a disgrace for spain and for europe. spain now plans to move franklin's remains and some victims of franco's regime of being exude from a mass grave to be given a proper burial. to get healthy as we talk about for them i'm not sad i'm glad that i'll finally find out whether my brother is buried here he was executed a day or two years ago during the civil war or feel. about it. this is the village of us in northeastern spain martina now was born in the village ninety seven years ago. tomorrow workers will start digging at the site of the graves that contains the bodies of franco era victims martin believes that the remains of one of his brothers may be there two of his brothers were executed by pro franco militias in one thousand nine hundred thirty seven the bodies have never been found martin has fought for years to recover the remains and give them a decent burial. here are france are excited oh no not a bit yes the up with my brother through so much. i'm just happy that i blew it long enough to see this i have wonderful memories of my brothers who were there they were older than i was so we spent a lot of time together with toys and replayed together. but all of a sudden they disappeared. they were executed a few months after the civil war started and wish martin store who is preparing some food to take to the site tomorrow i'm sure the exhumation will be carried out by a group that's trying to get spain to come to terms with its fascist past. so . a lot of your friends and acquaintances will be there. i mean you know but the people from the village are staying away. that's the way it is in our country that people keep silent and look the other way and they say it all goes back to the civil war. and the listing of the right wingers say they want their legal. mannion but tomorrow they lose tomorrow no set of people. and. martin found out only by chance where his brother's remains may be buried. some neighbors told him that there was a mass grave at the cemetery in whisker. the exhumation work will take nearly a week martin plans to be here to see all of it. it's a difficult time for him and his daughters. well yes well both here at c b o c forty seven he doesn't want any strangers around the house right now. who can only see what you want. it's still not clear whether the remains of martin's brother will be found here. but witnesses say that he and four others were buried at this location. the d.n.a. tests will be carried out later to try to determine the identity of the remains. of . the spanish civil war took place from one thousand nine hundred thirty six to nine hundred thirty nine martina now was just a child at the time but his memories of the war is still clear. in the future there will be a revenue if you prefer on july eighteenth one thousand nine hundred thirty six it was quieter in our village absolutely it was a saturday at all the young people went dancing. and they were just enjoying life or north of the we heard about the right wing coup against the republican government. but that was so far away from us that the form that. said i give i don't get morning july nineteenth. the restrict clarges in our area and in this in my two brothers and song their friends have been not sleeping in the fields. and when they came back on july twenty third the police arrested them yes yes i mean you could hear. the bodies of an estimated one hundred fourteen thousand civil war victims still live in anonymous scribes. a federal law passed in two thousand and seven includes provisions for the bodies to be identified and properly buried but government funding is in short supply so private groups like our rico have stepped in to try to fill the gap with support from don't. nations are eco seeks to preserve the memory of the victims and to recover they were minus. plus over the period pena's grandfather and a great uncle were buried in anonymous graves. period her husband miguel the director of arica filed a number of lawsuits taking the case all the way to the european court for human rights. in twenty sixteen a spanish court finally ruled that the exhumations could take place. we fought for twelve years to get that decision. and even though permission has been granted for the exhumations we have no idea when they're going to start i mean i mean. there were no. doubt that we have no information at all. all we can do is hope. that the father. where now northwest of madrid at the via de lost. its name means valley of the fall and the site contains the remains of many civil war victims from both sides the dictator francisco franco is also buried here the memorial often attracts right wing demonstrators. was. historian and activist antonio gomez wants spain to deal openly and honestly with its divisive and violent past gomez supports the recent decision by the spanish government to move franco's grave to another location. he says this memorial should honor only the victims of the spanish civil war. this is the famous or infamous they lost the evils i'm going to feel that it has the tallest cross in the christian world at about one hundred fifty meters as the basilica was carved into the rock face almost little by little franco is buried here but this is also the biggest mass grave in spain. about thirty three thousand civil war victims are interred here supporters of the republic were buried anonymously in missions in the basilica the mushrooming franco claimed that this is a place of reconciliation. but it's not it's an insult to those spaniards who fought for freedom and democracy. or will forgive. those is a fascist monument it is come to represent the divisions in our country. it's a disgrace to spain and to europe for us they want their move. many spaniards see this side as a monument to a dictator who ordered the torture and execution of hundreds of thousands of his opponents who work on the project began in one thousand nine hundred forty and took eighteen years to complete some reports say much of the structure was built using forced labor including political prisoners. this video was shot by a tourist using a hidden camera it shows the interior of the basilica it cost the spanish government about a million euros a year to maintain a memorial. a benedictine abbey on the site receives a share of that maintenance money the monks fear that if franco's body is moved elsewhere that funding may be cut side they've blocked the proposal. here antonio gomez meets a colleague who is a fellow member of a rope or leica a spanish association that advocates the separation of church and state. and they're planning to confront the benedictine at about his opposition to moving franco's body out of via dallas chi dos. but the abbot refuses to meet them. we return to madrid. antonio gomez has an appointment with maria another member