Salamanca Papers facts for kids
The Salamanca Papers (in Spanish: Papeles de Salamanca; in Catalan: Papers de Salamanca) are a large collection of about 300,000 documents and 1,000 photographs. These papers were taken from the Catalan government after the Spanish Civil War. They were moved in 12 train wagons to the city of Salamanca. There, they were kept in what became Spain's Civil War Archive.
Returning these documents to the Catalan regional government caused many disagreements in the 1990s and early 2000s. There were also some difficult moments when the papers were physically moved. In 2004, a special group of experts said the documents should go back to their rightful owners. The papers were finally returned in 2005.
More disagreements happened on April 9, 2021. On this date, the "Generalitat de Catalunya" (the Catalan government) moved over 20,000 more documents.
Why the Papers Were Collected
The story of the Civil War Archive began with a rule made on September 13, 1936. This rule stated that all documents and property from political groups that were against the "national movement" would belong to the Spanish State.
Other rules were added later to this first one. For example, on April 20, 1937, a unit was created to work against propaganda. It was called the Oficina de Investigación y Propaganda Anticomunista (OIPA). On May 29, 1937, another group was formed, the Delegación Nacional de Asuntos Especiales. Its job was to gather information about groups in the country. The goal was to create an archive to find and identify those seen as "enemies of the country."
Collecting documents in an organized way started after the city of Bilbao was taken. In 1938, Ramón Serrano Súñer, who was the Minister of the Interior, set up a new group. This group, called the Delegación del Estado para Recuperación de Documentos, began preparing documents. These papers were used for legal cases in military courts.
Another important group was the Delegación de Servicios Especiales. This group reported directly to General Franco's office. It was located in Salamanca, which was Franco's main headquarters during the war.
In 1944, because these two groups had similar jobs, they were combined. They became the Delegación Nacional de Servicios Documentales. This new group was part of the government's main office. Its main task was to create files for the many courts that existed under the government. These included general military courts and special courts that dealt with political responsibilities.
After Franco's death, the government's document services were closed down in 1977. In 1979, the entire collection was moved to the new Ministry of Culture. The National Historic Archive then created a special department just for these documents.
The Archivo General de la Guerra Civil Española, which holds these papers, was officially created in Salamanca in 1999.
Expert Committee's Decision
A group of experts, including Federico Mayor Zaragoza (who used to lead Unesco) and Professor Edward Malefakis from Columbia University, met to discuss the papers. In 2004, most of the 17 members (14 voted yes, 3 did not vote) agreed. They said it was "fair and right" that the documents should be given back to the Catalan regional government.
The official return of these documents to the Catalan authorities happened in 2005. A law (Law 21/2005) was passed to make this happen. This law also stated that within one year, a new state-owned document center would be set up in Salamanca. This new center is called the Centro Documental de la Memoria Histórica.
See also
In Spanish: Conflicto de los «papeles de Salamanca» para niños
