General Archive of the Spanish Civil War
Encyclopedia
Archive
An archive is a collection of historical records, or the physical place they are located. Archives contain primary source documents that have accumulated over the course of an individual or organization's lifetime, and are kept to show the function of an organization...
located in Salamanca
Salamanca
Salamanca is a city in western Spain, in the community of Castile and León. Because it is known for its beautiful buildings and urban environment, the Old City was declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1988. It is the most important university city in Spain and is known for its contributions to...
, Spain
Spain
Spain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula...
. It was founded in 1999, and in 2007 it became part of the Centro Documental de la Memoria Histórica. "Historic memory", in this context, refers to Spain's coming to terms with its Civil War and the Franco Dictatorship.
The origins of the Civil War Archive, and the decision to house such documents in Salamanca, date back to the 1930s. The Franco regime decreed, on September 13, 1936, that "all properties and documents belonging to the political parties and organizations mentioned, as well as any others that opposed the movimiento nacional
Movimiento Nacional
The Movimiento Nacional was the name given to the nationalist inspired mechanism during Francoist rule in Spain, which purported to be the only channel of participation to Spanish public life...
, were to become the property of the State."
Documents known as the Salamanca Papers
Salamanca Papers
The Salamanca Papers refer to the 300,000 documents and 1,000 photographs confiscated from the Catalan government after the Spanish Civil War and transported in 12 railway freight wagons to the city of Salamanca to be stored in what was later to become Spain's Civil War Archive .The return of the...
, which had been confiscated from the Catalan government, were returned to Catalonia in 2005. However, the Centro Documental de la Memoria Histórica plans to increase the number of documents held at Salamanca, by for example, transferring items from the Archivo General de la Administración, Alcalá de Henares
Alcalá de Henares
Alcalá de Henares , meaning Citadel on the river Henares, is a Spanish city, whose historical centre is one of UNESCO's World Heritage Sites, and one of the first bishoprics founded in Spain...
.