The Spanish Civil War in the mining regions of Utrillas, 85 years later: heritage and democratic memory

Abstract

The Battle of Alfambra is considered a second battle in Teruel. If in the first battle, the so-called Battle of Teruel, the loser was the Francoist army, in the second, with the help of the Italian aviation, the Francoist army gained a position in which the idea and strategy was to approach the capital of Turia, Valencia, which was the decision center of the Government of the Republic. Citizen life within the framework of the Battle of Alfambra marked a before and after, both in the economy and in the role of women and other peculiarities, a few days after the July 18 Uprising, always in the context of the Utrillas region. The end of the Spanish Civil War did not mean the end of violence, nor a return to normality. The new political system initiated on April 1, 1939 was based on the division between winners and losers, on the imposition of the values of the former and on the denial of the ideological and political principles of the latter: persecution of the maquis, with the new Law for the repression of Banditry and Terrorism in 1947. On the other hand, and previously, on February 15, 1939 and before the war ended, the Law for the purge of public officials and May 1, 1940, the Law for the repression of Freemasonry and Communism, among other laws that were approved throughout the First Franco regime.