Belchite ou l’impossible dark tourism de la guerre civile espagnole

BELCHITE OR THE IMPOSSIBLE “DARK TOURISM” OF THE SPANISH CIVIL WAR

After being destroyed during the war, the former village of Belchite was preserved in ruins, beside the new one which was built after the war. The memorial site has been the core of an intense activity, either patriotic or touristic, for several years, from the Franco period until now. Nevertheless, during the democratic transition (1975-1982), it was very complicated to find a meaning for these ruins. This highlights the very real contradictions of the Spanish Civil War as well as the impossibility of using such traces for memorial purposes.

Key words: democratic transition, memory of the francoism, ruins, Spanish civil war.