but to. come. back to the tradition in sixty minutes. what secrets lie behind these memos. to find out in an immersive experience and explore fascinating world cultural heritage sites. the d w world heritage thirty sixty fifty at. the value. is a memorial that houses the tomb of the spanish dictator francisco franco the site has become a shrine for nationalists and right wing is. a a lot with it's a fascist monument a metaphor for the division of our country and

a disgrace for spain and for europe. and spain now plans to move franklin's remains and some victims of franco's regime of being exuma from a mass grave to be given a proper burial. for the gulf as we talk about for them i'm not sad i'm glad i'll finally find out whether my brother is buried here here is executed a day or two years ago during the civil war or for. the market. this is the village of us in northeastern spain martina now was born in the village ninety seven years ago. tomorrow workers will start digging at the site of the graves that contains the bodies of franco era victims martin believes that the remains of one of his brothers may be there two of his brothers were executed by

pro franco militias in one thousand nine hundred thirty seven the bodies have never been found martin has fought for years to recover the remains and give them a decent burial. here our sponsor excited. not a bit with my brother through so much. i'm just happy that i blew it long enough to see this i have wonderful memories of my brothers who were there they were older than i was spent a lot of time together with tory's and replayed together. but all of a sudden they disappeared or. they were executed a few months after the civil war started and wished. martin stuart a who is preparing some food to take to the site tomorrow. the exhumation will be carried out by a group that's trying to get spain to come to terms with its fascist past. so

. a lot of your friends and acquaintances will be there. i mean you know but the people from the village are staying away. that's the way it is in our country is that people keep silent and look the other way they say it all goes back to the civil war. and it was the right wingers say they want their legal i've got a young man you know but some are there. tomorrow. martin found out only by chance where his brother's remains may be buried. some neighbors told him that there was a mass grave at the cemetery in wisco. the

exhumation work will take nearly a week martin plans to be here to see all of it. it's a difficult time for him and his daughters. will yell out to their superiors if it's only seven he doesn't want any strangers around the house right now. who can only see what you want that. it's still not clear whether the remains of martin's brother will be found here. but witnesses say that he and four others were buried at this location. the d.n.a. tests will be carried out later to try to determine the identity of the remains. of . the spanish civil war took place from one thousand nine hundred thirty six to nine hundred thirty nine martina now was just

a child at the time but his memories of the war is still clear. in the future there will be a revenue if you are on july eighteenth one thousand nine hundred thirty six it was quieter not overly absolutely it was a saturday at all the young people went dancing. and we were just enjoying life if . we heard about the right wing coup against the republican government. but that was so far away from us that. i don't mean it that morning in july nineteenth. the restrict closures in our area and this is my two brothers and some of their friends have been not sleeping in the fields. and when they came back on july twenty third the police arrested in the. past in two thousand and seven includes provisions for the bodies to be identified and properly buried but government funding is in short supply so private groups like our rico have stepped in to try

to fill the gap with support from donations are eco seeks to preserve the memory of the victims and to recover they remind us. that last over the period opinions grandfather and a great uncle were buried in anonymous graves. period her husband miguel the director of our rico filed a number of lawsuits taking the case all the way to the european court for human rights in twenty sixteen a spanish court finally ruled that the exhumations could take place. we fought for twelve years to get that decision. and even though permission has been granted for the exhumations we have no idea when they're going to start them and. one of which . we have no information at all. all we can do is hope. that the bad guys will.

win now northwest of madrid at the via. memorial. its name means valley of the fall and the site contains the remains of many civil war victims from both sides the dictator francisco franco is also buried here the memorial often attracts right wing demonstrators. the. historian and activist antonio gomez wants spain to deal in lee and honestly with its divisive and violent past goldman supports the recent decision by the spanish government to move franco's grave to another location. he says this memorial should honor only the victims of the spanish civil war.

this is the famous or infamous. i must think of it has the tallest cross in the christian world at about one hundred fifty meters is the basilica was carved into the rock face almost little by little franco is buried here but this is also the biggest mass grave in spain. about thirty three thousand civil war victims are interred here. supporters of the republic were buried anonymously in missions in the basilica the last one only franco claimed that this is a place of reconciliation. but it's not it's an insult to those spaniards who fought for freedom and democracy. via their last guy either those is a fascist monument or it is come to represent the divisions in our country. it's a disgrace to spain and to europe first the world there will. many spaniards see this side as a monument to a dictator who ordered the torture and execution of hundreds of thousands of his

opponents who work on the project began in one nine hundred forty and took eighteen years to complete some reports say much of the structure was built using forced labor including political prisoners. this video was shot by a tourist using a hidden camera it shows the interior of the basilica it cost the spanish government about a million euros a year to maintain a memorial. a benedictine abbey on the site receives a share of that maintenance money the monks fear that if franco's body is moved elsewhere that funding may be cut so they've blocked the proposal. here and turning a gomez meets a colleague who is a fellow member of a rope or like of a spanish association that advocates the separation of church and state. if they're

