50: Restoration

50 years ago today (November 22, 1975) Spain resumed being a Monarchy when Juan Carlos I became King of Spain two days after Dictator, Francisco Franco, died.

Spain had been a Monarchy from 1479 until 1873 (394 years) when the First Spanish Republic was created which lasted one year.

The Monarchy was reestablished in 1874 and lasted until 1931 (57 years) when the Second Spanish Republic was formed.

The Second Spanish Republic lasted until 1939 when Franco’s Fascists won the Spanish Civil War (1936-1939) and created the Spanish State (a Represseive Fascist Dictatorship that lasted until Franco’s Death in November 1975.)

In 1969, Franco named 31 year old Juan Carlos his Successor and trained him.

On November 20, 1975 Franco died and was buried with honors at the Valley of the Fallen.

 

Crimes During Franco’s Dictatorship:

During Franco’s White Terror (1936-1975) the following were considered State Enemies: Loyalists to the Second Spanish Republic (1931–1939), Liberals, Socialists, Protestants, Intellectuals, Homosexuals, Freemasons, Romani, Jews and Basque, Catalan, Andalusian and Galician Nationalists.

At least 400,000 Men, Women and Children spent time in Prisons (there were 12,042 Children in Franco’s Prisons in 1942 alone.)

300,000 Children were removed from their “State Enemy” Families and raised by Franco Officials. They are called the Lost Children.

There were 300 Spanish Concentration Camps from 1936-1947 that held 431,251 Men, Women and Children in them.

An estimated 200,000 Men, Women and Children were murdered by Franco’s Dictatorship from 1936-1975. The exact number is unknown (and most likely much higher) because the vast majority were shot and buried in unmarked graves through Spain.

 

Spain has official laws that prevent the country from dealing with the crimes (including murder) committed during Franco’s Dictatorship:

In 1975 the Pact of Forgetting was the Political Agreement for all Spanish Political Parties to avoid confronting Franco’s Repression.

The 1977 Amnesty Law (still in force today) guaranteed impurity to those who committed crimes during Franco’s Dictatorship. It also made the Pact of Forgetting official.

The 2007 Historical Memory Law 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 the subsequent Dictatorship of General Francisco Franco, and formally condemns repressions of the Franco Regime.

It doesn’t negate the 1977 Amnesty Law so no one can be punished for their crimes.

The Association for the Recovery of Historical Memory formed in 2000 is a Spanish Organization that collects the oral and written testimonies about the White Terror of Francisco Franco and excavates and identifies their bodies that were often dumped in mass graves.

Franco wasn’t removed from the Valley of the Fallen until 2019 which was 44 years after his death (for reference Joseph Stalin was removed from Lenin’s Mausoleum by the Soviets in 1961 which was 8 years after he died.)

The last Statue of Francisco Franco in Spain was only removed in Melilla in February 2021.

 

Kingdom of Spain (since 1975):

Juan Carlos I reigned from November 22, 1975 until June 19, 2014.

During that time Spain moved to becoming a Democracy (from 1975-1982.)

Juan Carlos I abdicated in June 2014 due to his age and various Public Scandals.  He moved out of Spain in August 2020.

His Son, Felipe, became King Felipe VI and has ruled Spain since (11 years and counting.)

Felipe VI ‘s Daughter, Leonor, Princess of Asturias, has been Heir to the Spanish Monarchy since her 18^th Birthday in 2023.

When she becomes Queen she will be the first Spanish Queen since her fourth Great-Grandmother Isabella II, who reigned from 1833 to 1868.