History For Sale
We continue with the exaltation and veneration of a figure in our country's history we would do well to put in his actual place, as a loathsome parentheses that held off the dragging of Spain into the modern world. Franco should be understood as a power hungry thief spawned by a civil war. Instead, his descendants were allowed to keep their ill-begotten riches, and are still mentioned with reverence, such as when his only daughter, Carmen Franco y Polo, died at the end of last year. Her passing should not have been news, simply a note in encyclopedias.
Her passing means her children are now settling the, lengthy, inheritance. Among some of the riches is the Pazo de Meirás, in Sada. I wrote about how Franco really stole it from the original owner's daughters, Emilia Pardo Bazán, for their intention had been to donate it to a Jesuit community, in In Perpetuity. Now, Franco's grandchildren apparently want to put the property up for sale, rather than give it back to the community that wants it for the public to see and enjoy where an important writer and woman once lived.
First, they wouldn't open the doors to the public as they were obliged to by law, since the pazo is a property of cultural interest. Then, they gave the visitor management over to the Francisco Franco Foundation, which wanted the visitors to the pazo to take note of the greatness of our former dictator, and all his achievements, apart from making appointments to visit on certain days only. Now, they plan to sell it for eight million euros.
For that purpose, they contacted a luxury real estate company. On its web page, the company has made a singular sales pitch, using an old documentary from 1966, showing the dictator at home in the pazo.
I can just imagine if the ruins of Hitler's Bavarian home, the Berghof, were sold off with just such a video speaking of the "History of Germany." Ah, but in Germany any praise of Hitler or his atrocities is forbidden by law. I've always thought that Spain's curse was that Franco died in his bed, and was never defeated, like Hitler, Mussolini, or even Marcelo Caetano of Portugal, who died in exile.
Instead, we have Franco's political inheritors, who still venerate him, and will not speak ill of him. And like Franco and his ministers, these politicians still put their hand in the till as if it belonged to them. Spain is one of the most corrupt countries in Europe. Yet it seems the only problem, for the government, is Catalunya's clumsy attempt at independence. And one of Spain's jewels of literary history is being auctioned off as a symbol of one of Spain's darkest periods. And nothing will be done about it. But, please, let's just wrap ourselves up in the flag to show how much we love our country.
Her passing means her children are now settling the, lengthy, inheritance. Among some of the riches is the Pazo de Meirás, in Sada. I wrote about how Franco really stole it from the original owner's daughters, Emilia Pardo Bazán, for their intention had been to donate it to a Jesuit community, in In Perpetuity. Now, Franco's grandchildren apparently want to put the property up for sale, rather than give it back to the community that wants it for the public to see and enjoy where an important writer and woman once lived.
First, they wouldn't open the doors to the public as they were obliged to by law, since the pazo is a property of cultural interest. Then, they gave the visitor management over to the Francisco Franco Foundation, which wanted the visitors to the pazo to take note of the greatness of our former dictator, and all his achievements, apart from making appointments to visit on certain days only. Now, they plan to sell it for eight million euros.
For that purpose, they contacted a luxury real estate company. On its web page, the company has made a singular sales pitch, using an old documentary from 1966, showing the dictator at home in the pazo.
I can just imagine if the ruins of Hitler's Bavarian home, the Berghof, were sold off with just such a video speaking of the "History of Germany." Ah, but in Germany any praise of Hitler or his atrocities is forbidden by law. I've always thought that Spain's curse was that Franco died in his bed, and was never defeated, like Hitler, Mussolini, or even Marcelo Caetano of Portugal, who died in exile.
Instead, we have Franco's political inheritors, who still venerate him, and will not speak ill of him. And like Franco and his ministers, these politicians still put their hand in the till as if it belonged to them. Spain is one of the most corrupt countries in Europe. Yet it seems the only problem, for the government, is Catalunya's clumsy attempt at independence. And one of Spain's jewels of literary history is being auctioned off as a symbol of one of Spain's darkest periods. And nothing will be done about it. But, please, let's just wrap ourselves up in the flag to show how much we love our country.
Comments
Post a Comment