81 men and 3 women were shot in one night in February 1937 What is believed to be the second largest mass grave of people shot by the Franco troops in the Civil War has been revealed in the Málaga village of Teba. The largest such grave is in the San Rafael Cemetery in Málaga. It’s estimated that the grave contains at least 125 bodies, and so far the remains of 35 people have been recovered. The 35 were shot between 1936 and 1949 in Teba. Identification of the bodies is complicated given that the remains have just been dumped on top of each other. It has been decided to construct a pantheon to lay the bodies finally at rest at a site where those who want to pay their respects can do so. This will only happen when the bodies are indentified with DNA, to give the families the chance to bury their loved ones where they wish. Between September 12 and 14 1936, the Franco troops took Teba. Many locals fled looking for the republican front which was then between Peñarrubia and Ardales in a night known as ‘the escape night’. Some preferred to stay in the village, and soon started to face the repression, but those who ran were intercepted on February 6 1937 at Campanillas. They told Franco’s troops that they had not carried out any blood crimes and they were allowed to return to the village. But on the return between Feb 7 and 10 nearly all the men were arrested at put into improvised jail made from two houses. On February 23, 81 men and 3 women were taken to the cemetery in groups of ten and shot. The archaeologist, Andrés Fernández, who is directing the excavation says that there was a night, on 23 February 1937, referred to locally as ‘the night of the 80’. On that night 81 men and 3 women were shot. The investigation is being coordinated by Juan Fuentes, who is a member of the Historical Memory Association in Antequera. He asked for the funds to start the job, and said that parallel research is being carried out in both local and provincial history archives. Ramón Espinosa, a Teba resident, told EFE news agency that the exhumation is being carried out as ‘an absolutely normal question, as something you have to do’. May 2, 2012 http://www.typicallyspanish.com/news/publish/article_34545.shtml