rights holders, with consideration of their allegations, and fixing the corresponding compensation to be paid by the occupants" (article 20).

«The findings of remains will be immediately brought to the attention of the Public Prosecutor's Office "Ministerio Fiscal (Spain)") and the competent administrative and judicial authorities» and «the General Administration of the State or, where appropriate, the competent administrations, will carry out forensic anthropological studies and genetic tests that allow the identification of the exhumed bone remains» (article 22). In addition, a "State DNA Bank of Victims of War and Dictatorship" and their relatives will be created, which will also include "people affected by the abduction of newborns" (article 23).[8]​.

Democratic Memory Plan

The government will approve a "Democratic Memory Plan", lasting four years, to articulate "the actions of the General Administration of the State" in this matter (article 12). And as a "cooperation body" the "Territorial Council of Democratic Memory" is created, which will be made up of "the Councilors competent in matters of democratic memory of each of the autonomous communities and the Cities of Ceuta and Melilla" (article 13).

Furthermore, the law establishes that "the General Administration of the State will promote the investigation of all aspects related to the War and the Dictatorship", taking into account "the essential role that the historical debate plays in the formation of a historical consciousness appropriate to the dignity of the citizens of a free and democratic society and the contribution to it of the conclusions that are the result of the application in the verification and interpretation of the facts of the characteristic uses and methods of historiographic science" (article 15). As support, the "Documentary Center of Historical Memory" is created, with headquarters in the city of Salamanca, (article 25) and "a program of agreements and other legal instruments for the acquisition of documents referring to the coup d'état, the War or the subsequent political repression that are in public or private archives, national or foreign" that will be incorporated into the General Archive of the Spanish Civil War of the Documentary Center of Historical Memory (article 26). In this sense, article 26.6. establishes that "the files and documentation of the government of the Dictatorship, in particular of the Head of State, that are in the possession of private entities or natural persons, will be incorporated, once the legal procedures have been completed, to the Documentary Center of Historical Memory or to the archive of the public body that is determined in a reasoned manner." As established in article 27, "any person will have the right to fully consult the information existing in the documents that prove or may prove their status as victims" and will also "have the right to obtain a copy, free of fees, of all the documents in which they are mentioned."

In article 46, special mention is made of the promotion by the State Administration of "research and dissemination activities on exile, resistance outside Spain and Spanish deportation to Nazi concentration camps, in order to publicize the individual and collective trajectories of those who suffered it and their places of memory, as well as their contribution to the restoration of Spanish democracy and the development of the countries in which they resided, especially of artists and cultural workers." And also "research related to the contribution of women in the field of democratic memory, both in their capacity as victims of specific repression, and in relation to their participation in political, economic, social and cultural life."

Article 44 establishes that "the Spanish educational system will include among its purposes the knowledge of Spanish democratic history and memory and the fight for democratic values ​​and freedoms, developing in textbooks and curricular materials the repression that occurred during the War and the Dictatorship."

Elements and public acts contrary to democratic memory

For the investigation of violations of "International Human Rights Law and International Humanitarian Law, including those that took place on the occasion of the coup d'état, the War and the Dictatorship," a Prosecutor of the Human Rights and Democratic Memory Chamber is created (article 28).

The law defines as "elements contrary to democratic memory the buildings, constructions, shields, insignia, plaques and any other elements or objects attached to public buildings or located on public roads in which commemorative mentions are made in exaltation, personal or collective, of the military uprising and the Dictatorship, of its leaders, participants in the repressive system or of the organizations that supported the dictatorship, and the civil or military units of collaboration between the regime. Francoist regime and the Axis powers during the Second World War. Also included are "references made in place names, in the street map or in the names of public centers" (article 35).

The institutions or legal entities that own them will be responsible for the removal or elimination of those located or placed in public buildings, with special attention to the "visibility of the portraits or other artistic manifestations of soldiers and ministers associated with the military uprising or the repressive system of the Dictatorship." Of those located in buildings of a private or religious nature, "but with a projection to a public space or use, the persons or institutions who own them must remove or eliminate them" (article 35) "The General Administration of the State will prepare in collaboration with the rest of the public administrations a catalog of symbols and elements contrary to democratic memory... that must be removed or eliminated" (article 36).

As for public acts, "acts contrary to democratic memory" will be considered those that "involve discredit, contempt or humiliation of the victims or their families, and involve personal or collective exaltation of the military uprising, the War or the Dictatorship, its leaders, participants in the repressive system or the organizations that supported the dictatorial regime", being brought to the attention of the Public Prosecutor's Office (article 38).

In relation to public acts contrary to democratic memory, article 38.3. establishes that "the mortal remains of leaders of the 1936 military coup may not be or remain buried in a prominent place of public access, other than a cemetery, that could favor the performance of public acts of exaltation, praise or commemoration of human rights violations committed during the War or the Dictatorship." Furthermore, article 39 establishes that "public administrations will not subsidize those natural or legal persons, public or private, sanctioned by a final administrative resolution for attacking, encouraging or tolerating practices against democratic memory."

Review, suppression or revocation of recognitions, honors, distinctions, titles of nobility, decorations and rewards

Article 40 establishes that public administrations "shall adopt the appropriate measures to review ex officio or withdraw the granting of recognitions, honors and distinctions prior to the entry into force of this law that are manifestly incompatible with democratic values and fundamental rights and freedoms, that entail exaltation or glorification of the military uprising, the War or the Dictatorship or that have been granted due to having been part of the apparatus of repression of the Franco dictatorship.

