Heritage and disputes in the representation of traumatic memory
David González Vázquez, Jordi Guixé Corominas, Carme Huerta Martín, César Layana Ilundain, José Miguel Gastón Aguas, Sergio Riesco Roche, Ricard Conesa Sánchez, Núria Ricart Ulldemolins, Francisco Bairrão Ruivo, Aida Rechena, Alejandra Canals Ossul, Javiera Bustamante Danilo, Lucía Ríos and Laia Arañó Vega
What should we do with places marked by internment and repression? Prisons, concentration camps, detention centres and fortresses converted into prisons form part of an uncomfortable heritage that for a long time remained largely overlooked in processes of heritage recognition and protection.
The recovery of these sites raises important questions about their conservation and interpretation: how can their historical significance be conveyed while encouraging critical reflection on human rights?
From Spain and Portugal to Chile, Argentina and southern France, the contributors to this volume examine different experiences of repression and confinement, as well as the initiatives that have brought them into the public memory. The cases demonstrate that there is no single way of addressing this legacy. Where buildings and material remains survive, their physical traces can help reconstruct past experiences; where few traces remain, testimonies and documentary sources become essential.
The contributions also show how the meaning attributed to these places changes over time, and how their recovery requires research, social participation and institutional commitment. The book invites readers to approach prisons and other sites of internment from a different perspective: to uncover the stories they contain, recover silenced memories and understand the debates that continue to surround their incorporation into heritage.
Publication details
- Publication date: 28 September 2026
- Pages: 272
- ISBN: 978-84-1067-705-0
- Publisher: Los Libros de la Catarata
- In collaboration with: European Observatory on Memories (EUROM), co-funded by the Citizens, Equality, Rights and Values (CERV) programme
Related activitiy
Second International Conference on the Heritage of Conflict: Spaces of Repression and Detention