Francoist concentration camps

In Francoist Spain between 1936 and 1947, concentration camps were created and coordinated by the Servicio de Colonias Penitenciarias Militarizadas. The first concentration camp was created by Francisco Franco on July 20 1936 and was located in the castle of El Hecho in Ceuta. The last concentration camp, located at Miranda del Ebro, was closed in 1947.

Inmates of these concentration camps were republican ex-combatants of the Spanish Republican Army, Spanish Republican Air Force or the Spanish Republican Navy, as well as political dissidents, homosexuals, and regular convicts. From 1940, the supervisor of these camps was the general Camilo Alonso Vega. The main function of the camps was to detain Republican prisoners of war. Those who were regarded as "unrecoverable" were shot.

The prisoners were used as forced labourers for reconstruction works (Belchite), to mine coal, extract mercury, build highways and dams, and dig canals. Furthermore, thousands were used in the construction of the Carabanchel Prison in the Valley of the Fallen and the Arco de la Victoria. Later their work was subcontracted to private companies and lawnowners, who used them to improve their properties.

More than 190 concentration camps, holding 170,000 prisoners in 1938 and between 367,000 and about half or less million prisoners when the war ended in 1939. All the camps were created during Spanish Civil War and a few were created in the following years. This is a partial list:

Alvarez Fernández, Jose Ignacio. Memoria y trauma en los testimonios de la represión franquista. Barcelona, Anthropos 2007.

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