Spain’s first Franco-era ‘stolen babies’ trial begins
A woman poses next to a poster of the A.B.E.R.O.A association (Andalucian Stolen Babies Association)
during a demonstration against baby trafficking on January, 2012. Photo: AFP
An 85-year-old Spanish doctor will appear in a Madrid court on Tuesday, the first person to go on trial over thousands of suspected cases of babies stolen from their mothers during the Franco era.
In a dark and often overlooked chapter of General Francisco Franco’s 1939-75 dictatorship, the newborns of some left-wing opponents of the regime, or unmarried or poor couples, were removed from their mothers and adopted.
New mothers were frequently told their babies had died suddenly within hours of birth and the hospital had taken care of their burials when in fact they were given or sold to another family.
The practice began after Franco came to power after Spain’s 1936-39 civil war pitting left-wing Republicans against conservative Nationalists loyal to the general who was seeking to purge Spain of Marxist influence.
Beginning in the 1950s it was expanded to remove new newborns from poor families as well as illegitimate babies.
The guiding principle was that the child would be better off raised by an affluent, conservative and devout Roman Catholic family.
The system — which allegedly involved a vast network of doctors, nurses, nuns and priests — outlived Franco’s death in 1975 and carried on as an illegal baby trafficking network until 1987 when a new law regulating adoption was introduced.
Campaigners estimate tens of thousands of babies may have been stolen from their parents over the decades.
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