ANDALUCIA - CIVIL WAR GUIDE?
 

Hello all,

Does anyone know of a guide to the Spanish Civil War in Andalucia? I have been looking for a guide that would show and explain sites connected to the civil war in this area, e.g., Queipo's tomb in the Basilica of the Macarena in Seville, Lorca's summer home in Granada, etc.

We are going to Andalucia (Seville, Granada, Cordoba, and Malaga) in October, our first visit ever to Spain. I have been reading about the region and have been struck by what a major role this region and these cities played in the war. Have not yet found any guide to important sites.

Any suggestions, ideas, and hunches are welcome, Spanish or English materials.

Thanks in advance!

You can contact Beatriz at Descubrir Sevilla (www.descubrirsevilla.com) to see if she can help you in your quest. You can also try Antonio Doblas (www.sevillatours.es)

Most people don't like to talk about the civil war. Too many memories still fresh in their minds.

You may be interested in a book that I'm currently reading called, "Ghosts of Spain: Travels Through Spain and Its Silent Past", written by Giles Tremlett.

He is a British journalist who has lived in Spain for over 20+ years and has married and had children there. It's a fascinating acount of the recent history of Spain, and he spends a lot of time discussing the tensions that exist in Spain both during the war and since. It really captures a lot of the flavor of what he describes as "the two Spains".

Yes, I second The Ghosts of Spain. A good read.
From Granada you can easily visit Lorca's birthplace at Fuente Vaqueros. The little town has a museum where you can see all the Lorca stuff. There are good guided tours in Spanish and English. There is a nice drinking hole opposite for reviving beverages.

These two articles may be worth reading:

http://www.andalucia.com/history/civilwarandalucia.htm
https://libcom.org/library/quiet-fronts-michael-seidman

Amazon has a number of books listed:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/s/ref=nb_sb_...in%20andalucia

You could get the revised edition (2001) of Hugh Thomas's monumental The Spanish Civil War which is considered the very best on the subject.

Great suggestions, many thanks.

I just watched a documentary on Netflix The Mexican Suitcase.It's about a suitcase recently discovered full of photos taken during the Spanish Civil War.Very well done -it recreates the events of the war with interviews and photos.

Thanks, Chapla. Going to watch it tonight.

chapla-I remember seeing that at the Mexican Cultural Institute in DC. Very interesting movie.

In Malaga, you should visit the San Rafael cemetery, the largest of the hundreds of mass graves from the Civil War and the Franco years that have been found and opened all over the country since the early 2000's. It's estimated that 4500 executed victims, many women and children, were buried here. So far the remains of almost 3000 individuals have been found. Recently opened a memorial here: http://www.ipsnews.net/2013/09/victi...s-of-the-dead/

Second the recommendation of Tremlett's book, Ghosts of Spain:
http://www.theguardian.com/books/200...uardianreview9
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/02/21/bo...grim.html?_r=0
http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-en...tt-475848.html

Kimhe, Chapla, and others, again, many thanks.

I have ordered Tremlett's book and am following up on the other sources. What I am doing is making notes and maps about each city we are visiting and locating events and memorials and tombs, etc., for a sort of walking tour of each place. The works of authors such as Tremlett and Thomas are works of history, so I have to pull out and sort their references to places and street addresses, etc. This puts a street or a plaza in a different light. So walking down the Calle Larios in Malaga today, with its sleek appearance, will have a broader context, knowing about the burning of the buildings as the war begins in 1936.

Yes, I am sure that the civil war today is still an open wound for Spain. People today must know what their grandparents went through, whatever their political position. I think for visitors to Spain, at least for us, this will be an effort to see and understand, and be respectful and keep our mouths shut. I am from the Deep South of the U.S. and even today our Civil War of a century and a half ago can trigger emotions. A visit to Antietam or Gettysburg is not merely a historical tour. As Faulkner said, "The past is never dead. It's not even past."

I appreciate all of your suggestions.

Perhaps read Tiempo de lucha. Granada-Málaga: represión, resistencia y guerrilla 1939-1952 by Jose Mª Azuaga Rico (2013). Also about the guerrilla fighters who stayed in the mountains over Nerja and between Malaga and Granada well into the 1950's. http://www.fnac.es/mp2048876/Tiempo-...ia-y-Guerrilla

Radio presentation of the book: http://radioalmaina.org/2014/03/pres...lla-1939-1952/