‘Take flowers to our mass grave’: letters from Spain’s Franco victims collected in new book

In 1939, a Spanish dad sent a letter to his three young sons, asking them to behave well when he was away. He wrote to Pepe, little Félix, and little Vicente with love and affection, while mentioning that he was in a castle with plenty of turrets.

During the night, there are beautiful young girls who appear in the courtyard, and they are referred to as little princesses. My mother also comes to me at night, dressed as a gorgeous fairy with her hair flowing. She informs me about how you have behaved lately, which brings me joy when she mentions your good deeds, and sadness when she speaks of her disappointment in your actions.

The Republican mayor of the town called San Lorenzo de el Escorial, García-Carrizo, penned a message on a small piece of paper used for smoking cigarettes from his imprisonment at Cuéllar castle, situated near Segovia. The castle had been remodeled into a jail for political prisoners after Franco claimed victory in the Spanish civil war in April of that same year.

On November 16th, García-Carrizo wrote a letter from another prison. In the letter, he said goodbye to his wife and children and requested his brother-in-law to pick up his suitcase and his blankets in a few days from the jail. The next day, he was brutally killed at the age of 39 against a wall of a cemetery located in Madrid.

During the period from 1939 to 1944, García-Carrizo and thousands of other people, called represaliados, who were punished for their actions, were killed in the capital city after receiving sentences from military courts. Now, 80 years later, a new book called "The Memory Letters" has been published featuring the last messages that the victims wrote to their close ones before their tragic death.

The Memoria y Libertad association has worked together for 20 years to create a book which provides a chance for the families of victims to write to their deceased loved ones, sharing their memories, updates and most importantly, their affection.

About two decades ago, Tomás Montero Aparicio, who was responsible for compiling the collection, embarked on a project related to his grandfather's demise. His grandfather was a labor union member who was executed by being shot against a wall located in the Cementerio del Este in Madrid in June 1939. In 2005, Montero posted a detailed list of people who were executed in Madrid online. He did so to encourage the descendants of those people to share whatever information they had.

He explains that the project expanded over time. They exchanged documents and had conversations about utilizing archives. Therefore, the entire process consumed a considerable amount of time. From the outset, they intended for it to serve as a form of restoration for the families who follow.

The spark of creativity for the answering letters arose from the contents of a book published in 2003 entitled "Dear Eugenio". Within its pages, Juana Doña, a Spanish Communist, feminist and writer, provided responses to the final letters she received from her partner Eugenio Mesón before his execution in July 1941 at the young age of 24.

Mesón wrote a final letter to his wife. In the letter, he expressed his thoughts of her, their son, and their political party flag. Mesón believed that they would soon achieve victory. He requested that his wife lay flowers at their mass grave, which is the only part that opposition forces could harm. Additionally, he asked if she could whisper him a kiss while on the grave, even if he's already dead. This thought cheers him up, and he currently feels happier.

Doña managed to spare herself from a capital punishment several years later. This was due to the efforts of her family and an Argentinian comedian with strong leftist views who was visiting at the time. They convinced Eva Perón, who was the first lady of Argentina, to plead on behalf of Doña to Franco and his wife. Thanks to their appeals, the sentence was changed to 30 years in jail plus one day.

The book's intention, also accessible as a complimentary PDF, was to debunk the Francoist misconception that the represaliados were atrocious beings that had been eradicated for the betterment of Spain.

According to Montero, the traditional myth was that the individuals executed by Franco had devilish characteristics such as horns and tails. However, this piece of evidence demonstrates their true nature.

What astonished him the most about the responses from the families, apart from being incredibly emotional, was the way they were written.

According to him, when you go through the majority of the letters, there's nothing spiteful, vengeful, or hateful. In essence, individuals are simply expressing their yearning for a relationship with their grandmother, grandfather, or father. He adds that reading through all these letters was quite moving, but he had to remain composed as the person in charge of compiling them. Many of these stories were disturbing, and it would have been impossible to handle without putting up a barrier. It's impractical to carry all that negativity with you all day.

Montero sent two pieces of correspondence to his grandfather, Tomás Montero Labrandero. In the second one, he discloses how the digital medium has provided him and his accomplices with the opportunity to connect and exchange information regarding their respective family chronicles.

Today, dear Grandfather Tomás, I can confidently state that I have gained a deeper understanding of who I am by seeking to know you better. My loved ones, friends and I are grateful for the love and wisdom you have imparted on us. We appreciate you a lot. However, I can imagine that in addition to the carnations - which I will place at the cemetery no matter what - you would be more delighted if I continued to fight for the honorable and equitable principles that you cherished, and most importantly, if I continued to cultivate crops on the land they were unable to take away from you.

The manager of L'Encobert, a publishing house that released the book, comments that the letters written by the relatives offer a glimpse into the daily life of those who remained after their loved ones departed.

According to him, he noticed the females who happened to be the spouses and children of the people who were victimized. These ladies had to put up with the hardship of keeping their family together and continuing with life. It wasn't just a matter of losing their husbands, but losing their husbands to the opposing political view. The same goes for the children who lost their parents; they were the offspring of the enemy, adding an extra layer of difficulty to their already trying circumstances. These challenges persisted throughout the entire time the dictatorship was in place.

According to López Camarillas, he wishes that the book has made it easier for the family members of the victims of murder to express the things that they have concealed for a considerable amount of time. Consequently, the book provides a chance for them to communicate with their beloved. He also pointed out that the book has a more prevalent and frequently-discussed purpose, which is to alert individuals about the adverse effects of intolerance and ideological bias.

The eternal and unavoidable lesson, nonetheless, is about affection.

Vicente González García-Carrizo's son Pepe, before passing away some years ago, wrote a letter to his father whom he had last seen when he was only nine years old.

He expressed his attempts to make his father proud of him through his actions. His father, who held the position of a mayor during the Republic, passed away in the early morning of November 17, 1939. Being a councillor during the early stages of democracy, he never forgot the loss of his guiding star. He finishes the letter with love and the hope that it reaches his father no matter where he may be.