It was only at the end of the last century that descendants of the dead who fought for the losing Republican side began to search for their forebears. Because so many decades had passed, the few who cared to ask questions were the victims’ grandchildren. They were generally inspired by the mourners of the South American dictatorships of the 1970s, with some major differences . In Latin America, mothers searched for their disappeared sons and daughters. Military governments often left a legacy of discontent and increased inequality in their countries; in Spain, on the other hand, a richer and more satisfied society prevailed, one that preferred not to revisit the past.

In 2007, a Socialist government enacted the Law of Historical Memory, which addressed the claims of the bereaved and forbade the use of Francoist names and symbols in streets and public squares, but the caudillo remained in his basilica. Some argued that the remains of a dictator should not rest at a public monument, but these objections were largely ignored. That is, until a little over a year ago, when the Socialist party gained power through a parliamentary maneuver and formed a provisional government.

What happens when the rights to historical truth and the identification of remains collide with the majority-held conviction that the hornet’s nest should not be shaken? What takes precedence in a democracy — justice or general will?

The party was in a precarious position. It didn’t have the power or the will to produce significant changes, and instead opted to remove Franco’s remains from his great mausoleum.

In response, his family sought and obtained the support of the Catholic Church to oppose the exhumation and fought to keep Franco under his giant cross. The process seemed to be stalled until a month ago, when the Supreme Court rejected all appeals and approved the removal of the remains and their transfer to the family pantheon, El Pardo, on the outskirts of Madrid — sufficiently removed not to be at risk of becoming a place of glorification of Franco or pilgrimage.