planning to confront the benedictine at about his opposition to moving franco's body out of violence kind os. by the abbott refuses to make them. we return to madrid. antonio gomez has an appointment with maria another member of. they plan to attend a rally organized by political conservatives and talk to some of the demonstrators . what parliament's decision to move franco's remains has divided the country and emotions are running high. conservatives and franco's descendants oppose the plan liberals say that franco's remains should not be kept in the same place as those of the victims of. the demonstration is being held at the plaza cologne in central madrid. many of the participants want socialist prime minister pedro sanchez to

resign. that. many of these people support franco's legacy. antonio and maria want to find out more about the demonstrate his political views. or would you look at it like that spain has so many problems right now that it why should we focus on the past. no matter how much we talk about it we can change it take us if that match the base about franco's to load and labor strikes unemployment low wages and low pension us those are the problems that we should deal with it and it's almost out of work of what i need of it if i can go to spain should focus on the living not the dead you know. we shouldn't spend hundreds of thousands of euros digging up the past it was you know whatever the rather funny that you still. have i but what would you say if your own relatives have been buried anonymously in mass graves

knowing the sheriff was just filled with. an estimated five hundred thousand civilians were killed in the spanish have. war. two hundred thousand others died in a campaign of repression carried out by franco's government after the war ended. was i in one nine hundred seventy seven parliament approved a law that declared an amnesty for those who committed crimes during the civil war and lyta under franco's regime. was that. catalyst what's your opinion on moving franco's remains the biggest thing was a sort of every other year of the bayani arrows qaida is a sacred place when dead is dead for the year left or right donna brazil the only victims are leftists but it is not the least that's what we don't have that you know i the francisco franco national foundation was founded shortly after the

dictator's death in one thousand nine hundred seventy six to promote a positive interpretation of his legacy at the foundation's office we asked the organizations director one charter or take whether this wasn't like having a foundation in germany. you know if you're from the there's a fundamental difference hitler lost his war and you destroyed germany franco god wanted his war and he helped to lead spain to great this hour a lot i love again. he'd let you know he was an atheist franco was a catholic let me finish you simply can't compare these two situations. this but yes yes there were no stars civilian deaths are concerned what was equally prominent germans died in world war two was december going to hell in my name or ten million are among the give me your news and in poland and in borneo six

millions is biased i was on the screen were talking about an estimated two hundred fifty thousand civilians are died in the civil war and then there with his rumors of mass graves is nothing but lies. paunchy child ortega underestimated the number of civilians who were killed in the civil war the number is actually closer to five hundred thousand and the question of how to deal with this bloody chapter of history continues to divide spanish society. at the cemetery in whisker the excavators have made their first find. the bones were lying just a few centimeters below the surface that indicates that the body was buried quickly . but it will be weeks before lab

results can confirm whether martin arnold's brother roman was buried here. i don't know. some of the younger volunteers have taken a real interest in the civil war and its consequences. you're going to get in the real fun but there's a long way to like us and spanish society as a whole have a duty to deal with what happened for him on the load of people who fought and died for a better world deserved dignity for the irish i'm doing what i can hear. we won't be able to identify all of the victims you're working but we're going to try different but at the heart of. most spaniards believe that franco was a dictator. but many say that he was more moderate and less cruel than some others and they point out that spain's economy grew under franco's leadership. but in

recent years many spaniards have adopted a more critical view. last year many madrid residents joined the city's mayor to demand that franco era symbols be removed and that some street names be changed but the franco foundation got a court order to stop the move later some of the street names were changed after a higher court overturned the original order there were plans to rebury franco in his hometown and for all include c.r. it was hoped this would also help stop pilgrimages to his grave but his grandchildren want him to be interred with full military honors at large and moved in a cathedral in central madrid and tonio gomez hopes that doesn't happen that's what and then you've heard him spain has been a democracy for more than four decades and during that time franco's grave and via de los qaeda has been maintained by the catholic church here and now. some say it should be moved to the cathedral in madrid opposite the royal palace. that would be

a disaster especially for the government. of course the church thinks it's a great idea and franco's regime could not have stayed in power without the support of the catholic church. the cathedral stands just south of the royal palace franco lived at the palace for a time after the civil war. after their interviews at the rally antonio and maria stopped for coffee. and tony is researching the relationship between franco's government and the catholic church the church is the second largest property in spain after the federal government and antonio is preparing a report on its assets the church supported franco and in return acquired considerable new powers.

