Spanish poet's family won't oppose exhumation of grave
Last Updated: Thursday, September 18, 2008 | 12:41 PM ET
CBC News
Relatives of Spanish poet and playwright Federico Garcia Lorca, executed in 1936 at the age of 38 during the Spanish Civil War, will not block a judge's order to open a mass grave where his body is believed to have been dumped.
Lorca's niece, Laura Garcia Lorca, told El Pais, Spain's largest-circulation newspaper, that the family would prefer that the gave remain undisturbed. "But we respect the wishes of other parties involved," she said, "and we would not oppose it."
Although there is no official record of how many died, it is believed that more than 30,000 victims of the Spanish Civil War and the repression that followed under Gen. Francisco Franco's 36-year dictatorship lie in mass graves across the country.
Lorca, who wrote on themes of human suffering and injustice, and who was open about his homosexuality, was among those who disappeared with no record of their fate or final resting place. It is believed his remains are in a mass grave in a mountain gorge just outside Granada, where he lived.
A movement has been growing in recent years to properly bury the victims.
In 2007, Spain's socialist government passed legislation condemning the Franco regime and calling on town halls to fund initiatives to unearth mass graves.
Last week, relatives of two other men believed to be buried with Lorca asked Spanish National Court judge Baltasar Garzon to order the grave opened.
Garzon has agreed to study their case and has asked church leaders, city mayors and other authorities for any information they have about the victims of Franco's right-wing forces.
But other Spaniards, including Lorca's family, are reluctant to disturb the graves.
"For one thing, we really don't know for sure where it is," Laura Garcia Lorca told El Pais. "And in that gorge there are between 1,000 and 3,000 dead. What happens to the rest? A partial exhumation would demean the cemetery that holds so many victims of the same repression."
She added that digging up the grave will not uncover any new information about Lorca's death. Ian Gibson, an Irish scholar who is a leading authority on Lorca and credited with locating the grave, applauds the family's decision.
"This is one of the happiest days of my life," he told CNN upon hearing that the family will not oppose opening the grave. "The family sensibly changed position. Lorca is the most famous victim of the Civil War. It's a huge step in the right direction.
"I think Lorca can be a symbol for reconciliation of the Civil War," he added.