In article 41, thirty-two noble titles granted between 1948 and 1978 are suppressed, among which are the Duke of Primo de Rivera, Duke of Calvo Sotelo, Duke of Mola, Count of Alcázar of Toledo, Marquis of Queipo de Llano, Duke of Carrero Blanco, Señorío de Meirás, Duke of Franco, Marquis of Arias Navarro or the Count by Rodríguez de Valcárcel. Likewise, the Imperial Order of the Yugo and the Arrows, inactive since the transition, is definitively suppressed.

Article 42 establishes that "the decorations and rewards granted prior to the entry into force of this law may be reviewed when it is proven that the beneficiary, before or after the granting, by reason of having been part of the repressive apparatus of the Franco dictatorship, had carried out acts or observed conduct manifestly incompatible with democratic values ​​and the guiding principles of protection of human rights, as well as with the requirements for their granting." "The review and revocation may also be carried out posthumously when the decorated person has already died."

Symbolic reparation of victims and places of democratic memory

Article 48 establishes that "the General Administration of the State will promote knowledge of Spanish democratic memory through specific dissemination programs that will include the stories of the victims and specifically the memory of women" and "will carry out actions aimed at restoring the dignity of the victims and disseminating what happened through: a) Public recognition of the character of the victim, their dignity, name and honor. b) Commemorative events and public tributes. c) Public recognitions and requests for forgiveness. d) Design and installation of public places of memory, with the perspective of reparation to the victims and deepening and consolidation of democratic memory.

The law defines a "Place of Democratic Memory" as "that space, property, place or intangible or intangible cultural heritage in which events of singular relevance have taken place due to their historical, symbolic significance or their impact on collective memory, linked to democratic memory, the struggle of Spanish citizens for their rights and freedoms, the memory of women, as well as the repression and violence against the population as a consequence of the resistance to the coup d'état of July 1936, the War, the Dictatorship, exile and the fight for the recovery and deepening of democratic values" (article 49). For this purpose, "the State Inventory of Places of Democratic Memory" will be created (article 51) and "for each of them, the department competent in this matter will establish means of dissemination and interpretation of what happened there" (Article 53).

Article 54 is specifically dedicated to the Valley of the Fallen, which is now called the Cuelgamuros Valley, "a place of democratic memory whose resignification will be aimed at making known, through research and dissemination plans and mechanisms, the circumstances of its construction, the historical period in which it is inserted and its meaning, in order to strengthen constitutional and democratic values." In the following sections of the article, it is prohibited to carry out "acts of a political nature or exaltation of the War, its protagonists or the Dictatorship" and establishes that it will have the character of a "civil cemetery" that can only house "the mortal remains of people who died as a result of the War" and that "any mortal remains that occupy a prominent place in the premises will be relocated." Furthermore, "the Foundation of the Santa Cruz del Valle de los Caídos is declared extinct" and that "claims and requests from relatives whose purpose is to urge the exhumation and delivery of the remains of the victims buried in the Cuelgamuros Valley will be addressed. In the case of technical impossibility of exhumation, reparation measures of a symbolic and moral nature will be agreed upon. All of this will be regulated by a royal decree that determines "the new legal framework applicable to the Cuelgamuros Valley."

Sanctions

Article 63 establishes the sanctions for infractions classified by law. «They will consist of fines of amounts between the following amounts depending on the seriousness of the infraction, and respect for the principle of proportionality: a) For very serious infractions: Fine between 10,001 and 150,000 euros. b) For serious infractions: Fine between 2,001 and 10,000 euros. c) For minor infractions: Fine between 200 and 2,000 euros.

In the fifth additional provision, the extinction of the foundation is determined that makes "an apology for Francoism that exalts the coup d'état and the dictatorship or exalts its leaders, with contempt and humiliation of the dignity of the victims of the coup d'état, war or Francoism, or direct or indirect incitement to hatred or violence against them due to their condition as such."

In the seventh additional provision, the modification of the association law is proposed to include as a cause for dissolution "the public performance of apology for Francoism that praises the coup d'état and the dictatorship or praises its leaders, with contempt and humiliation of the dignity of the victims of the coup d'état, war or Francoism, or direct or indirect incitement to hatred or violence against them due to their condition as such."

From right and center

PP leader Alberto Núñez Feijóo described the law as "lack of memory" that pursues "confrontation and is based on resentment." He also argued that EH Bildu, "the heirs of the terrorist group ETA," have intervened in its preparation and approval. "It should not be surprising that those who now share the ideology of the murderers strive to write history to show that deep down they had reasons to murder," but "it is surprising and shocking that a democratic government admits it, promotes it and agrees to it." It causes "a deep repugnance that they are the ones who dictate to the democratic government the terms of democratic memory," he reiterated. «In these conditions, it is neither memory nor democratic. "This is an episode unworthy of our democracy," he stressed.[6] After approval by the Senate, Feijóo declared: "We are committed to repealing the so-called Democratic Memory Law, which goes against the spirit of the Transition. Bildu cannot be the notary that rewrites the History of Spain. in a militant left-wing democracy." His colleague Salomé Pradas accused the Government of "rewriting history" and "reopening wounds from the past."[4]

