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Here you can find a list of books, movies, documentaries and podcasts related to this topic in a the order of my personal preference.  Scroll down for list of move Spanish Civil War related locations you could visit.

Reading 

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Factual

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  • The Spanish Holocaust: Inquisition and Extermination in Twentieth-Century Spain - Paul Preston

  • Forgotten Places: Barcelona and the Spanish Civil War by Nick Lloyd

  • Into the Fire: American Women in the Spanish Civil War

  • Anarchy's Brief Summer: The Life and Death of Buenaventura Durruti by Hans Magnus Enzensberger - a must read for anarchy enthusiasts

  • The Spanish Civil War" by Hugh Thomas

  • Essential Histories: The Spanish Civil War by Frances Lannon 

  • Class, Culture and Conflict in Barcelona by Chris Ealham (also know as "Anarchy and the city") 

  • The Spanish Civil War: A Very Short Introduction by Helen Graham

  • Ghosts of Spain by Giles Tremlett (account of travels through Spain in modern times with different perspectives of Spaniards on the past and present)

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​Novels

  • Homage to Catalonia by George Orwell​

  • Placa del Diamante - Merce Rododera - life of a girl in pre-war and during-war Barcelona full off shattered illusions​

  • Nada by Carmen Laforet - young girl's story from post-war Barcelona

Watchlist

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Factual

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  • The Truth about Franco – Spain’s Forgotten Dictatorship (2017) 5 episode documentary with commentary from  Paul Preston, Ángel Viñas, and Antony Beevor. It's on Netflix, but only in German, but you can find it on YouTube in Ensglish under name Francisco Franco: Rise to Power | Extra Long Documentary

  • The Silence of Others (2018) addresses the trauma, the hidden or unaddressed abuses (mass graves, stolen children, exile), and how memory and justice continue to be contested in Spain

  • El Sopar (1974) five former political prisoners meeting for dinner the night of the execution of anarchist Salvador Puig Antich

  • Autopista, unha navallada á nosa terra (1977) focuses on rural life in Galicia during Spain’s transition to democracy, critiquing the construction of a highway and the effects on local culture and economy

  • The Good Fight: The Abraham Lincoln Brigade and the Spanish Civil War (1984)

  • .El Perro Negro – Stories from the Spanish Civil War (2005) - a collection of personal stories

  • Spain in Two Trenches: The Civil War in Color (2016) - original footage in color

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Fiction​

  • Land and Freedom (1995, dir. Ken Loach) - A British unemployed worker leaves Liverpool to join the Republican side in Spain in 1936. He fights on the Aragon front, falls in love, and faces the internal political tensions among the left.​

  • El laberinto del fauno / Pan’s Labyrinth (2006, dir. Guillermo del Toro) Set in 1944 Spain, shortly after the Civil War, a young girl moves with her mother to live with a fascist officer and escapes into a dark fantasy world.

  • Hemingway & Gellhorn (2012, dir. Philip Kaufman) starring Clive Ovens and Nicole Kidman, lovestory of 2 writers who meet during Spanish Civil War

  • Butterfly’s Tongue (La lengua de las mariposas, 1999, dir. José Luis Cuerda) - A boy’s friendship with his liberal schoolteacher, destroyed by the rise of Francoism.

  • Ay Carmela! (1990, dir. Carlos Saura) - comedy/drama- A troupe of Republican performers is captured by Franco’s forces and forced to entertain the enemy.

  • Paralel Mothers (2021, Pedro Almodóvar) with Penélope Cruz about motherhood and lingering traumas of Spanish Civil War

  • La vaquilla (1985, dir. Luis García Berlanga) - A Spanish comedic take on the Civil War: Republican soldiers attempt to steal a bull from Nationalist territory during the conflict.​

  • Libertarias (1996, dir. Vicente Aranda) - : A group of anarchist women fighters during the war.

  • Soldados de Salamina (2003, dir. David Trueba) - A writer investigates a story from the Civil War about a soldier who spares a prisoner’s life.

  • For Whom the Bell Tolls (1943, dir. Sam Wood) - : Based on the novel by Ernest Hemingway

  • Sin novedad en el Alcázar”, 1940, dir. Augusto Genina - Italian-Spanish production depicting the 1936 siege of the Alcázar

Podcasts

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  • 5 parts: Real Dictators : Francisco Franco

  • 2 parts: Dictators: Francisco Franco (parcast)

  • 18 parts: The Iberian Knot - A History of the Spanish Civil War 

  • ​Historias: The Spanish History Podcast

Places

  • Refugi 307 : Guided tour of bomb shelter tunnels. You can only visit it on Sundays at 11am, always with guide. Or you can book it for a group during the week.

  • Fossar de la Pedrera: Cemetery (mass grave) and memorial site for the victims of Franco's terror. You can visit any day by yourself between 9am and 5pm, but need to take a bus, taxi or bicycle to get there.

  • La Rosa de Foc : Local CNT offices and anarchist bookshop where you can find reprints of Spanish Civil War posters

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