Cuerpos nación. Las exhumaciones de los "mártires y caídos por Dios y por España (1936-1951)

Abstract

The purpose of this work is to study the process of legal, forensic, and ideological management implemented by the insurgent forces and the Dictatorship during the Civil War and the post-war period (1936-1951) on the corpses of those they called "Martyrs and Fallen for God and for Spain". This research is positioned within the studies that undertake interdisciplinary analyses on the exhumations of the Spanish Civil War. So far, this specific historical period of exhumations has remained unresearched, uninvestigated and without in-depth study of its execution and executors. Therefore, the main objective of this thesis is to bring to light a wide-ranging political and judicial process, entirely legislated by the insurgent and dictatorial authorities.This thesis exposes how the exaltation, remembrance, and commemoration of the "Martyrs and Fallen for God and for Spain" were complemented by exhumations under the protection of a judicial process. At the same time, the identification of the six main aspects of the process reveals that its depth and complexity exceeded the mere physical recovery of the corpses. These began with the legislative actions through which the regulation and administration of the "martyred" bodies were initiated from the onset of the war, within the framework of the process that has been called the administration of death, together with the other five aspects of the judicial processes of the Causas Generales Militares during the war and the Causa General in the post-war period...