Guillermo Díaz, speaker for Ciudadanos in the Constitutional Commission of Congress that ruled on the bill, declared to the newspaper ABC "ABC (newspaper)") the same day it was approved by the Congress of Deputies: «It is a tortious use of the history of Spain, of the pain of others, of victims who have nothing to do with the politicians who today try to use them. "It's all a bit dishonest." «We believe that the Historical Memory Law [of 2007] was good... But it is true that the work in recovering human remains from the gutters could be improved. These issues are obviously important and should be supported. The question is when what is really behind this is not that. «I say selective memory because the victim to protect is chosen. The memory of a child who died in the bombing of Guernica is protected and the tribute to his murderers, to the Nazis who bombed Guernica, is prohibited, but the tribute to the murderer of the child blown to pieces in Erandio by [ETA in 1991] is not prohibited. They are the ones who have the burden of proof to explain why some children do and others do not. And if not, they are selecting. And if they select, it is not democratic memory, but selective memory. And they select based on the usefulness for them. "That is why there is a pernicious use of other people's pain." "There is a direct attack on that period [the Transition]." Regarding the possible extension of the scope of the law until December 31, 1983, he declares: «This is a stab from Sanchismo at Felipe González. The Bildu spokesperson said in the commission that it was Francoism in its most extensive conception and included until the year 83. That is, she considers the first year of government of Felipe González, of the PSOE, as an extended Francoism.

The Vox deputy "Vox (political party)") Francisco José Contreras, in his speech in Congress to oppose the bill, said among other things the following: «To establish by decree an interpretation of History and impose it on society using the coercive instruments of the State is typical of despots. […] [The bill] establishes the mechanisms for a constant indoctrination of citizens in the sectarian vision of History supported by the Government. […] That is precisely what it is about: cementing the eternal moral superiority of the left in a falsified version of History. The Government wants to win votes in the present and the future through the Manichean distortion of the past. The objective of the Memory Laws is to burn into the minds of the Spanish people the equation according to which the left is synonymous with democracy and freedom, and the right, with fascism and repression. The essence of the left is social antagonism... This law is based on the same perversion: reopening the division between red and blue that the Spanish had already overcome in the streets and families some 20 years after the Civil War, and that was overcome at the institutional level in our Transition, in which both sides made concessions. […] In 2002, with Aznar's absolute majority, Congress approved a condemnation of the “coup d'état of July 18”, but not of the failed coup of the left in October 1934, which inevitably led to the coup of 1936. And during the Rajoy stage, with an absolute majority, the PP did not want to repeal the Historical Memory Law. […] Before you prohibit any vision of History other than yours, let's give you ours here... The radicalization of the PSOE was the main cause of Spain's descent into civil war. […] It all culminated in the murder by law enforcement forces of the opposition leader Calvo Sotelo. […] The worst thing is the hierarchization of the victims that emerges both from the temporal limitation - the law only covers the period 1936 to 1978, leaving out the years 1931 to 1936 - and from the division of good and bad perpetrated by the Explanation of Reasons. Which implies that García Lorca can be honored, but not José Antonio Primo de Rivera... Nor will we be able to remember all the victims of the internal struggles of the left... Neither the hundreds of people murdered by the maquis in the 1940s, nor those killed by the ETA between 1960 and 1978. The Vox deputy ended by saying: «Respect the peace of the dead, respect the truth, respect the national reconciliation that we achieved more than 40 years ago and now you are destroying. Do not deceitfully divide Spaniards into good and bad to extract a paltry electoral dividend. Withdraw this bill."[11]​[12]​.

From the left

A part of the left has taken on the criticism of several memorialist associations that consider that the law is "insufficient" and that it "will not reverse" Spain's impunity for the "crimes of Franco's regime," since the Amnesty Law of 1977 is left in force. "The law speaks truth, but it will not tell who the executioners were; "It talks about justice, but it is not going to judge anyone and it talks about reparation, but it is not going to compensate the families of those murdered and disappeared," said a spokesperson for the Association for the Recovery of Historical Memory. The law is missing a key element: "the removal of the obstacles that currently prevent Francoist crimes from being tried and mean that the only case in the world that investigates them is open in Argentina." These parties have advocated for the repeal of the Amnesty Law and have assessed as insufficient the amendment introduced by the PSOE and Unidas Podemos that considers war crimes and crimes against humanity as not amnestiable according to international law.[3][4]​.

Carolina Telechea, deputy of Esquerra Republicana de Catalunya – a political group that abstained in the final vote – described the law as “a law of impunity for executioners” and that “continues to fall far short of what should be fair reparation for the victims.” Although he acknowledged that it is "much better" than the one that came out of the Council of Ministers, he stated that "with what is approved today the wound continues to bleed" and "will continue as long as justice is not done and the wounds are repaired."[3]​.

On October 27, 2022, just one week after the law came into force, the second vice president of the Government and Minister of Labor Yolanda Díaz announced, in application of article 40, the withdrawal of the Medal for Merit in Work from the dictator Francisco Franco and nine other members of the Franco regime: the former ministers José Luis Arrese y Magra, José Antonio Girón de Velasco, Juan Yagüe Blanco, José Solís Ruiz, José María Fernández-Ladreda and Jesús Romero Gorría; the businessman Félix Huarte Goñi; to Cardinal Enrique Pla y Deniel and to the soldier José León de Carranza. Díaz claimed that it was necessary to put an end to the "incomprehensible anomaly" of names related to repression appearing in the Golden Book of Labor, which lists all the people who have received this distinction.[14]​.

On October 31, 2022, the day of tribute to the victims of the coup d'état, the war and the Franco dictatorship, provided for in article 7, was held at the National Auditorium in Madrid. The event held under the motto Memory is democracy was headed by the President of the Government Pedro Sánchez who presented around twenty diplomas to relatives of the victims, among them Las Trece Rosas or Las Sinsombrero, and to Alejandro Ruiz-Huerta Carbonell himself, the last survivor of the Atocha massacre of 1977. Minister of the Presidency Félix Bolaños intervened to point out that the choice of the date of October 31 to honor the victims was not coincidental since it coincides with the anniversary of the approval of the Constitution by the Cortes, when "a new stage of peaceful coexistence and freedoms opened." The last to speak was President Sánchez to honor all the lives lost in "a cruel war, a harsh post-war period and the resentment of a dictatorship." "That is why it is so important to build a shared story based on everything that unites us," he added. "We are late, too late, but we still have the power of memory and we challenge the injustice of forgetting," he stressed.[15]​.

