Spain under Franco

The culture destroyer.

There is no doubt that life in Spain during the Franco years was miserable; one of his greatest crimes was dragging back the culture that the country had to the Middle Ages by banning most of the artists/ writers to exile if you were lucky to escape. Some like Federico Lorca (shown above) were executed like dogs, his body has never been found. The exception to this rule is Salvador Dali who thrived during this period.

There are two stories called El Hombre Oculto, one tells of a man who hid in house for the period until Franco died, still believing someone would betray though his family told him that people no longer cared about what he was doing. The other is about a man who hid in a cellar under his house until Franco died.

Very few of the ones fortunate to afford the price of an escape returned, if you were in your 20's you would have been at least in your late 50's when Franco died, and what would you come back to; a country you don't recognise? If you were in that life, most of your friends in the literary circles would have either been shot, or still be in hiding afraid to come out.