that would that go financial year catholic church in spain is an earthly kingdom that's worth billions of dollars then but church lost its privileges during the second republican the one nine hundred thirty s. but its support for franco soon paid off. in one thousand thirty seven the bishops announced that the civil war was a christian crusade in return franco approved legislation that allowed the church to register public buildings as private property for a small fee. all the bishops had to do was sign a few papers as i was going to have it that happened here where the church is saying barbara. thousand other building is. no more there to know they will send you. the church's real estate portfolio is not limited to places of worship it also includes apartment blocks.

antonio gomez says that here in the archdiocese of our villa the church owns up to two thirds of all property. some left wing city governments have questioned whether the church should own that much real estate church officials have promised to make a public inventory of their properties but that hasn't happened yet. antonio has come to the office of the archdiocese of madrid to find out more about its real estate holdings officials declined comment but said he could submit a written request. antonio returns to the over a polite office to work on his church report. but his colleague solidaire luka arrives with news about a controversial decision. on the high antonio.

when on the stand it's an outrage have you heard what happened. yet mr know what when they let dr de la go. on that that when it was hit the prosecutors had demanded an eleven year prison sentence. but now the court has ruled that the statute of limitations has run out. dr eduardo villa was the first person to stand trial for his part in one of the most notorious crimes of the franco iraq over more than four decades tens of thousands of newborn babies were taken from their parents many of whom were opponents of the regime and then placed with pro franco families the practice continued as an illegal trafficking network until the nineteen eighties in which doctors lawyers and the catholic church took cash in course at lotto villa denied any wrongdoing solid ad's twin brother was one

of the babies that was taken away much she's still trying to find him. i mean receiving stunning and i'm just astonished at the court's decision that i have faced in the rule of law you know and on the ice and this was a crime against humanity this should be no statute of limitations on such crimes ok it's ok not this is really. necessary once again the catholic church is involved in criminal activity dealt with remember judicial system keeps covering it up. because look. there. was. many of those who survived persecution by the franco regime and now dead every thursday appointed square in madrid their relatives gather and demand that the perpetrators be brought to justice.

was it. the photographs he depict those who disappeared joined the franco era. i got my. period lopez's grandfather was one of the victims. were not then he really didn't get involved in politics but if you didn't actively support franco you were considered a read. my grandfather was executed and that left my grandmother to support four children on her own only. the youngest was five and the oldest was eleven and no one had pussy for them in the village to the contrary. franco's men shaved the heads of women who were married to leftists who would smell the liquid over them and paraded them like that through the streets leftists and their families were terrified back then because of the atrocities that were committed that they were too frightened to even talk about it and that was the start of the great sign a peace and you know i grew up believing that my grandfather had died fighting in

the civil huo but decades later my father told me the truth son no. i will not that i'm allowed out for ten years piri has been trying to recover her grandfather's remains i mean what else spain has the second largest number of disappeared people in the world after cambodia. and this is in europe oh yeah well much more of those last minute are. third of the barrel save us i wish they had me in prison for six days. but the perpetrators still haven't been arrested or punished more severely over the state can afford subsidies for all kinds of things but it does nothing for us victims the survivors of the dead. and all the you would is demanded that the bodies of the victims from both sides being sued. and given

a proper burial at state expense. but that hasn't happened yet or rather the cut out got through until. at least they've made a start here in western. martin and now is convinced that his brother's remains will be found here right now he's checking a list of those in his village who were executed and he's surprised that almost no one from the village has come here today to observe the exhumation work up. of. any remains that are correctly identified will be given a proper burial later how. it will have. a filmmaker named marco is making a video recording of the exhumation work marco and miguel kappa pay director of the

article organization for victims of repression had hoped that some members of the spanish media would be here today to cover this story. i'm out in that i'm talking more like you know that is so typical of you know local press coverage at all and i doubt if we have a t.v. crew from germany with us today but there's not a spanish reporter in sight. i studied history when i was at university but they taught us almost nothing about twentieth century spain going to. nothing about the civil war or the repression as you were looking for the anonymous graves. yesterday people just aren't aware of what happened back then so they can't relate to it that you know his that they think it was their grandfather's war and that it has nothing to do with them again people cos i don't know they just don't know that i know that i will only know. the remains of the dead cannot speak to us. but they can bear witness to what took place at that time span and asking for evil

and only worming on cover all the details about that period in our history. will we be able to say the civil war is finally over.

junction in space. wherever they go to means leave trash it's. in space it causes a hasn't new have to stop the new clean up the danger is clear. cut. to morrow telling him thirty minutes long time to look.

folks the temple of technology. the result of the market. the momentum of the morning. meeting in germany. your business magazine on d w. i. i am not proud of and i will not succeed in dividing us about i'll not succeed in taking the people off the streets because we're tired of this dictatorship. taking the stand global news that matters.

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