Spanish Civil War Memory Project

Summary

Cándido Mollano was born in 1929 in Membrillo, Andalucía. Cándido recalls being seven years old at the start of the Civil War. He notes that one of his uncles died from hunger in a concentration camp in the province of Huelva during the war. He tells that his parents hid political fugitives, including four of his cousins, who were persecuted by the Falange. Cándido relates witnessing the burning of Membrillo Abajo after the Falange murdered the families of that community. He recounts that the Falange mistook one of his aunts for another woman and forced her to shave her head, drink castor oil, and defecate publicly in the town along with other women. Cándido explains that the political repression and torture of the citizens of Membrillo and the neighboring towns persisted one year into the war, well after the Falange had successfully eradicated all resistance. He has never been affiliated with any political party, but is staunchly anti-Francoist. Cándido married and settled in the Membrillo home in which he grew up and where he continues to live