- Time of past OR future Camino
- 2024 Le Puy - Cahors + Saint-Jean - León
I have just learned that along the VDLP there are probably several unmarked mass burial sites where opponents to Franco were executed and their bodies dumped in the early months of the Civil War.
For obvious geographical and logistical reasons, one of Franco's columns, after landing on the mainland from N. Africa in July 1936, headed up north for Madrid following the VDLP. As they captured towns and villages they executed without trial their Republican opponents. In Zafra, for example, Castejon, the commander of the Franquist forces, demanded the execution of 1% of the population – 70 people in all. As Castejon's column headed on to the next village, they executed the 70 in groups of 10 or 12 every few hundred yards.
The identification of such burial sites and of the bodies they contain has recently become a controversial issue in Spain. In Zafra people want a monument to the "honour" of Castezon removed.
Numerically, the Republicans killed more people without trail than did Franco's supporters, but most of them were killed by uncontrolled crowds. Franco's repression was more systematic.
I think that it is important for us (future) pilgrims to be aware of what happened along the VDLP in 1936 and to spare a thought, as we walk, for all those who suffered and died, on whatever side, and for their descendants, some of whom are still in pain as a result of what happened.
For obvious geographical and logistical reasons, one of Franco's columns, after landing on the mainland from N. Africa in July 1936, headed up north for Madrid following the VDLP. As they captured towns and villages they executed without trial their Republican opponents. In Zafra, for example, Castejon, the commander of the Franquist forces, demanded the execution of 1% of the population – 70 people in all. As Castejon's column headed on to the next village, they executed the 70 in groups of 10 or 12 every few hundred yards.
The identification of such burial sites and of the bodies they contain has recently become a controversial issue in Spain. In Zafra people want a monument to the "honour" of Castezon removed.
Numerically, the Republicans killed more people without trail than did Franco's supporters, but most of them were killed by uncontrolled crowds. Franco's repression was more systematic.
I think that it is important for us (future) pilgrims to be aware of what happened along the VDLP in 1936 and to spare a thought, as we walk, for all those who suffered and died, on whatever side, and for their descendants, some of whom are still in pain as a result of what happened.