In compliance with article 38.3., during the early hours of November 3, 2022, the mortal remains of General Gonzalo Queipo de Llano were exhumed from the Basilica of La Macarena in Seville, as well as those of his wife, Genoveva Martí, and those of the military auditor Francisco Bohórquez. Macarena (Seville)").[16]​.

At the end of November 2022, the Government of Pedro Sánchez studied opening a sanctioning file against the Spanish Catholic Movement), the entity that organized a concentration to pay tribute to the figure of Franco and his regime in the Plaza de Oriente in Madrid on the occasion of 20-N, which was attended by a hundred people. José Luis Corral, president of the Spanish Catholic Movement, declared that "the ambiguity of the current law does not make it clear what can or cannot be done" and denied having failed to comply with the authorization of the act that he had given. the Government Delegation since, according to him, «there was no exaltation of Francoism nor humiliation of the “alleged” victims of Francoism».[17]​.

On December 30, 2022, the decision of the Minister of the Interior Fernando Grande Marlaska to withdraw the medal from the deceased former Franco police officer known as Billy the Child and to order the review of all decorations awarded to police officers, civil guards and prison officials who had participated in Franco's repression, even if they had already died, was known.[18]​.

On April 24, 2023, the remains of José Antonio Primo de Rivera were exhumed from the Valley of the Fallen (called Cuelgamuros Valley since the law came into force) and transferred to the San Isidro cemetery in Madrid, where incidents involving Falangists occurred.[19] A month and a half later, on June 8, 2023, the State Attorney General Álvaro García Ortiz appointed Dolores Delgado as prosecutor of the Human Rights and Democratic Memory Chamber of the Supreme Court.[20]​.

On June 11, 2024, in application of article 54.1 of the law, the Council of Ministers agreed to the creation of the Interministerial Commission for the resignification of the Cuelgamuros Valley and on January 28 of the following year the Commission agreed that it would be the Ministry of Housing and Urban Agenda that would be in charge of "calling for an international competition of ideas and subsequent awarding of the drafting of the project as well as the optional direction of the work." In the call, published in the BOE on May 5, 2025, it was established that the proposals must have as their objective "the transformation of the complex into a place of memory, recognition, commemoration and tribute to all the victims of the Spanish Civil War, in line with the principles of Democratic Memory and through an inclusive approach and homologated with the most advanced international models that have been developed in recent years, hand in hand with the defense of Human Rights and Justice universal».[21]​ According to sources from the Ministry of Territorial Administration and Democratic Memory to the newspaper El País, the Berlin Holocaust Memorial had been taken as models for the "resignification"; the Monument for Peace and Justice in Montgomery, Alabama; the Center for Memory, Peace and Reconciliation of Bogotá; the Memorial to the victims of violence in Mexico in Chapultepec, Mexico City; and the Museum of Memory and Human Rights of Santiago de Chile.[22]​.

On November 11, 2025, the decision of the jury of the Cuelgamuros Valley resignification contest was announced. The winning project was called "The base and the cross" presented by Pereda Pérez Arquitectos y Lignum S.L.[23]​[24]​[25]​.

• - Historical memory.

• - Historical Memory Law of Spain.

• - Documentary Center of Historical Memory.

• - Democratic memory (Spain) "Democratic memory (Spain)").

• - Places of democratic memory.

• - Secretary of State for Democratic Memory.

• - Gardens of Memory.

• - Camposines Memorial.

• - Pact of Oblivion.

Victims

The law "considers a victim to be any person, regardless of their nationality, who has suffered, individually or collectively, physical, moral or psychological harm, property damage, or substantial impairment of their fundamental rights, as a consequence of actions or omissions that constitute violations of international human rights standards and international humanitarian law during the period covering the coup d'état of July 18, 1936, the subsequent War and the Dictatorship, including the period until the entry into force of the Constitution. Spanish 1978…” (article 3.1.). Their family members are also considered victims (article 3.2.). In article 3.6. Special mention is made as victims of "the Basque, Catalan "Catalan (language)") and Galician communities, languages ​​and cultures in their linguistic territorial areas, whose speakers were persecuted for using them."

Victims are recognized for their right "to moral reparation and to the recovery of their personal, family and collective memory" (article 4.1.). To this end, "October 31 of each year is declared as a day of remembrance and tribute to all the victims of the military coup, the War and the Dictatorship" (article 7) and May 8 "as a day of remembrance and tribute to the men and women who suffered exile as a consequence of the War and the Dictatorship" (article 8).

"The department that assumes powers in matters of democratic memory" (which is not specified) is in charge of establishing a "public census of victims", "in order to guarantee the effectiveness of the principles of truth, justice, reparation and non-repetition", and which will include "those who died in combat during the War, regardless of their nationality" (article 9). Likewise, "the department responsible for democratic memory will have a victims' office for technical support and collection of testimonies from people who suffered persecution and their families, as well as to carry out dissemination and awareness-raising work on the sufferings and struggles suffered by the victims of the War and the Dictatorship" (article 10). Article 11 expressly mentions women, not only those who suffered "repression or violence of any kind... as a consequence of their public, political, union or intellectual activity, during the War and the Dictatorship, or as mothers, companions or daughters of those who were retaliated against or murdered", but also those who "suffered deprivation of liberty or other penalties as a consequence of the crimes of adultery and voluntary interruption of pregnancy" (article 11).

