This Wednesday, Pedro Sánchez began the cycle of commemorative events for the 50 years since the death of the dictator Francisco Franco and the beginning of the Spanish Transition. The event, which was held at the Reina Sofía Museum in Madrid, marks the beginning of a hundred activities that will take place throughout 2025 to remember the five decades of democracy and freedom in Spain.
According to the government websitethe objective of “Spain in freedom. 50 years” is to “remember and celebrate the important advances achieved in the last five decades, pay tribute to the many social groups and institutions that have made them possible and transmit the value of democracy at a time when it shows signs of retreat in much of the West.” There is an extensive program of activities that will include conferences, exhibitions, audiovisual screenings and other initiatives. Here, a compilation of the most relevant ones.
January:
- Presentation of the annual film cycle at the Spanish Film Library: The director of the Spanish Film Archive, Valeria Camporesi, will inaugurate the special programming to commemorate 50 years of democracy in Spain, which will address topics such as freedom of expression, gender equality, social movements and sexual diversity, among others. Every month a film series will take place at the Cine Doré in Madrid.
- The exhibition “Art in the fight for freedom. Celebrating the Spanish Constitution of 1978”: celebrates social advances through the plastic arts, with works by 35 prominent artists such as Juan Genovés, Forges and Joan Fontcuberta. Admission is free with prior reservation and will be available until March 21 at the Congress of Deputies.
- 600th anniversary of the gypsy people in Spain: On January 12, 2025, activities will begin to celebrate the 600th anniversary of the documented presence of the Gypsy people in the Iberian Peninsula.
- Presentation of the Scientific Committee and the Meetings and Congresses Program: On Thursday, January 16, the President of the Government will receive the Scientific Committee of the cycle and academics in Moncloa. In addition, it will also announce the call for awards for the best research works on the Franco dictatorship and the country’s transformations.
February:
- Presentation of RTVE documentary series The conquest of democracy: directed by Nicolás Sartorius, highlights the fundamental role of social movements in the conquest of democracy.
- Launch of the National Competition among ESO and Baccalaureate students Spain in Freedom. 50 years: The Ministry of Education launches a contest for students to reflect on the repression of the dictatorship and rights in democracy through different modalities of creativity.
- Presentation to the educational community of the resource on democratic memory Friend, realize: presented by the Ministry of Equality, is a geolocation project and an interactive map that makes visible spaces linked to the Democratic Memory of women in Spain.
March
- Celebration ceremony for achieving equality between men and women: An event will be held in Granada, preceded by work with educational centers and feminist activists, promoted by the Women’s Institute and the Secretary of State for Equality and the Eradication of Gender Violence.
- Tribute act to the Democratic Women’s Movement: in Madrid, with testimonies from the protagonists.
- Colloquium Francoism and women. from subordination to the conquest of spaces: Coordinated by Ángela Cenarro and Miguel Ángel Ruiz Carnicer, it will be held at the University of Zaragoza on March 24 and 25, addressing various presentations on the situation of women during the Franco regime and their resistance.
- Colloquium: The Franco regime and its supports: coordinated by Julián Sanz and Ismael Saz, will be held at the University of Valencia on March 27 and 28, with presentations on political, economic, ecclesiastical and military support for the Franco regime.
April:
- Exhibition “The wandering body: so many ways to say goodbye, so many ways to survive” Casa América (Madrid): presents visual and documentary stories about the memory of those who lost the war, collected by the group Maps of Memory in Ciudad Real.
- Exhibition “Portugal-Spain: 50 years of Culture and Democracy”: at the Documentary Center of Historical Memory of Salamanca.
- Colloquium: “Opposition knots in the fight against the dictatorship”: coordinated by Carme Molinero and Pere Ysàs, will be held at the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona on April 9, addressing dissidence and opposition to Francoism from various political and cultural perspectives.
- Participation in the events commemorating the liberation of the Buchenwald camp: The Ministry of Territorial Policy and Democratic Memory will participate in the events of the 80th anniversary of the liberation of Buchenwald, which will include a concert by Lina Tur Bonet and visits by high school students to Nazi concentration camps, coordinated by the Amical de Mauthausen.
