The European Observatory of Memories of the Solidarity Foundation of the University of Barcelona (EUROM) joins several organizations and memory entities to commemorate the 49th anniversary of Franco’s death in Barcelona with a series of activities aimed at promoting democratic memory and reflecting on the ongoing impact of the dictatorship.
This year, November 20 marks the 49th anniversary of Franco’s death, and the European Observatory of Memories of the Solidarity Foundation of the University of Barcelona (EUROM) has been involved in organizing a series of activities to promote democratic memory and reflect on the ongoing impact of the dictatorship on today’s society. The programming aims to highlight the history of Franco’s repression in Barcelona and honor the experiences of those who fought for democratic freedoms.
The kickoff will be on November 20th at La Model Espai Memorial. At 4:30 p.m., the Second Seminar on Public History on Women’s Prisons during the Franco regime will begin in the auditorium. This session will focus on women’s prisons and the mechanisms of correction and female moralization in Barcelona between 1936 and 1975. Following the first session of the conference, at 8:30 pm the exhibition The Testimonies of the Top Generation will be opened to the public in the panopticon. This exhibition is an initiative of the Catalan Association of Former Political Prisoners of the Franco regime within the framework of a campaign to preserve the memory of those repressed by the Public Order Tribunal (TOP), created in December, 1963.
A parallel program has been organized around these two inaugural activities, running until December. It includes an exhibition on Les Corts prison at the Faculty of Geography and History of the University of Barcelona, a performance of the show Exilio with actor Àlex Brendemühl and guitarist Nora Buschmann, and a conference on spaces of memory, organized in collaboration with the Plataforma Encuentro Estatal por la Memoria Democrática (State Platform for Democratic Memory).
The organizations participating in the program include: the Rosa Luxemburg Foundation, the CEHI of the Faculty of Geography and History at the University of Barcelona, the Cipriano García Foundation; the Catalan Association of Former Political Prisoners of the Franco Regime, the Ateneu de Memòria Popular, the Spanish Association of Public History, the Plataforma Encuentro Estatal por la Memoria Democrática, the Democratic Memorial of the Generalitat of Catalonia, the Association for Culture and Memory of Catalonia (ACMe), the Platform for the Women’s Prison Monument of Les Corts, and the Department of Feminisms, Equality, and Democratic Memory of the Barcelona City Council.