HISTAGRA collaborates in the making of the web series San Simón, the penitentiary colony

 

This documentary webseries is a different story about the island that became the symbol of Franco's violence, extermination and injustice. A historical glimpse that fuses animation with the interview genre. An innovative format to address the impact of the Spanish civil war and dictatorship on the lives of Galician men and women. Directed by Miguel Ángel Delgado in 2022, it counts on the advice of the HISTAGRA Group, as well as the interventions of Lourenzo Fernández Prieto, Antonio Miguez Macho, Conchi López, Xabier Buxeiro, Aldara Cidrás.

 

The web series consists of five chapters of 8-10 minutes where the beginning and consequences of Franco's violence in Galicia between 1936 and 1939 are narrated in an entertaining way.

 

 

Chapter 1: Life changes sign: How did the military uprising impact on Galician civil society in 1936?

The coup meant a breakdown in a Galicia that was experiencing a period of pluralism and modernisation. What were the main interests of the coup plotters? Among their objectives was also to cut off the emancipatory movement of feminism. We move back to those first moments when life changed sign.

 

Chapter 2: Geographies of repression: The 1936 coup d'état uncovered unprecedented violence

The 1936 coup d'état uncovered an unprecedented violence that struck not only a very important part of society and the democratic representatives prior to the uprising, but also the citizenry, and many families who saw their destinies cut short by providing aid to those fleeing the terror, thereby risking their own lives.

 

Chapter 3: Echoes of war: Murders, imprisonment and exile: the signs of the anti-Franco struggle in Galicia

Despite its distance from the war fronts, Galicia was not exempt from the most bloody consequences of the conflict. Franco's regime also used violence against individuals and social groups because of their ideas and identities. Prisons such as Figueirido, Celanova and San Simón became prisons for political prisoners. Forced recruitments were also an important part of the war and directly affected the lives of the mobilised people.

 

Chapter 4: Solidarity: The networks of evasion woven by women to protect people fleeing Franco's repression.

From the first moments of the coup, many women put their own lives at risk to help the affected families and those who supported the Republic. This was the case of the women of the Atochas neighbourhood in A Coruña, or the women of Cesantes, Rianxo, Redondela or Muros. Many of them were punished or finally executed.

 

Chapter 5: The story of the memories: A place as beautiful as San Simón becomes the paradigm of the massacres and injustice.

The narrative of memories makes it possible to learn about the facts and events that took place in a place, which are part of the collective memory, and offers a way of making reparations to the victims. The island of San Simón guards the story of the repression of the victims of Franco's regime, which makes it the island of memory.

 

To see the web series:

https://agalega.gal/videos/category/19789-sano-simon-la-colonia-penitenciaria