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Thomas E. Ricks' daily take on national security.

Good for them

Spain is permitting the children and grandchildren of people who fled the country after the fascist victory in the 1930s civil war there to apply for citizenship. Spain should be applauded more broadly for the way it has carefully and steadily moved from fascism to liberal democracy over the last 33 years. So, Spaniards: Is ...

By , a former contributing editor to Foreign Policy.
590825_090101_franco2.jpg
590825_090101_franco2.jpg

Spain is permitting the children and grandchildren of people who fled the country after the fascist victory in the 1930s civil war there to apply for citizenship. Spain should be applauded more broadly for the way it has carefully and steadily moved from fascism to liberal democracy over the last 33 years.

Spain is permitting the children and grandchildren of people who fled the country after the fascist victory in the 1930s civil war there to apply for citizenship. Spain should be applauded more broadly for the way it has carefully and steadily moved from fascism to liberal democracy over the last 33 years.

So, Spaniards: Is it time to begin thinking about a museum of the Spanish Civil War? When I was there studying it earlier this year with a group from Johns Hopkins University’s School of Advanced International Studies we were amazed at how few historical markers had been erected. Spain needs something to balance Francisco Franco’s horrible batcave of a tomb north of Madrid (shown at left). It was built with the labor of political prisoners. One professor on the trip likened it to a “cathedral of death.”

Photo: PHILIPPE DESMAZES/AFP/Getty Images

 

Thomas E. Ricks is a former contributing editor to Foreign Policy. Twitter: @tomricks1

Read More On Europe | History | Spain

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