General Francisco Franco

Spanish academy admits Franco bio may need fixing

MADRID — Spain's Royal Historical Academy said Thursday it may issue some rapid corrections after a favourable biography of General Francisco Franco was received with outrage.

More than 12 years in the making, the academy's 50-volume Spanish Biographical Dictionary provoked a storm of criticism over several entries, particularly one seen as being sympathetic to Franco.

Spain's leading daily El Pais said the entry's author Luis Suarez was "openly sympathetic to Franco".

The biography never uses the word "dictator", argues Franco's regime was "authoritarian but not totalitarian", and says he was forced into teaming up with German and Italian fascist leaders.

"In recent days, legitimate criticisms have emerged of aspects of some specific entries of figures who, because of their historical proximity and role, inevitably generate debate among experts and broader society," the academy said in a statement.

"There may doubtlessly be a subset of entries that require, in view of the debate, a historical and editorial revision that may need to be incorporated quickly into the digital edition and later paper editions."

In its climbdown, the academy said all dictionary entries are signed and that in each volume there is a rider explaining that the authors themselves are responsible for their own contributions.

The academy said the dictionary brings together more than 40,000 biographies from the sixth century BC to the 20th century AD.

When deciding how to complete it in a reasonable but rapid timeframe, the academy opted for "the principles of intellectual freedom and of responsibility of the authors," it said.

El Pais said the choice of Suarez as author led to a work in which Franco is described as a man who "unified ... the political forces that backed it, Falangism, traditionalism and the right."

The dictator "had to tie himself" with the fascist regime of Benito Mussolini and Adolf Hitler's Nazis, faced with the "hostility of France and of Russia," the biography says.

"The result is a nice hagiographic article on the dictator" by a historian who ignores "the repression" led by the Franco regime against the Republicans following the 1936-39 Civil War, El Pais said.

The disputed entries in a biographical dictionary, financed by the education ministry, sparked unease in the government of Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero, who first pushed, in 2007, for the rehabilitation of the Franco era's victims.

Spanish property of General Francisco Franco opens to public

Spain:  The former summer palace of Spanish dictator General Francisco Franco has finally been opened to the public.

The Palace of Pazo de Meirás in Northwest Spain has been the subject of a dispute between Franco’s family and the Spanish Government since his death in 1975.

Following his death it passed to his daughter, Carmen, who became the first Duchess of Franco.

For many years there has been growing pressure on Carmen to open the house to the public.

In 2007 a petition signed by residents of Galicia and approved by local authorities declared the property a listed building. This meant the family had to open the house to the public four times a month and also required them to take proper care of it, due to its historical and cultural value.

However, the family refused to open the palace and would not allow local government officials to inspect the building to make sure it was being well maintained.  A court order eventually forced them open the doors to the inspectors.

At the time, campaigners were demanding that the palace be taken from the Franco family without compensation.

A legal challenge brought by the Spanish Government in 2008 eventually led to a court ruling in October 2010 which classified the property as a national monument and ordered that it was opened to the public.

Following the ruling, town councillors in Sada announced that the 19th Century palace must open for “public use”.

“This town hall is working to make sure the Pazo de Meirás can become public property in the shortest possible time,” said Sada’s mayor, Abel López.

The palace was owned by novelist Emilia Pardo Baza until 1921 when it was bought with public funds. The property was signed over to Franco in 1939, the year the civil war finished and his thirty six year dictatorship began.

The palace of Pazo de Meirá stands on six hectares of land amid the ruins of an ancient fort. It was used by Franco as a retreat during the summer holidays, when he would return to his native Galicia to fish and hunt.

Franco’s rise to power:

When the left-wing Popular Front Party (El Frente Popular) won the general elections in Spain in 1936, an army rebellion followed.  The conservative army generals, led by General Francisco Franco, attempted a military coup to depose the elected government in July 1936. The coup ultimately failed and led to the outbreak of the Spanish Civil War.

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