Forensic Science and the Memory of the Civil War and Franco Era in Spain

Realms of Memory

The bones of the tens of thousands of victims of the Franco regime buried in mass graves throughout Spain are now telling their stories. Nicole Iturriaga, author of Exhuming Violent Histories: Forensics, Memory, and Rewriting Spain’s Past, chronicles the rise of the international forensics human rights movement and how it is helping to shatter the silence about the crimes of the Spanish Civil War and Franco era. Building on a movement originating in Argentina, organizations like the Association for the Recovery of Historical Memory (ARMH), are using the power of forensic science to reveal the crimes of the past and to foster openness and reconciliation in the present.