The Struggle for Recognition of the Stolen Children and the Politics of Victimhood in Spain

Abstract

The chapter analyses the struggle of Spain’s stolen children and their relatives to obtain truth and justice. It concentrates on one central issue, namely the question of how they define themselves as victims. After explaining the difference between the lost and the stolen children, the chapter accounts for the legal, institutional and socio-cultural obstacles that victims and their relatives face in their pursuit of truth and justice. The third section argues that the understanding of the relationship between Spain’s lost and stolen children matters and that what is at stake is whether the stolen children and their relatives see themselves as victims of Franco’s dictatorship and, by implication, the definition of their legal and political struggle in the present. The conclusion critically reflects on the extent to which the struggle of Spain’s stolen children illustrates the idea of a competition between victims in their struggle for recognition and justice.

Different versions of this chapter were presented at the symposium ‘Competing Victimhoods in Spain and Italy,’ Humanities Institute, University College Dublin (May 2015), the workshop ‘Violent Pasts and the Politics of Victimhood in Contemporary Societies,’ European Studies Centre, University of Oxford (June 2015), the 5th Annual Conference of the Dialogues on Historical Justice and Memory Network, Columbia University (December 2015), and the conference ‘On Collective Violence. Actions, Roles, Perceptions,’ Centre for Conflict Studies, University of Marburg (Germany) (October 2016). I am grateful to the audiences of all four events for their questions and comments.