Spain war archives to be returned

By James Menendez
BBC News, Madrid

Archives are being taken to Madrid before being sent to Catalonia

Thousands of documents dating from the Spanish Civil War have been removed from an archive in Salamanca ahead of their return to Catalonia.

The documents contain details of the campaign by the nationalist forces of General Francisco Franco against his opponents in the north-eastern region.

Spain's Socialist government ordered the transfer as part of its policy of redressing the wrongs of Franco's era.

But their transfer has proved controversial in Spain.

Early in the morning, and protected by riot police, nearly 80 boxes of documents were loaded onto trucks.

Gen Franco came to power in 1939 after he overthrew an elected Republican government in the Civil War. These documents were seized the following year.

That is because they include details of Gen Franco's campaign of repression against his enemies in Catalonia.

Protest

Republicans, freemasons, communists and anarchists were all the victims of his often brutal purges. The papers - together with hundreds of photographs and other personal items - were then taken to Salamanca, where they have been stored ever since.

Franco carried out brutal purges against his enemies after the war

And that is where the city's authorities wanted to keep them. They say the documents are only being moved as a sop to the Catalan regional government, which wants greater autonomy from Madrid.

And they believe their removal will encourage other regions to ask for their wartime papers back, and so lead to the break-up of the archive.

On Wednesday night, Salamanca's mayor refused permission for trucks to park near the building which houses the archive. A handful of people turned up to protest against the transfer.

But it went ahead as planned and now the papers will be moved to Madrid to be checked before their return to Catalonia.