for the Spain they believed to be better: in Granollers

in Granollers cemetery According to Cinta Cantarell and Can Jonch / Centre de Cultura per la Pau “the Spanish Civil War of 1936-39 radically transformed life in Granollers. Revolutionary changes, mobilizations, collectivizations, the arrival of refugees from the war zones, the need for more housing and, above all, the human costs of the war, were all prominent events during the period. However, the air raids that took place on 31 May 1938 and on 24, 25 and 26 January 1939 were, by far, the events that most shook the town. On Tuesday 31 May 1938 Granollers came under attack from five Italian Savoia-S79 aeroplanes serving general Franco. No warning was given. At 9:05 a.m. and within one minute, the planes dropped 60 bombs and 750 kilos of shrapnel on a defenceless town, at peak-hour, when people were on their way to work, school or shopping. The official casualty  count was 224 dead and 165 wounded. Over a hundred buildings were affected. The town had practically no air-raid shelters for accommodating large numbers of people. Shortly afterwards, on 3 June, the mayor circulated an edict calling up work brigades for the purpose of building some.  ...Many of victims of the air raid of 31 May were buried in the mass grave in the municipal cemetery. When democracy was restored the site became a place for remembering the dramatic episode that inflicted such brutal punishment on Granollers. Every year, at 9 0’clock in the morning on the last day of May, a memorial service is held as a tribute to the victims" These pictures were taken in June 2018, some days after the 80th anniversary of the bombing and show some images of the memorial to the victims.