May:
- Exhibition “Democracy on the walls: Murals, graffiti and post-1968 graffiti. Spain-Portugal” (Cáceres): shows how murals and graffiti during the Transition reflected the fight for democracy and social transformation in Spain and Portugal.
- Presentation of the study 40 Years of Equality Policies. Main advances in terms of equality between women and men: organized by the Women’s Institute.
- Tribute to the victims of the Spanish republican exile (Gijón): organized by the Secretary of State for Democratic Memory.
- Events celebrating the liberation of the Mauthausen camp: It will be celebrated on May 15 with events and visits by 300 secondary school students to concentration camps, coordinated by the Amical de Mauthausen.
June:
- International Conference “Educating in freedom. Europe and Latin America”: at Casa América and Centro Sefarad Israel with the collaboration of the OEI (Madrid).
- Celebrating diversity: Events will be held in Madrid on advances in diversity, in collaboration with the General Directorate of Sexual Diversity, the Ministry of Equality, the Ministry of Inclusion, ORGULLO MADRID and the Zerolo Foundation.
- Inauguration of the Exhibition 1975 – 2005: From the dictatorship to equal rights – 20 years of Equal marriage and the legacy of Pedro Zerolo: The exhibition at the Arkhé Archive and Exhibition Center in Madrid will trace the evolution of the repression of homosexuality during the Franco dictatorship until the achievement of equal marriage in 2005.
July:
- Exhibition: Foreign correspondents in the Spanish War: at UNESCO headquarters (Paris, France).
- Meeting with journalist Elena Lázaro Real: around the work Feminism and Sex. Celia Amorós Prize for Feminist Essay (2022).
August:
- Women’s Institute Comic: dissemination of an interactive comic to learn about the lives of women during the Franco dictatorship within the Amiga realize it initiative.
- Participation in the events commemorating the liberation of Paris
September:
- Commemorative events for Spain’s 50 years of freedom at the Spanish Embassy in Washington and at the Cervantes Institute in New York.
- Exhibition “We, the Europeans. Feminism and democratic memory in the construction of Europe”: The exhibition, curated by Máriam Martínez-Bascuñán, addresses European democratic memory understood as feminist memory, configuring a space and an experience of vindication of European values and rediscovery of the role of women in the construction of the EU.
- Didactic units on women and repression: Dissemination of teaching units on places of democratic memory of women and associated with The lost lettersdocumentary about women retaliated by Franco’s regime.
October:
- Great event to celebrate the internationalization of Spain: Act to highlight and celebrate the advances in the internationalization of Spain and its integration into Europe through young people, such as with the Erasmus Program.
- “Culture and democracy” Festival in Barcelona and Madrid: Great event to celebrate and highlight the role of culture in the construction of Spanish democracy in collaboration with the Ministry of Culture.
- Colloquium “Sahara. Memory of an unfinished decolonization”: will take place at the University of Huelva on the 16th and 17th.
November:
- Great act for freedom: Great act around the conquest of freedom and democracy.
- Independent Theater Encounters during Francoism and its legacy: will take place at the Documentation Center for the Performing Arts and Music.
- Beginning of the traveling exhibition “Spain in freedom. 50 years”: Based on the production of a large exhibition on current Spanish history, traveling replicas will be produced for each province, with an important interactive and digital component, which will tour schools and institutes throughout Spain.
December:
- Spanish Film Archive Film Series: will take place at the Cine Doré in Madrid.
- Celebration of rights achieved: Events in different places in the territory in collaboration with different ministries to highlight and celebrate the universalization of rights.
- Awards ceremony for the research contest on Francoism, transition and democracy: Awarding of prizes for theses, research articles, and journalistic reports.
In addition to these acts, the Government plans to incorporate thirty files to declare places of memory, as established in the Democratic Memory Law. Some of the chosen spaces are the Yeserías prison (Madrid), the tomb of Manuel Azaña in Montauban (France), the Pazo de Meirás, the island of San Simón, the port and market of the city of Alicante or the Police Station of Via Laietana (Barcelona).
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