Fear of one's own past

Baltasar Garzón, a judge at the High Penal Court in Spain, is examining whether the crimes committed during the Spanish Civil War and under Franco's dictatorship can be subjected to a court inquiry despite the general amnesty law passed in 1977. Historian Ángel Viñas comments on the negative attitude of the majority of Spanish society towards this project: "What is it in Spain's past that must remain concealed at all cost? What does a democracy that is so proud of being such have to hide? ... Have our genes programmed us to be incapable of confronting the past? The South Africans, the Chileans, the Argentineans and the Russians, to name just a few, leave us Spanish, who were so proud of our exemplary transition [from dictatorship to democracy], standing empty-handed. ... Will the fundamentals [of our society] start to falter if the extent and depth of the repression under Franco during the Civil War and the establishment of the dictatorship are documented? The answer is no."

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