Estépar, a village in the province of Burgos, Spain, is the site of multiple mass graves from the Spanish Civil War. Hundreds of Republicans are believed to have been killed there. Many had been held in detention in Burgos which became the headquarters of the Francoist proto-government following the start of the war in 1936. Prisoners were moved down the Arlanzon valley to Estépar to be killed and buried.

The remains of some of the victims were exhumed in 2014 by the Association for the Recovery of Historical Memory.

Identification of victims

Since its foundation in 2000,[1] the Association for the Recovery of Historical Memory has made efforts to identify the bodies they exhume. However, by at the time the excavations at Estépar began, the Spanish government under Mariano Rajoy had withdrawn state support for such work,[2] and the Association indicated that at this site the task of identification was going to be complex.[3]

The task of identification was still ongoing when in 2017 ninety-six victims were reburied in the cemetery of Estépar. It was hoped that DNA analysis would allow further progress to be made.[4] Among the people believed to have been killed at Estépar who remain to be identified are the composer Antonio José Martínez Palacios and his brother.[5]

References

  1. ↑ Elkin, Mike - "Opening Franco's Graves" (Archaeology, September/October 2006)
  2. ↑ "El gobierno elimina en 2013 el presupuesto para memoria histórica". Público (in Spanish). Europa Press. 2012. Retrieved 13 June 2022.
  3. ↑ Carro, Patricia (2014). "Se recuperan 70 cuerpos de asesinados en Estépar". www.burgosconecta.es. Retrieved 7 January 2023.
  4. ↑ Carro, Patricia (2017). "La inhumación de 96 cuerpos de represaliados cierra un círculo de dolor y duelo en Estépar" (in Spanish). Retrieved 2022-09-17.
  5. ↑ "¿Y si Antonio José no fue fusilado?" [And if Antonio Jose wasn't shot?]. Diario de Burgos (in Spanish). 2018.
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