Appendix. Spanish Historical Memory Act

Summary

Act 52/2007, of 26 December, to recognise and broaden rights and to establish measures in favour of those who suffered persecution or violence during the Civil War and the Dictatorship.

BOE No. 310, pp. 53410–53416. 27 December 2007.

Explanation of Reasons

The spirit of reconciliation and harmony and of respect for pluralism and peaceful defence of all ideas which guided the Transition, enabled the establishment of a Constitution for us, that of 1978, which legally expressed the desire of Spaniards for reunification, forming a social and democratic state of law with the clear wish for integration.

Thus the spirit of the Transition gives meaning to this constitutional model offering the most fruitful co-existence that we Spaniards have ever enjoyed and it also explains the various measures and rights which have been recognised over time from the very beginning of the entire democratic era, for the benefit of those persons who, for the decades prior to the Constitution, suffered the consequences of our devastating civil war and the dictatorship that succeeded it.

Notwithstanding that legislative effort, there still remain initiatives which should be adopted to give effect and a definitive response to the demands of those citizens, presented both through parliament and through various civic associations. These constitute legitimate and just demands to which our democracy, calling again upon that founding spirit of harmony and in the context of the Constitution, cannot fail to respond.

Therefore, this Law addresses the matters stated by the Constitutional Commission of Congress of Deputies which unanimously approved a motion on 20^th November 2002 in which the representative organ of the people affirmed that “no-one should be able to feel that it is legitimate, as it has been in the past, to use violence as a means to impose political beliefs and to establish totalitarian regimes contrary to the liberty and dignity of all citizens, and to do so merits condemnation and repudiation by our democratic society”.