At the other end of the political spectrum, the hard-left Podemos has called the commemorations a “facade” to cover up the scant compensation for the dictatorship’s victims.
Sanchez passed a “democratic memory” law in 2022 aiming to revive their memory, including the creation of a register of victims and the removal of Francoist symbols.
But the law has not tried or convicted any ex-Franco officials accused of crimes and who remain alive as they benefit from an amnesty approved during the transition, to the disappointment of survivors.
The polarising memory of the 1936-1939 civil war and Franco stems from the regime’s tame demise, according to Joan Maria Thomas, professor of contemporary history at the University of Rovira i Virgili.
An ailing 82-year-old Franco passed away peacefully in hospital, in contrast with the spectacular collapse of Nazi Germany and fascist Italy during World War II or the Carnation Revolution that overthrew Portugal’s right-wing dictatorship in 1974.
Democratic elections followed in 1977 and newly enfranchised Spaniards approved a new constitution in a referendum the following year, now celebrated with a public holiday on December 6.
‘Positive’ step
In Spain, “there was a big agreement… to look forwards” without revisiting the injustices of the past, Thomas told AFP.
Remembering Franco’s death was “positive” because today’s Spain “does not keep in mind the importance of recovering a democratic system in 1977 and being able to consolidate it”, he said.
But “we cannot avoid… a memory of the part of the country that was pro-Franco, which was a very considerable part,” he added.
Fascist and conservative Catholic elements were among his supporters and loyalists once venerated Franco with masses and visits to the Valley of the Fallen, a gigantic mausoleum near Madrid that housed his tomb.
A previous Sanchez government took the historic step to remove Franco’s remains in 2019 and renamed the valley, seen as a triumphalist monument to his cause.
In a 2018 survey by pollster Sigma Dos for the conservative El Mundo daily, the plan won only slightly more support than disapproval.
© 2025 AFP