Farewell To Franco

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But the Civil War and Francoism Commission, which among other tasks will advise the government on whether and how it should alter the Valley of the Fallen, has so far been silent. The Commission was set up by Prime Minister José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero in July 2004 to consider appropriate ways to remember victims of both the Civil War and Franco's dictatorship. It has twice postponed releasing its recommendations. "In the course of the Commission's work, more and more questions have arisen," says Ana Salado, spokeswoman for Deputy Prime Minister María Teresa Fernández de la Vega, who heads the Commission. "More than anything, the delay is due to the complexity of the issue." But to some, the delays raise suspicions that the Commission may balk at suggestions from the icv that Franco's body be moved to a private plot. If the Commission hasn't announced its recommendations by mid-November, the icv pledges to present a bill on the future of the basilica directly to Congress. "We're going to dampen the festivities at least," says Bosch.

Whatever happens, Spain has already begun to dismantle the remnants of Franco's legacy. Mass graves of Republican sympathizers are now being excavated by volunteer organizations like Forum for Memory; just last month a related organization, the Association for the Recovery of Historical Memory, unearthed in Cantabria the shared grave of two young men who, fleeing advancing Nationalist troops in 1937, were caught and shot in the head. In addition to setting up the Civil War and Francoism Commission, Zapatero's Council of Ministers authorized in January an increase in the pensions Spain pays to the now elderly children of Republicans who were sent to Russia and Latin America for their safety during the Civil War. "A country dignifies itself ... when it remembers those who have suffered, like those Spaniards who so unjustly had to leave Spain," the Prime Minister said in May. His government has also backed other efforts: to rename streets named after Franco, and to remove statues that honor him.

Spain's Minister of Culture, Carmen Calvo, believes that this new engagement with the past is a sign that her country has grown up. "After 30 years, Spanish society is mature enough to engage in a conversation about what really happened," she says. Political-science professor Paloma Aguilar, 40, adds that demographics also play a role, because people of her age are driving the memorial efforts. Indeed, political life in Spain is largely governed these days by people too young to remember much about Franco: only 3% of the country's political representatives are over 64, and Zapatero himself is just 45. "We are the first generation to approach the past without fear or trauma," Aguilar says.

Elderly Francoists still turn out on the anniversary of the dictator's death to mourn the passing of authoritarian Spain, while young and old members of the Falange — the far-right party that supported Franco — meet regularly to hear speakers disparage socialists, freemasons and Jews. But it's not just extremists who feel nostalgic for Franco. "Spain's view of the Franco regime is ambivalent," says Aguilar. "Many still see [him] as a benevolent figure whose tactics were necessary at the time." Leaders of the opposition Popular Party (PP) have denounced efforts to address the dictator's legacy. When the government removed the last remaining statue of Franco in Madrid in March, PP leader Mariano Rajoy accused Zapatero of "breaking the spirit of the transition [to democracy]."

The men at the Francisco Franco Foundation say they aren't worried about the Generalissimo's fate because they believe the plans to remake the Valley will founder in political disagreements. Even icv vice president Bosch admits that the government may not be ready to move the dictator's remains to a private grave. But whatever happens, it seems likely that in the near future, visitors to the Valley of the Fallen will encounter something different — a monument that, after decades undisturbed, at last recognizes the whole country's past.