Article 31 "recognizes the right to compensation for seized assets and economic sanctions produced for political, ideological, conscience or religious belief reasons during the War and the Dictatorship." To this end, "the General Administration of the State will promote the necessary initiatives for the investigation of seizures produced for political, ideological, conscience or religious belief reasons during the War and the Dictatorship and, in particular, will carry out an audit of the assets looted in said period, including works of art, paper money or other fiduciary signs deposited by the Franco authorities, as well as the imposition of economic sanctions in application of the regulations of political responsibilities."

Article 32 expressly talks about "recognition and reparation for victims who performed forced labor (forced labor (penalty)"), which includes the preparation of "an inventory of buildings and works carried out by members of the Disciplinary Battalions of Working Soldiers, as well as by prisoners in concentration camps, Worker Battalions and prisoners in Militarized Penitentiary Colonies."

The twelfth additional provision establishes that within a period of six months "a working commission on Memory and Reconciliation with the Gypsy People in Spain will be established, which must prepare a report on the measures to apply the principles of truth, justice, reparation and non-repetition in relation to the historical situation of the Gypsy people in Spain."

Missing

The law establishes that the "search for persons missing during the War and the Dictatorship" corresponds to public administrations that will also collaborate with the victims themselves and with the entities that carry out such activity "through the financing and aid mechanisms that are established" (article 16). Likewise "the General Administration of the State will prepare an integrated map for the location of missing persons that includes the entire Spanish territory" (article 17). To facilitate the search for missing persons, "public administrations may authorize the temporary occupation" of "privately owned land" whose owners did not give consent, "always after hearing the affected rights holders, with consideration of their allegations, and fixing the corresponding compensation to be paid by the occupants" (article 20).

«The findings of remains will be immediately brought to the attention of the Public Prosecutor's Office "Ministerio Fiscal (Spain)") and the competent administrative and judicial authorities» and «the General Administration of the State or, where appropriate, the competent administrations, will carry out forensic anthropological studies and genetic tests that allow the identification of the exhumed bone remains» (article 22). In addition, a "State DNA Bank of Victims of War and Dictatorship" and their relatives will be created, which will also include "people affected by the abduction of newborns" (article 23).[8]​.

Democratic Memory Plan

The government will approve a "Democratic Memory Plan", lasting four years, to articulate "the actions of the General Administration of the State" in this matter (article 12). And as a "cooperation body" the "Territorial Council of Democratic Memory" is created, which will be made up of "the Councilors competent in matters of democratic memory of each of the autonomous communities and the Cities of Ceuta and Melilla" (article 13).

Furthermore, the law establishes that "the General Administration of the State will promote the investigation of all aspects related to the War and the Dictatorship", taking into account "the essential role that the historical debate plays in the formation of a historical consciousness appropriate to the dignity of the citizens of a free and democratic society and the contribution to it of the conclusions that are the result of the application in the verification and interpretation of the facts of the characteristic uses and methods of historiographic science" (article 15). As support, the "Documentary Center of Historical Memory" is created, with headquarters in the city of Salamanca, (article 25) and "a program of agreements and other legal instruments for the acquisition of documents referring to the coup d'état, the War or the subsequent political repression that are in public or private archives, national or foreign" that will be incorporated into the General Archive of the Spanish Civil War of the Documentary Center of Historical Memory (article 26). In this sense, article 26.6. establishes that "the files and documentation of the government of the Dictatorship, in particular of the Head of State, that are in the possession of private entities or natural persons, will be incorporated, once the legal procedures have been completed, to the Documentary Center of Historical Memory or to the archive of the public body that is determined in a reasoned manner." As established in article 27, "any person will have the right to fully consult the information existing in the documents that prove or may prove their status as victims" and will also "have the right to obtain a copy, free of fees, of all the documents in which they are mentioned."

In article 46, special mention is made of the promotion by the State Administration of "research and dissemination activities on exile, resistance outside Spain and Spanish deportation to Nazi concentration camps, in order to publicize the individual and collective trajectories of those who suffered it and their places of memory, as well as their contribution to the restoration of Spanish democracy and the development of the countries in which they resided, especially of artists and cultural workers." And also "research related to the contribution of women in the field of democratic memory, both in their capacity as victims of specific repression, and in relation to their participation in political, economic, social and cultural life."

Article 44 establishes that "the Spanish educational system will include among its purposes the knowledge of Spanish democratic history and memory and the fight for democratic values ​​and freedoms, developing in textbooks and curricular materials the repression that occurred during the War and the Dictatorship."

Elements and public acts contrary to democratic memory

For the investigation of violations of "International Human Rights Law and International Humanitarian Law, including those that took place on the occasion of the coup d'état, the War and the Dictatorship," a Prosecutor of the Human Rights and Democratic Memory Chamber is created (article 28).

The law defines as "elements contrary to democratic memory the buildings, constructions, shields, insignia, plaques and any other elements or objects attached to public buildings or located on public roads in which commemorative mentions are made in exaltation, personal or collective, of the military uprising and the Dictatorship, of its leaders, participants in the repressive system or of the organizations that supported the dictatorship, and the civil or military units of collaboration between the regime. Francoist regime and the Axis powers during the Second World War. Also included are "references made in place names, in the street map or in the names of public centers" (article 35).

