Did something happen here? The banality of the places of death during the repression of the Franco regime

Abstract

During the repression of the Franco regime, many places became scenarios of death. Several of these sites have been excavated in recent years in order to find and identify the remains of victims, to a certain degree of success and by chance. Forensic techniques (from archaeology to medicine) have raised these chances, but this does not always assure the precise location of the places of death. Galicia has a dense landscape of death set in a highly urbanised and busy territory, meaning daily life coexists with these sites. A visit to these sites reveals their anodyne, unremarkable, and ordinary character. These landscapes of death are a testimony of remembrance and oblivion, of disappearance and other types of repression. We propose the need for preserving the memory that conflicts with the banality befallen on these sites.