Editing Valley of the Fallen (section)

==Controversy==
{{further|Symbols of Francoism|Pact of Forgetting}}
Presenting the monument in a politically neutral way poses a number of problems, not least of which is the strength of opposing opinions on the issue. ''The Times'' quoted [[Jaume Bosch (politician)|Jaume Bosch]], a Catalan politician and former MP seeking to change the monument,{{clarify|date=November 2014}} as saying: "I want what was in reality [[Francoist concentration camps|something like a Nazi concentration camp]] to stop being a nostalgic place of [[pilgrimage]] for Francoists. Inevitably, whether we like it or not, it's part of our history. We don't want to pull it down, but the Government has agreed to study our plan."<ref>{{cite news |url=http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/article501803.ece |title=Spain reclaims Franco's shrine |newspaper=[[Times Online]] (subscription only) |access-date=29 July 2014}}{{dead link|date=September 2024|bot=medic}}{{cbignore|bot=medic}}</ref>

The charge that the monument site was "like a Nazi concentration camp" refers to the use of [[convict labour]], including Republican prisoners, who traded their labour for a [[Commutation (law)|reduction]] in [[time served]]. Although Spanish law prohibited the use of [[slave labour]] at the time, it did provide for convicts to choose voluntary work on the basis of redeeming two days of conviction for each day worked. This law remained in force until 1995. This benefit was increased to six days when labour was carried out at the basilica with a salary of 7 pesetas per day, a regular worker's salary at the time, with the possibility that the family of the convict would benefit from the housing and Catholic children's schools that were built in the valley for them by the other workers. Only convicts with a record of good behaviour would qualify for this redemption scheme, because the work site was considered to be a low security environment. The motto used by the Nationalist government was "''el trabajo ennoblece''" ("work ennobles").{{citation needed|date=November 2022}}

It is claimed that by 1943 the number of prisoners who were working at the site reached close to six hundred.<ref>{{cite news |first=César |last=Vidal |title=How the Cross of the Fallen was constructed |url=http://revista.libertaddigital.com/como-se-realizo-la-cruz-de-los-caidos-108.html |newspaper=[[Libertad Digital]] |language=es |date=22 October 2000 |access-date=29 July 2014}}</ref> It is also claimed that up to 20,000 prisoners were used for the overall construction of the monument and that forced labour was used.<ref>{{cite news |title=Spain's 'monstrosity' remembering Franco era |work=European Jewish Press |url=http://www.ejpress.org/article/news/4262 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100124043715/http://www.ejpress.org/article/news/4262 |archive-date=24 January 2010 |access-date=20 June 2019 |date=17 November 2005}}</ref> According to the official programme records, 2,643 workers directly participated in the construction, and some of them were highly skilled, as was required by the complexity of the work. 243 of these were convicts. During the eighteen-year construction period, the official tally of workers who died as a result of accidents totalled fourteen.<ref>{{cite news |first=Virginia |last=Ródenas |url=http://www.abc.es/20090914/nacional-nacional/fundacion-francisco-franco-convocara-20090914.html |title=La Fundación Francisco Franco no convocará más funerales el 20-N en el Valle de los Caídos |newspaper=[[ABC (newspaper)|ABC]] |language=es |date=15 September 2008 |access-date=29 July 2014 |location=Madrid |publisher=[[Vocento]]}}</ref>

The socialist Spanish government of 2004–2011 instituted a statewide policy of removal of Francoist symbols from public buildings and spaces, leading to an uneasy relationship with a monument that is the most conspicuous legacy of Franco's rule. Political rallies in celebration of Franco are now banned by the Historical Memory Law, voted on by the [[Congress of Deputies (Spain)|Congress of Deputies]] on 16 October 2007. This law dictated that "the management organisation of the Valley of the Fallen should aim to honour the memory of all of those who died during the civil war and who suffered repression".<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.congreso.es/public_oficiales/L8/CONG/BOCG/A/A_099-22.PDF |work=Boletín Oficial de las [[Cortes Generales]] |publisher=[[Congreso de los Diputados]] |language=es |date=16 October 2007 |access-date=20 June 2019 |issue=99–22 |title=Informe de la ponencia. Por la que se reconocen y amplían derechos y se establecen medidas en favor de quienes padecieron persecución o violencia durante la Guerra Civil y la Dictadura. |pages=172–184}}</ref> It has been suggested that the Valley of the Fallen be re-designated as a "monument to Democracy" or as a memorial to all Spaniards killed in conflict "for Democracy".<ref>{{cite news |title=Unknown Title |newspaper=[[Times Online]] (subscription only) |url=http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/article430380.ece |access-date=20 June 2019}}{{dead link|date=September 2024|bot=medic}}{{cbignore|bot=medic}}</ref> Some organisations, among them centrist Catholic groups, question the purpose of these plans, on the basis that the monument is already dedicated to all of the dead, civilian and military of both Nationalist and Republican sides.{{citation needed|date=November 2022}} The [[Democratic Memory Law]] of October 2022 envisaged the future of the Valley of the Fallen as a civil cemetery. As Primo de Rivera had required a Catholic burial, his family arranged for his body be exhumed from the Valley in April 2023 and reburied in [[Saint Isidore Cemetery]] in Madrid.<ref name="jones">{{cite news| last=Jones | first=Sam | title=Body of Spain's fascist party founder to be removed from basilica |newspaper=The Guardian | date=23 April 2023 | url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/apr/23/body-of-spains-fascist-party-founder-to-be-removed-from-basilica }}</ref>