Mass graves of Estépar facts for kids

Estépar is a small village in Spain, located in the province of Burgos. During the Spanish Civil War, many people were killed there. These people were often buried together in what are called mass graves.

Hundreds of people who supported the Republican side are thought to have died in Estépar. Many of them had been held in Burgos, a nearby city. Burgos became the main base for the Francoist government after the war started in 1936. Prisoners were taken from Burgos, down the Arlanzon valley, to Estépar to be killed and buried.

In 2014, a group called the Association for the Recovery of Historical Memory dug up some of the remains of these victims.

Finding Out Who They Were

Since it started in 2000, the Association for the Recovery of Historical Memory has worked hard to identify the bodies they uncover. However, when they began digging at Estépar, the Spanish government, led by Mariano Rajoy, had stopped helping to pay for this work. The Association knew it would be very difficult to identify everyone at this site.

The work of identifying the victims was still going on in 2017. That year, 96 victims were buried again in the cemetery of Estépar. People hoped that DNA tests would help them find out more about who these people were.

Among the people believed to have been killed at Estépar, and who still need to be identified, are the composer Antonio José Martínez Palacios and his brother.

See also

• Spanish Civil War
• Mass grave