The institutions or legal entities that own them will be responsible for the removal or elimination of those located or placed in public buildings, with special attention to the "visibility of the portraits or other artistic manifestations of soldiers and ministers associated with the military uprising or the repressive system of the Dictatorship." Of those located in buildings of a private or religious nature, "but with a projection to a public space or use, the persons or institutions who own them must remove or eliminate them" (article 35) "The General Administration of the State will prepare in collaboration with the rest of the public administrations a catalog of symbols and elements contrary to democratic memory... that must be removed or eliminated" (article 36).

As for public acts, "acts contrary to democratic memory" will be considered those that "involve discredit, contempt or humiliation of the victims or their families, and involve personal or collective exaltation of the military uprising, the War or the Dictatorship, its leaders, participants in the repressive system or the organizations that supported the dictatorial regime", being brought to the attention of the Public Prosecutor's Office (article 38).

In relation to public acts contrary to democratic memory, article 38.3. establishes that "the mortal remains of leaders of the 1936 military coup may not be or remain buried in a prominent place of public access, other than a cemetery, that could favor the performance of public acts of exaltation, praise or commemoration of human rights violations committed during the War or the Dictatorship." Furthermore, article 39 establishes that "public administrations will not subsidize those natural or legal persons, public or private, sanctioned by a final administrative resolution for attacking, encouraging or tolerating practices against democratic memory."

Review, suppression or revocation of recognitions, honors, distinctions, titles of nobility, decorations and rewards

Article 40 establishes that public administrations "shall adopt the appropriate measures to review ex officio or withdraw the granting of recognitions, honors and distinctions prior to the entry into force of this law that are manifestly incompatible with democratic values and fundamental rights and freedoms, that entail exaltation or glorification of the military uprising, the War or the Dictatorship or that have been granted due to having been part of the apparatus of repression of the Franco dictatorship.

In article 41, thirty-two noble titles granted between 1948 and 1978 are suppressed, among which are the Duke of Primo de Rivera, Duke of Calvo Sotelo, Duke of Mola, Count of Alcázar of Toledo, Marquis of Queipo de Llano, Duke of Carrero Blanco, Señorío de Meirás, Duke of Franco, Marquis of Arias Navarro or the Count by Rodríguez de Valcárcel. Likewise, the Imperial Order of the Yugo and the Arrows, inactive since the transition, is definitively suppressed.

Article 42 establishes that "the decorations and rewards granted prior to the entry into force of this law may be reviewed when it is proven that the beneficiary, before or after the granting, by reason of having been part of the repressive apparatus of the Franco dictatorship, had carried out acts or observed conduct manifestly incompatible with democratic values ​​and the guiding principles of protection of human rights, as well as with the requirements for their granting." "The review and revocation may also be carried out posthumously when the decorated person has already died."

Symbolic reparation of victims and places of democratic memory

Article 48 establishes that "the General Administration of the State will promote knowledge of Spanish democratic memory through specific dissemination programs that will include the stories of the victims and specifically the memory of women" and "will carry out actions aimed at restoring the dignity of the victims and disseminating what happened through: a) Public recognition of the character of the victim, their dignity, name and honor. b) Commemorative events and public tributes. c) Public recognitions and requests for forgiveness. d) Design and installation of public places of memory, with the perspective of reparation to the victims and deepening and consolidation of democratic memory.

The law defines a "Place of Democratic Memory" as "that space, property, place or intangible or intangible cultural heritage in which events of singular relevance have taken place due to their historical, symbolic significance or their impact on collective memory, linked to democratic memory, the struggle of Spanish citizens for their rights and freedoms, the memory of women, as well as the repression and violence against the population as a consequence of the resistance to the coup d'état of July 1936, the War, the Dictatorship, exile and the fight for the recovery and deepening of democratic values" (article 49). For this purpose, "the State Inventory of Places of Democratic Memory" will be created (article 51) and "for each of them, the department competent in this matter will establish means of dissemination and interpretation of what happened there" (Article 53).

Article 54 is specifically dedicated to the Valley of the Fallen, which is now called the Cuelgamuros Valley, "a place of democratic memory whose resignification will be aimed at making known, through research and dissemination plans and mechanisms, the circumstances of its construction, the historical period in which it is inserted and its meaning, in order to strengthen constitutional and democratic values." In the following sections of the article, it is prohibited to carry out "acts of a political nature or exaltation of the War, its protagonists or the Dictatorship" and establishes that it will have the character of a "civil cemetery" that can only house "the mortal remains of people who died as a result of the War" and that "any mortal remains that occupy a prominent place in the premises will be relocated." Furthermore, "the Foundation of the Santa Cruz del Valle de los Caídos is declared extinct" and that "claims and requests from relatives whose purpose is to urge the exhumation and delivery of the remains of the victims buried in the Cuelgamuros Valley will be addressed. In the case of technical impossibility of exhumation, reparation measures of a symbolic and moral nature will be agreed upon. All of this will be regulated by a royal decree that determines "the new legal framework applicable to the Cuelgamuros Valley."

Sanctions

Article 63 establishes the sanctions for infractions classified by law. «They will consist of fines of amounts between the following amounts depending on the seriousness of the infraction, and respect for the principle of proportionality: a) For very serious infractions: Fine between 10,001 and 150,000 euros. b) For serious infractions: Fine between 2,001 and 10,000 euros. c) For minor infractions: Fine between 200 and 2,000 euros.

In the fifth additional provision, the extinction of the foundation is determined that makes "an apology for Francoism that exalts the coup d'état and the dictatorship or exalts its leaders, with contempt and humiliation of the dignity of the victims of the coup d'état, war or Francoism, or direct or indirect incitement to hatred or violence against them due to their condition as such."

