Spain urged to return papers stolen by Franco to Catalonia
Catalan Dignity Commission says 10,000 outstanding Salamanca Papers must be brought back
salamanca
The first stolen Spanish Civil War documents are returned to their legitimate owners 73 years later
In 1939, Franco’s troops entered Catalonia and plundered most of the official documents of the Catalan Government, institutions, political parties, trade unions, and cultural organisations. In addition, they also took personal documents belonging to Catalan personalities. In total more than 300,000 documents were sent to an archive in Salamanca. They were processed and the information they contained used by the Fascist regime’s repression in the post-war years. The documents are known as the ‘Salamanca Papers’. The Spanish Government ordered the return of some of the ‘Salamanca Papers’ in 1995, but political opposition has delayed the process until now. There are still around 300 boxes of documents in Salamanca.
The last of Catalonia's stolen historical documents returned to their rightful home
The final 365 boxes of the controversial civil-war archives were returned on Wednesday, ending a 5 year process to reinstate them in Catalonia. However several artefacts still remain in Salamanca.