of. they plan to attend a rally organized by political conservatives and talk to some of the demonstrators . parliament's decision to move franco's remains has divided the country and emotions are running high. conservatives and franco's descendants oppose the plan liberals say that franco's remains should not be kept in the same place as those of the victims of. the demonstration is being held at the plaza cologne in central madrid. many of the participants want socialist prime minister pedro sanchez to resign. that. many of these people support franco's legacy. antonio and maria want to find out more about the demonstrate his political views. it was a little bit like the spain has so many problems right now that you know why should we focus on the past. no matter how much we talk about it we can change it take us if that match at the base about franco's to load and labor strikes unemployment low wages and low pension us those are the problems that we should deal with and that's all that i would go but i do know that if i can go to spain should focus on the living not the dead you know. we shouldn't spend hundreds of thousands of euros digging up the past it was you know that there were some other funny that instils was but what would you say if your own relatives have been buried anonymously in mass graves will the sound was just filled with. an estimated five hundred thousand civilians were killed in the spanish civil war. two hundred thousand others died in a campaign of the. oppression carried out by franco's government after the war ended. was i in one nine hundred seventy seven parliament approved a law that declared an amnesty for those who committed crimes during the civil war and lyta under franco's regime. was that that was the next catalyst what's your opinion on moving franco's remains but i did say this isn't a video of the bayani arrow's qaida is a sacred place when dead is dead for the year left or right don't act as though the only victims were leftists but it is not the idea that for the return of the office if. i the francisco franco national foundation was founded shortly after the dictator's death in one thousand nine hundred seventy six to promote a positive interpretation of his legacy at the foundation's office we asked the organizations director one charter or take whether this wasn't like having a hitler foundation in germany. you know even if you're from the there's a fundamental difference fiddler lost his war. and you destroyed germany franco got one of his war and he helped to lead spain to great there's. a lot of good. he'd live here he was an atheist franco was a catholic let me finish you simply can't compare these two situations as this but yes yes there were no more civilian deaths are concerned what was it how many germans died in world war two with the same account of the bundle of money more ten million or among them give me honest and imposing six million dollars this biased i was on the screen we're talking about an estimated two hundred fifty thousand civilians who died in the civil war and then there were these are my numbers of mass graves is nothing but lies. paunchy child or take underestimated the number of civilians who were killed in the civil war the number is actually closer to five hundred thousand and the question of how to deal with this bloody chapter of history continues to divide spanish society. at the cemetery in the excavators have made their first find. the bones were lying just a few centimeters below the surface. that indicates that the body was buried quickly. but it will be weeks before lebron salts can confirm whether martin arnold's brother roman was buried here. i don't think. some of the younger volunteers have taken a real interest in the civil war and its consequences. when they were on board one way but like us and spanish society as a whole have a duty to deal with what happened when the lot of people who fought and died for a better world deserved dignity for the irish i'm doing what i can hear. we won't be able to identify all of the victims europe but we're going to try for a bit of it but at the heart of. most spaniards believe that franco was a dictator. but many say that he was more moderate and less cruel than some others and they point out that spain's economy grew under franco's leadership. but in recent years many spaniards have adopted a more critical view. last year many madrid residents joined the city's mayor to demand that franco era symbols be removed and that some street names be changed but the franco foundation got a court order to stop the move later some of the street names were changed after a higher court overturned the original order there were plans to read barry franco in his hometown and for all include c.r. it was hoped this would also help stop pilgrimages to his grave but his grandchildren want him to be interred with full military honors at large in a cathedral in central madrid and tonio gomez hopes that doesn't happen there squatting that any of it in spain has been a democracy for more than four decades. and during that time franco's graven via data has been maintained by the catholic church here and now some say it should be moved to the cathedral in madrid opposite the royal palace. that would be a disaster especially for the government. of course the church thinks it's a great idea and franco's regime could not have stayed in power without the support of the catholic church. the cathedral stands just south of the royal palace franco lived at the palace for a time after the civil war. after their interviews at the rally antonio and maria stopped for coffee. and tonio is researching the relationship between franco's government and the catholic church the church is the second largest property in spain after the federal government and antonio is preparing a report on its assets the church supported franco and in return acquired considerable new powers. when he was little. other would that go financial need here the catholic church in spain is an earthly kingdom that's worth billions of dollars there but church lost its privileges during the second republican the one nine hundred thirty s. but its support for franco soon paid off. in one thousand thirty seven the bishops announced that the civil war was a christian crusade in return franco approved legislation that allowed the church to register public buildings as private property for a small fee of all the bishops had to do was sign a few papers as i was going to have it that happened here with the church of st barbara. thousand other building. in fiasco motivated to leave the city on. the church's real estate portfolio is not limited to places of worship it also includes apartment blocks. antonio gomez says that here in the archdiocese of our villa the church