In the seventh additional provision, the modification of the association law is proposed to include as a cause for dissolution "the public performance of apology for Francoism that praises the coup d'état and the dictatorship or praises its leaders, with contempt and humiliation of the dignity of the victims of the coup d'état, war or Francoism, or direct or indirect incitement to hatred or violence against them due to their condition as such."

From right and center

PP leader Alberto Núñez Feijóo described the law as "lack of memory" that pursues "confrontation and is based on resentment." He also argued that EH Bildu, "the heirs of the terrorist group ETA," have intervened in its preparation and approval. "It should not be surprising that those who now share the ideology of the murderers strive to write history to show that deep down they had reasons to murder," but "it is surprising and shocking that a democratic government admits it, promotes it and agrees to it." It causes "a deep repugnance that they are the ones who dictate to the democratic government the terms of democratic memory," he reiterated. «In these conditions, it is neither memory nor democratic. "This is an episode unworthy of our democracy," he stressed.[6] After approval by the Senate, Feijóo declared: "We are committed to repealing the so-called Democratic Memory Law, which goes against the spirit of the Transition. Bildu cannot be the notary that rewrites the History of Spain. in a militant left-wing democracy." His colleague Salomé Pradas accused the Government of "rewriting history" and "reopening wounds from the past."[4]

Guillermo Díaz, speaker for Ciudadanos in the Constitutional Commission of Congress that ruled on the bill, declared to the newspaper ABC "ABC (newspaper)") the same day it was approved by the Congress of Deputies: «It is a tortious use of the history of Spain, of the pain of others, of victims who have nothing to do with the politicians who today try to use them. "It's all a bit dishonest." «We believe that the Historical Memory Law [of 2007] was good... But it is true that the work in recovering human remains from the gutters could be improved. These issues are obviously important and should be supported. The question is when what is really behind this is not that. «I say selective memory because the victim to protect is chosen. The memory of a child who died in the bombing of Guernica is protected and the tribute to his murderers, to the Nazis who bombed Guernica, is prohibited, but the tribute to the murderer of the child blown to pieces in Erandio by [ETA in 1991] is not prohibited. They are the ones who have the burden of proof to explain why some children do and others do not. And if not, they are selecting. And if they select, it is not democratic memory, but selective memory. And they select based on the usefulness for them. "That is why there is a pernicious use of other people's pain." "There is a direct attack on that period [the Transition]." Regarding the possible extension of the scope of the law until December 31, 1983, he declares: «This is a stab from Sanchismo at Felipe González. The Bildu spokesperson said in the commission that it was Francoism in its most extensive conception and included until the year 83. That is, she considers the first year of government of Felipe González, of the PSOE, as an extended Francoism.

The Vox deputy "Vox (political party)") Francisco José Contreras, in his speech in Congress to oppose the bill, said among other things the following: «To establish by decree an interpretation of History and impose it on society using the coercive instruments of the State is typical of despots. […] [The bill] establishes the mechanisms for a constant indoctrination of citizens in the sectarian vision of History supported by the Government. […] That is precisely what it is about: cementing the eternal moral superiority of the left in a falsified version of History. The Government wants to win votes in the present and the future through the Manichean distortion of the past. The objective of the Memory Laws is to burn into the minds of the Spanish people the equation according to which the left is synonymous with democracy and freedom, and the right, with fascism and repression. The essence of the left is social antagonism... This law is based on the same perversion: reopening the division between red and blue that the Spanish had already overcome in the streets and families some 20 years after the Civil War, and that was overcome at the institutional level in our Transition, in which both sides made concessions. […] In 2002, with Aznar's absolute majority, Congress approved a condemnation of the “coup d'état of July 18”, but not of the failed coup of the left in October 1934, which inevitably led to the coup of 1936. And during the Rajoy stage, with an absolute majority, the PP did not want to repeal the Historical Memory Law. […] Before you prohibit any vision of History other than yours, let's give you ours here... The radicalization of the PSOE was the main cause of Spain's descent into civil war. […] It all culminated in the murder by law enforcement forces of the opposition leader Calvo Sotelo. […] The worst thing is the hierarchization of the victims that emerges both from the temporal limitation - the law only covers the period 1936 to 1978, leaving out the years 1931 to 1936 - and from the division of good and bad perpetrated by the Explanation of Reasons. Which implies that García Lorca can be honored, but not José Antonio Primo de Rivera... Nor will we be able to remember all the victims of the internal struggles of the left... Neither the hundreds of people murdered by the maquis in the 1940s, nor those killed by the ETA between 1960 and 1978. The Vox deputy ended by saying: «Respect the peace of the dead, respect the truth, respect the national reconciliation that we achieved more than 40 years ago and now you are destroying. Do not deceitfully divide Spaniards into good and bad to extract a paltry electoral dividend. Withdraw this bill."[11]​[12]​.

From the left

A part of the left has taken on the criticism of several memorialist associations that consider that the law is "insufficient" and that it "will not reverse" Spain's impunity for the "crimes of Franco's regime," since the Amnesty Law of 1977 is left in force. "The law speaks truth, but it will not tell who the executioners were; "It talks about justice, but it is not going to judge anyone and it talks about reparation, but it is not going to compensate the families of those murdered and disappeared," said a spokesperson for the Association for the Recovery of Historical Memory. The law is missing a key element: "the removal of the obstacles that currently prevent Francoist crimes from being tried and mean that the only case in the world that investigates them is open in Argentina." These parties have advocated for the repeal of the Amnesty Law and have assessed as insufficient the amendment introduced by the PSOE and Unidas Podemos that considers war crimes and crimes against humanity as not amnestiable according to international law.[3][4]​.

