Plundering Back the Plunder: Attempts at Repatriating the Remains of Antonio Machado under Francoism

Abstract

In the Franco dictatorship (1939-1975) the idea of "intellectual" went far beyond an individual or social group to become a cultural consciousness with deep political content, thus it remained at the centre of conflicts within the ruling coalition. The figure of Antonio Machado focused like no other these conflicts of symbolism and legitimacy between political projects both within the regime, and
between this and the anti-Franco opposition in exile and, increasingly, at home. Hence the interest of the regime in the repatriation of the remains of the poet, buried in France, which was frustrated by the opposition of his family, but also by the ambiguity of these attempts at appropriation by the Franco regime. In the present text, these attempts to transfer the remains of Antonio Machado are analysed through hitherto.