owns up to two thirds of all property. some left wing city governments have questioned whether the church should own that much real estate church officials have promised to make a public inventory of their properties but that hasn't happened yet. antonio has come to the office of the archdiocese of madrid to find out more about its real estate holdings officials declined comment but said he could submit a written request. antonio returns to the over a polite office to work on his church report. but his colleague solidarity lou prayer arrives with news about a controversial decision. well and hi antonio. when on the stand it's an outrage have you heard what happened. yet still not know what was there let's talk today like go. on that that was the prosecutors had demanded an eleven year prison sentence. but now the court has ruled that the statute of limitations has run out. dr eduardo villa was the first person to stand trial for his part in one of the most notorious crimes of the franco iraq over more than four decades tens of thousands of newborn babies were taken from their parents many of whom were opponents of the regime and then placed with pro franco families the practice continued is an illegal trafficking network until the nineteen eighties in which doctors lawyers and the catholic church took part. in court eduardo villa denied any wrongdoing solid adds twin brother was one of the babies that was taken away much she's still trying to find him. i mean this seems stunning and i'm just astonished at the court's decision. i have to face in the rule of law you know and when the i said this was a crime against humanity that there should be no statute of limitations on such crimes. cannot escape. and i say once again the catholic church is involved in criminal activity with remember judicial system keeps covering it up everything because look. there. was. many of those who survived persecution by the franco regime and now dead every thursday appointed those all square in madrid their relatives gather and demand that the perpetrators be brought to justice. was it. the photographs he depict those who disappeared joined the franco era. pool reload has his grandfather was one of the victims. were not then he really didn't get involved in politics but if you didn't actively support franco you were considered a red. in my grandfather was executed and that left my grandmother to support four children on her own. the youngest was five and the oldest was eleven at and no one had pussy for them in the village to the contrary that franco's men shave the heads of women who were married to leftists who would smell the liquid over them and paraded them like that through the streets leftists and their families were terrified back then because of the atrocities that were committed that they were too frightened to even talk about it and that was the start of the great sinus and then you know i grew up believing that my grandfather had died fighting in the civil huo but decades later my father told me the truth son no. i will not that i'm allowed out for ten years piri has been trying to recover his grandfather's remains i mean what else spain has the second largest number of disappeared people in the world after cambodia. and this is in europe well you know much more of those split out. of the barrel shape of the us i. mean imprisoned for six days. but the perpetrators still haven't been arrested or cornish to. shield over the state can afford subsidies for all kinds of things but it does nothing for us victims the survivors of the dead. and all the you would is demanded that the bodies of the victims from both sides big soon. and given a proper burial at state expense. but that hasn't happened yet or rather the good out got through until. at least they've made a start here in western. much in the now is convinced that his brother's remains will be found here right now he's checking a list of those in his village who were executed and he's surprised that almost no one from the village has come here today to observe the exhumation work up. of. any remains that are correctly identified will be given a proper burial lifestyle. that will have. a filmmaker named marco is making a video recording of the exhumation work marco and miguel kappa pay director of the nation for victims of repression had hoped that some members of the spanish media would be here today to cover this story of. american that i'm talking more like an idea that is so typical of you know local press coverage at all and out of the we have a t.v. crew from germany with us today but there's not a spanish reporter in sight. i studied history when i was at university but they taught us almost nothing about twentieth century spain going to. nothing about the civil war or the repression as you were looking for the anonymous graves. if today people just aren't aware of what happened back then so they can't relate to it and what they go unnoticed that they think it was their grandfather's war and that it has nothing to do with them again the focus i don't know they just don't know that i would only know. the remains of the dead cannot speak to us talking about what they can bear witness to what took place at that time. and she didn't ask even and only worming uncover all the details about that period in our history by a so you know i don't doubt that it will be able to say the civil war is finally over . climate change. sustainability. environmental measures. give globalization the face biodiversity species conservation exploitation. human rights displacement. the global inquired of local action. global three thousand and thirty minutes on d w. t cowen goes eco fashion. calls made from trash. trendy colors from bacteria. and may not mass produce. sustainable ethical and that's beautiful fashion. ninety minutes long double. the city in ruins morrow a. symbol of a long conflict in the philippines. between the muslims and the christian population. last night as fighters occupied the city's central seventeen president detergents response was told. by the guitarist will never again book called. the reconquest turned into tragedy. is not the kind of freedom that we want. how. when you become a gateway to islamist terror i think the sorry got under more scrutiny as the universal and exclusive report from a destroyed city. philippines. starts april eleventh long t w. player. play. good player. played . this is d w news live from berlin turkey's president suffering a low and local election the opposition celebrates as it gains control of the capital on the commercial capital is some bone book set to fall out what does it mean for president arun awad and for the future of the country. also coming up she could have faced death.

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