Carolina Telechea, deputy of Esquerra Republicana de Catalunya – a political group that abstained in the final vote – described the law as “a law of impunity for executioners” and that “continues to fall far short of what should be fair reparation for the victims.” Although he acknowledged that it is "much better" than the one that came out of the Council of Ministers, he stated that "with what is approved today the wound continues to bleed" and "will continue as long as justice is not done and the wounds are repaired."[3]​.

On October 27, 2022, just one week after the law came into force, the second vice president of the Government and Minister of Labor Yolanda Díaz announced, in application of article 40, the withdrawal of the Medal for Merit in Work from the dictator Francisco Franco and nine other members of the Franco regime: the former ministers José Luis Arrese y Magra, José Antonio Girón de Velasco, Juan Yagüe Blanco, José Solís Ruiz, José María Fernández-Ladreda and Jesús Romero Gorría; the businessman Félix Huarte Goñi; to Cardinal Enrique Pla y Deniel and to the soldier José León de Carranza. Díaz claimed that it was necessary to put an end to the "incomprehensible anomaly" of names related to repression appearing in the Golden Book of Labor, which lists all the people who have received this distinction.[14]​.

On October 31, 2022, the day of tribute to the victims of the coup d'état, the war and the Franco dictatorship, provided for in article 7, was held at the National Auditorium in Madrid. The event held under the motto Memory is democracy was headed by the President of the Government Pedro Sánchez who presented around twenty diplomas to relatives of the victims, among them Las Trece Rosas or Las Sinsombrero, and to Alejandro Ruiz-Huerta Carbonell himself, the last survivor of the Atocha massacre of 1977. Minister of the Presidency Félix Bolaños intervened to point out that the choice of the date of October 31 to honor the victims was not coincidental since it coincides with the anniversary of the approval of the Constitution by the Cortes, when "a new stage of peaceful coexistence and freedoms opened." The last to speak was President Sánchez to honor all the lives lost in "a cruel war, a harsh post-war period and the resentment of a dictatorship." "That is why it is so important to build a shared story based on everything that unites us," he added. "We are late, too late, but we still have the power of memory and we challenge the injustice of forgetting," he stressed.[15]​.

In compliance with article 38.3., during the early hours of November 3, 2022, the mortal remains of General Gonzalo Queipo de Llano were exhumed from the Basilica of La Macarena in Seville, as well as those of his wife, Genoveva Martí, and those of the military auditor Francisco Bohórquez. Macarena (Seville)").[16]​.

At the end of November 2022, the Government of Pedro Sánchez studied opening a sanctioning file against the Spanish Catholic Movement), the entity that organized a concentration to pay tribute to the figure of Franco and his regime in the Plaza de Oriente in Madrid on the occasion of 20-N, which was attended by a hundred people. José Luis Corral, president of the Spanish Catholic Movement, declared that "the ambiguity of the current law does not make it clear what can or cannot be done" and denied having failed to comply with the authorization of the act that he had given. the Government Delegation since, according to him, «there was no exaltation of Francoism nor humiliation of the “alleged” victims of Francoism».[17]​.

On December 30, 2022, the decision of the Minister of the Interior Fernando Grande Marlaska to withdraw the medal from the deceased former Franco police officer known as Billy the Child and to order the review of all decorations awarded to police officers, civil guards and prison officials who had participated in Franco's repression, even if they had already died, was known.[18]​.

On April 24, 2023, the remains of José Antonio Primo de Rivera were exhumed from the Valley of the Fallen (called Cuelgamuros Valley since the law came into force) and transferred to the San Isidro cemetery in Madrid, where incidents involving Falangists occurred.[19] A month and a half later, on June 8, 2023, the State Attorney General Álvaro García Ortiz appointed Dolores Delgado as prosecutor of the Human Rights and Democratic Memory Chamber of the Supreme Court.[20]​.

On June 11, 2024, in application of article 54.1 of the law, the Council of Ministers agreed to the creation of the Interministerial Commission for the resignification of the Cuelgamuros Valley and on January 28 of the following year the Commission agreed that it would be the Ministry of Housing and Urban Agenda that would be in charge of "calling for an international competition of ideas and subsequent awarding of the drafting of the project as well as the optional direction of the work." In the call, published in the BOE on May 5, 2025, it was established that the proposals must have as their objective "the transformation of the complex into a place of memory, recognition, commemoration and tribute to all the victims of the Spanish Civil War, in line with the principles of Democratic Memory and through an inclusive approach and homologated with the most advanced international models that have been developed in recent years, hand in hand with the defense of Human Rights and Justice universal».[21]​ According to sources from the Ministry of Territorial Administration and Democratic Memory to the newspaper El País, the Berlin Holocaust Memorial had been taken as models for the "resignification"; the Monument for Peace and Justice in Montgomery, Alabama; the Center for Memory, Peace and Reconciliation of Bogotá; the Memorial to the victims of violence in Mexico in Chapultepec, Mexico City; and the Museum of Memory and Human Rights of Santiago de Chile.[22]​.

On November 11, 2025, the decision of the jury of the Cuelgamuros Valley resignification contest was announced. The winning project was called "The base and the cross" presented by Pereda Pérez Arquitectos y Lignum S.L.[23]​[24]​[25]​.

• - Historical memory.

• - Historical Memory Law of Spain.

• - Documentary Center of Historical Memory.

• - Democratic memory (Spain) "Democratic memory (Spain)").

• - Places of democratic memory.

• - Secretary of State for Democratic Memory.

• - Gardens of Memory.

• - Camposines Memorial.

• - Pact of Oblivion.