Spanish Civil War Memory Project

Summary

Dueñas Molina was born in Madrid on October 20, 1950, to a close-knit middle-class family with leftist political leanings. He was ridiculed at school for not being baptized and because his parents were not married by the church. His mother was routinely taken in for questioning by armed Guardia Civil agents because of her status as an unmarried mother. As a boy his family secretly listened to Radio Español Independiente via short wave. A mechanic by trade, Dueñas was detained by police in April 1969; interrogated and tortured, he received a sentence of two years for handling illegal propaganda. He describes life at Carabanchel, including the general freedom of expression allowed therein. After his release from prison Dueñas performed his military service in the navy, being stationed for a time in the Canary Islands. Dueñas describes the celebrations among his friends once the news of Franco's death came, likening it to a rebirth. He relates his role in a quixotic project during the 1970s to pick up a 1940s armored Cadillac in Romania and driving it back to Spain for the use of Communist political candidate Santiago Carrillo. Finally, he provides some commentary on the post-Franco transition period, especially vis-à-vis the Communist Party in Spain, and efforts to recover the historical memory of repression and atrocities committed during the Francoist period