Making Public History of the Spanish Civil War: A Theoretical-Didactic Approach to the Case of the Air-Raid Shelters of Barcelona

Abstract

The public history of difficult pasts and their material legacies poses some dilemmas and challenges in terms of conceptualisation, methodology, practice and even ethics. Specifically, the didactic mediation of knowledge and memory of the Spanish Civil War (1936-1939) in public settings is the overarching subject of this article. To this end, the case study of the air-raid shelters of the city of Barcelona is discussed in light of different perspectives and academic traditions in the didactics of history. Finally, some conclusions are drawn on the social dissemination strategies and resources used to enhance the social visibility and didacticism of this underground heritage in the service of public history and collective memory .