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Spain, a country known nowadays for its lovely beaches, great food, debt and colonialist past. But although spain may seem like a country that has left behind its dark past, this is far from true. Infact, Spain has a gaping wound, a wound that should have been healed 43 years ago, that instead, remains open, and until spain finally stops looking back and focuses on the future, won’t heal. This is the sroy of spain under Franco's rule
Francos rise to power.
The year is 1936, a young republican government rules over Spain, despite only being 5 years old, is already in deep peril, growing unrest among the civilians in the northmost part of the peninsula and an army consisting of very few people who approve of this government, would shortly prove to be a death sentence for Spain’s 2nd republic.
On the 18th of July of 1936 the tensions reach boiling point resulting in a military coup d'état, which, despite being a failure, exposes how weak the grasp on power of the republic's leaders is. At this point in time, a big part of spain’s military was situated in africa, and, Francisco Franco, a man who had gained a lot of power inside this part of the military, decided that this was the moment to strike, and strike he did.
What would follow would be cruel, bloody, and destructive war, with mass executions of civilians and opposers being common on both the rebel side ( sublevados),and republican side ( bando republicano). This brutal war would conclude in 1939 with a solid victory for Franco’s rebellious army. After the war concluded franco took control of Spain as the head of the new autocracy. He modified the flag, reverting it back to the old Spanish flag, but fusioning the royal emblem with an eagle (El Águila de San Juan).
For the next 36 years he would rule spain with an iron fist. We will never know the extent of his treachery, for he was a master of secrecy. But there is a tragedy I may be able to help shine some light on, since my grandmother knows people who experienced it first hand. The event in question is one of the worst accidents the world has ever seen, one that, despite leaving upwards of 500 people dead, almost nobody knows about.
The train crash of 1944
This is a photo of a small Spanish town in the province of León, that goes by the name of “Torre del Bierzo”, nowadays, there's nothing special about it. But on the third of January of 1944, this small town near the city of astorga ( home to one of Spain's most beautiful cathedrals and a place where many pilgrims doing the well known “ Camino de Santiago” stop for a rest) a mix of bad luck and poor communication would end the lives of hundreds of people.
At midday on said date, a passenger train, carrying an estimated amount of 800 passengers,
was approaching the town and the engineer applied the brakes, upon realising that they were faulty he radioed for help, but unfortunately there was not enough time to derail the train safely into a ditch and the locomotive stormed through the train station, and entered tunnel 20.
A friend of my grandmother told me how she “saw the conductor climbing out of the cabin onto the side of the train, trying to detach the carriages”, as the train stormed by.
Inside the tunnel, another conductor, having being notified of the runaway train heading his way, was desperately trying to reverse his locomotive, unfortunately, it wasn't able to do so in time and the two trains crashed inside.
At this point there was still hope, the passengers had been located behind two mail wagons and had avoided the worst of the crash, seven of the carriages were not even inside the tunnel.
but before passengers could evacuate, a third train, that hadn’t been notified (due to the crash severing the signaling lights cables), crashed into the passenger train, compacting all carriages into the tunnel, in which the survivors, now trapped, burned to death.
Now, we will never know the exact amount of people who died that day, after all, Franco couldn’t afford to let the story get out. Only 47 bodies ( most of them burnt beyond recognition) were recovered the next day. Some people had jumped from the train before the crash. I was unfortunately not able to visit the village, or I may have been able to dig some bones up ( although i doubt i would be able to stomach the ordeal) to prove just how many bodys were just shovelled into the dirt, into the two slopes that now surround the still active railway, that I have used countless times, not knowing what had happened there up until very recently.
How franco lives on as an influence on Spanish society:
Although his body has long since rotted, franco still holds a sort of posthumous influence on the spains. Unlike most other dictators, franco died as a hero for lots of Spanish citizens, unlike hitler, there was no real reformation of culture after his death, the riots, terrorist attacks, and division that occured in the years following his death ( in which spain reformed itself into a democracy reinforced the idea that his supporters held, that life was better with him in power.
There is also the pain of the families of the dissidents he killed during his rule, who demand that the Spanish government carries on digging up ground, in hopes of finding the remaining body dumps that franco created, and finally be able to give those brave men the proper funeral they deserved. And while those problems aren’t solved. Spain as a whole, will continue to focus on the past, with a mix of nostalgia and sadness.
For those who have managed to endure my rubbish writing skills,I thank you. I know it’s not a subject that a lot of people are interested in but, for those history nuts who did, I look forward to chatting down below on anything from details I may have missed out to curiosities you may have.
Sources:
A lot of personal accounts and the following:
https://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guerra_civil_espa%C3%B1ola
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coup_d%27%C3%A9tat
https://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Segunda_Rep%C3%BAblica_Espa%C3%B1ola
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