Mallorca: 214 unidentified remains at Franco memorial
Palma, Mallorca: 214 unidentified remains now lie in a new memorial at Son Valentí cemetery. The Balearic Government opened the Columbari de la Dignitat on Monday, 28 September, to hold remains of victims of the Civil War and Franco’s repression recovered from graves across the Balearic Islands.
The remains of ten identified people will stay there permanently, including Aurora Picornell Femenias and Gabriel Picornell Femenias. The remains of Bartomeu Cabanellas Botia are there temporarily while his family decides what to do.
Relatives attended the opening. Antònia Maria Estarellas, the Balearic Government’s second vice-president, spoke of the conflicting feelings identification can bring: a family learns where someone they love is, but also that they were murdered and lay in a grave for decades.
The memorial was proposed by the Technical Commission for Missing Persons and Graves. During September, the Balearic Government’s Democratic Memory Service and staff from the municipal funeral company moved the remains from temporary burial niches in another cemetery building. They now rest in individual, labelled wooden boxes.
Renovating the chapel and crypt cost just over 98,000 euros, with a further just over 72,000 euros spent on the boxes. The cemetery already has a Wall of Memory and a Tree of Memory for victims of Franco’s repression. The opening ended with a minute’s silence and flowers laid inside the memorial.
Source: Europa Press / Mallorca.com