- Title: Franco era prisoner says dictator's exhumation not soon enough
- Date: 13th September 2018
- Summary: AVILA, SPAIN (SEPTEMBER 11, 2018) (REUTERS) HISTORIAN NICOLAS SANCHEZ-ALBORNOZ, FORMER PRISONER HELD IN THE VALLEY OF THE FALLEN, NEXT TO HIS HOUSE CLOSE OF SANCHEZ-ALBORNOZ SANCHEZ-ALBORNOZ HOLDING HAND RAIL (SOUNDBITE) (Spanish) HISTORIAN AND FORMER PRISONER HELD IN THE VALLEY OF THE FALLEN, NICOLAS SANCHEZ-ALBORNOZ, SAYING: "It (being part of the student group at university) did not go further than expressing opinions and a certain propaganda and it led us to being arrested and to stand before a military court. We were 20 year-old lads facing a military court and the corresponding sentences. I was sentenced to six years. Three of us where sent to Cuelgamuros (original name of Valley of the Fallen)." CLOSE OF SANCHEZ-ALBORNOZ (SOUNDBITE) (Spanish) HISTORIAN AND FORMER PRISONER HELD IN THE VALLEY OF THE FALLEN, NICOLAS SANCHEZ-ALBORNOZ, SAYING: "Political prisoners were hired out to construction companies. The state was paid ten pesetas and fifty cents, in my time, by the construction companies for each prisoner as daily rate. The company building the road access was Banus that now is known for the building holiday homes. They must have made a good amount of money by hiring prisoners and paying the state prices which were below the market rate. There was an agreement between the construction companies and the state." SANCHEZ-ALBORNOZ'S HANDS (SOUNDBITE) (Spanish) HISTORIAN AND FORMER PRISONER HELD IN THE VALLEY OF THE FALLEN, NICOLAS SANCHEZ-ALBORNOZ, SAYING: "Things go through one's head and one thinks of escaping. With great discretion I got in touch with my colleagues in France, in Paris, and they organised the means for us to escape. Manuel Lamena and I had get out of Cuelgamuros and a car was waiting for us in El Escorial." SANCHEZ-ALBORNOZ (SOUNDBITE) (Spanish) HISTORIAN AND FORMER PRISONER HELD IN THE VALLEY OF THE FALLEN, NICOLAS SANCHEZ-ALBORNOZ, SAYING "In my opinion the decision to exhume Franco comes a bit late and it could have been taken earlier. But I think, at this point there is no turning back. There is a debate surrounding the issue but I think social pressure at this time is very strong and the government, which has put forward the idea, cannot reverse its decision." VARIOUS OF SANCHEZ-ALBORNOZ PLAYING WITH HIS DOG (SOUNDBITE) (Spanish) HISTORIAN AND FORMER PRISONER HELD IN THE VALLEY OF THE FALLEN, NICOLAS SANCHEZ-ALBORNOZ, SAYING: "The Valley of the Fallen is a monstrosity of the years after the war with all the symbols of Franco's victory, with arrows, shields and eagles everywhere, so that can't be turned into a national cemetery because it should be neutral and respectful with everyone buried there." SANCHEZ-ALBORNOZ AND HIS DOG IN THE BACKGROUND SANCHEZ-ALBORNOZ STANDING NEXT TO STAIRCASE (SOUNDBITE) (Spanish) HISTORIAN AND FORMER PRISONER HELD IN THE VALLEY OF THE FALLEN, NICOLAS SANCHEZ-ALBORNOZ, SAYING: "I look to see if the cross is still there ...hoping, of course, it's not."
- Embargoed: 27th September 2018 09:49
- Keywords: Valley of the Fallen Francisco Franco Franco exhumation Spanish civil war prisoner Sanchez-Albornoz Spain
- Location: AVILA, EL ESCORAIL, MADRID, HENDAYA AND VARIOUS UNKNOWN LOCATIONS, SPAIN
- City: AVILA, EL ESCORAIL, MADRID, HENDAYA AND VARIOUS UNKNOWN LOCATIONS, SPAIN
- Country: Spain
- Topics: Government/Politics
- Reuters ID: LVA0018XGLMBR
- Aspect Ratio: 16:9
- Story Text: EDITORS NOTE: EDIT CONTAINS CONVERTED 4:3 MATERIAL
Historian Nicolas Sanchez-Albornoz, 92, imprisoned by the Franco regime when he was a young student, says the exhumation of Spanish dictator Francisco Franco, should have been carried out long ago.
"The decision to exhume Franco comes a bit late and it could have been taken earlier," said Sanchez-Albornoz, who escaped from the monument's construction site in the Valley of the Fallen in 1948, after a six years sentence. .
"The government won't be able to change its mind now," the former political prisoner said days before parliament was set to vote on the exhumation of the dictator's body from the mausoleum which sits below a 150m high granite cross that dominates the landscape just north of Madrid in the Sierra de Guadarrama hills and is Europe's only remaining monument to a dictator.
Sanchez-Albornoz was imprisoned in 1947 with two other classmates because he was a member of a clandestine student political group.
"It did not go further than expressing opinions and a certain propaganda and it led us to being arrested and to stand before a military court," the 92-year-old explained as he sat in the garden of his home in Avila with his two Spanish mastiffs.
The historian says he was lucky to have been given a clerical job whilst he served his sentence and not hard labour digging the site of the monastery.
The decision to escape, he said, was a thought that had constantly gone through his mind and made possible with the help of his colleagues based in France.
The civil war (July 17, 1936 - Apr 1, 1939) still casts a shadow over the country nearly eight decades after its end. Lack of accountability for the war has left wounds unhealed, and pressure has grown to turn the site into a memorial honouring those who died on both sides.
"The Valley of the Fallen is a monstrosity of the years after the war with all the symbols of Franco's victory, with arrows, shields and eagles everywhere, so that can't be turned into a national cemetery because it should be neutral and respectful with everyone buried there," he said.
Sanchez-Albornoz, who lived in exile for 50 years, said he hopes that one day, as he drives past the Valley of the Fallen, he will no longer see the imposing cross paying tribute to the dictator.
"I look to see if the cross is still there ...hoping, of course, it's not," he said.
His dream may finally become a reality after Thursday's vote although it is unclear when Franco's exhumation will take place or what will happen to the site next. - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
- Copyright Notice: (c) Copyright Thomson Reuters 2018. Open For Restrictions - http://about.reuters.com/fulllegal.asp
- Usage Terms/Restrictions: None