The cobblestone that faces the relatives of a victim in a concentration camp and a mayor of Palencia | Spain

They are called Stolpersteine (stones on the road in German) because they are cobblestone slightly above the rest, golden and specifically high so that the one who stumbles down his gaze and remembers a victim of the Nazi holocaust. There are almost 100,000 throughout Europe, but Antonio García Hevia’s family, who died in the concentration camps complex Mauthausen-Gusen (Austria)has stumbled upon the refusal of the City of Hontoria del Cerrato (Palencia, 150 inhabitants). The mayor (PP) opposes installing one of these blocks and, on the other hand, urges the descendants of the repriscle to place a plaque in the cemetery, with hardly any visibility. The descendants use historical memory laws and demand recognition: « This is not a rematch. »

The controversy arose when a municipal plenary commanded by the councilor, Juan Antonio Abarquero, rejected the tribute to his ex -sales within the framework of the 80th anniversary of the release of the extermination field where he died in 1941. The majority of the PP in the session marked the decision of Hontoria del Cerrato and outraged the descendants of that victim, who continue to fight to obtain the Stolperstein and that is noticeable in the town, not hidden in the cemetery. This Tuesday a new municipal meeting was held, accompanied by several positions of his party in Palencia, justified his position while reading a statement where he condemned « all forms of violence against freedom and democracy », and promoted « the memory and recognition of all the people who suffered persecution or violence during the civil war and the Franco dictatorship », equating the Francoists with the reprisals as the same form of violence.

The councilor argued that other municipalities have put memorial ornaments in cemeteries and denied having dilated or blocked tributes to the Palencia who died in 1941, which criticizes the opposition and the relatives of the deceased. Pablo Pastor, from the United Left, insists that his training supported “that the act was done as the family and the Association of Historical Memory asks, that the cobble of reflection on the dead of the Nazi concentration campsespecially from neighbor Antonio. It makes no sense to bring it to the cemetery as I want to hide it. ”

Mariano Alfambra’s unworthy scenario, whose wife is the granddaughter of Antonio García Hevia. The man, a retired railway unionist, insists on perseverance until he achieves the recognition that the ancestor of his political family deserves. « In the cemetery we are not going to put it, and if they force us, we will not put it and wait for the next elections to try again, » says Alfambra, aware that the resolution in the municipal full, before the majority of the PP, makes it difficult to maneuver in the local level. The family is going to take the case to the Procurator of the Common of Castilla y León and, given the refusal that they fear for the command of the PP in the community, they will raise the Ombudsman and the Secretariat of State for the historical and democratic memory.

The aggrieved regrets the course of the mayor as « the most dishonest possible exit of the PP of the City Council; it is not the full in itself but the PP » and accuses him of « not having even written the manifesto he read. » Alfambra denies that the mayor alludes To the Civil War Mentioning that in the cemetery there is also a plaque to a person who was shot, because the descendants of García Hevia believe that « this is a rematch, they are stirring and want to mix when it is not a claim of the civil war. » Install the cobblestone or a message in the field, regret, would only imply seeing it « November 1 ». The descendants of the reprisal, they say, will continue to insist: « They make us see that half for each one, there is cobblestone but puts themselves where they say. We will not cease in it. »