BULLET HOLES AND BOISTEROUS CHILDREN IN BARCELONA. One of the most moving moments for me during my time in Europe occurred when we took an impromptu stop at a small plaza in Barcelona’s central city. The plaza serves as a playground for school children. On this day, at noontime, they were playing with a soccer ball, playing tag and vocalizing their joy with noisy laughter and chit-chat. I noticed holes in the stone walls that surrounded the plaza, and asked the tour guide if he knew how the holes were there. He told a story that was amazing. The holes were caused by bullets and other violent projectiles. The Spanish dictator Francisco Franco used this plaza as a place for executions of his enemies. Franco deliberately held the executions in this plaza so school children could bear witness to his ruthlessness. He wanted to deliver a message to Spain’s children. This is what happens to enemies of Francisco Franco. Franco was dictator of Spain from 1939 until his death in 1975. Spain experienced tumult in its government, starting in 1931, which eventually resulted in the Spanish Civil War. As Spain’s attempt to establish democratic government collapsed in 1936 and war ensued, pitting Franco and his fascist forces against the Popular Front. Franco had the support of the monarchy, as well as Hitler and Mussolini. The Popular Front was supported by leftist democrats, socialists and communists. In effect, the Spanish Civil War was a prelude to World War II. The war resulted in an estimated 500,000 deaths. Upon achieving victory in 1939, Franco initiated a regime characterized by repression, including concentration camps, forced labor and executions. Franco’s era of repression resulted in some 300,000 deaths in his concentration camps and firing squads. The children who attended school during Franco’s reign of terror witnessed his carnage. In addition to firing squads, Franco’s air force occasionally fired upon unfortunate dissidents placed in the plaza and marked for death. Such scenes are both debilitating and inspiring. No matter how many tyrants impose their violent quest for authority on the people, the people somehow survive. Children’s laughter and relentless joy shouts defiantly for freedom and liberty, generation after generation, while the dictators lay in their graves as corpses, one no more significant than the other. The common man despises oppression, and even if he never experiences liberty and joy in his own lifetime, he can always hope that his children and descendants will do so – bullet holes in the walls or not.
Posted on: Sat, 03 Jan 2015 01:43:49 +0000
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