Fascist street names make comeback in Spain

Madrid’s city council has restored a street name linked to one of the Spanish civil war’s most infamous massacres, stoking outrage.

The decision to rename streets has caused outrage in Madrid.

Madrid’s city council has restored a street name linked to one of the Spanish civil war’s most infamous massacres, stoking anger among families of the victims.

The conservative-run authority has removed the name of Barco Sinaia from a small street in the south of the city and reverted to its former name, Crucero de Baleares, a ship that shelled thousands of civilians as they fled Malaga in 1937 after the city was attacked by nationalist forces loyal to Francisco Franco.

It is the latest reversal of the previous left-wing mayor’s campaign to rename 52 streets which, she argued, fell foul of Spain’s “historical memory” law that forbids the glorification of Franco’s regime. Manuela Carmen had changed the street name to Barco Sinaia, after a ship that transported to Mexico hundreds of fleeing families linked to the Republic after its defeat at the hands of Franco’s rebel forces in 1939.

Luisa Vecino, who was four months old when her father took her in his arms to flee the bombardment, was appalled at the decision to restore the old name, which she believes is part of a drive to commemorate Franco’s side in the conflict.

“I am enraged. I cannot understand that after so many years these ideas have not been eliminated and are even driven by people in governments,” she told El Pais, adding that her mother had described the attack to her. “It was a slaughter, an absolute slaughter.”

The Curcero de Baleares gained notoriety as one of three ships that fired on civilians fleeing Malaga for Almeria after an attack by Franco’s forces in 1937. The column of refugees was strafed and bombed, leading to the deaths of about 6000, many of them children. A witness account by Norman Bethune, a Canadian medic, of the final bombing of the streets of Almeria did much to win international sympathy for the Republican cause.

Rafael Morales leads an association that has in the past few years organised a tribute to the victims of the attack. It takes the form of a walk along the 240km route between Malaga and Almeria along which the civilians fled.

He said the latest decision was a “mockery of the victims”.

Madrid’s city council said that the renaming was to honour the ship’s crew after it was sunk in 1938 by Republican forces, losing 765 seamen out of a crew of 1206.

The conservative-run authority has replaced the name of Barco Sinaia from a small street in the south of Madrid

The Times