The hypothesis that the two executed of Sarrià could be victims of the internal republican violence takes force.
No personal documentation has been found on the remains, nor the bullet that killed the individual who has a hole in the occipital
All possibilities are open but the hypothesis that the two bodies found in a grave in the street of Ràfols, in the district of Sarrià-Sant Gervasi, with signs of having been executed seems to gather strength (news advanced on Thursday by EL PAÍS Cataluña ) they could be victims of the violence unleashed within the republican side. His death could have to do with the struggles between political factions and perhaps be related to the Fets de Maig, the clashes in that month of 1937 between Trotskyists and anarchists, on the one hand, and the Communists and the Republican Government, on the other.
Sarria victims could be executed by the internal republic
The head of archaeological interventions of the Servei d'Arqueologia of the City of Barcelona, Josep Pujades, has offered this Thursday morning a press conference to talk about the find. The skeletal remains, corresponding to two individuals "between 30 and 40 years old", appeared in a small pit, where they were fitted with their legs bent, during the construction of two buildings. They were covered in lime, which at first made the archaeologists think that they were victims of some epidemic. The fact that one of the bodies had a bullet hole in the occipital, as well as the finding of rests of straps, zippers and buckles and a button of Bakelite (prefiguration of the plastic but already synthetic and used in uniforms), placed the discovery at the time of the Civil War, although Pujades did not want to say that the material is clearly military. "Everything is provisional," he stressed. "We are only at the first signs, the finding is very recent, practically it was being extracted yesterday, and we should not rush to draw conclusions".
However, there are some clear things. Are we facing an execution? "A suicide is not," the archaeologist replied sarcastically. "If we are not facing an act of war we are facing a reprisal, maybe something related to the Fets de Maig, the truth is that we do not know, who killed them or why. Some things will be very difficult to find out, and others are to be feared that it will be impossible to ever know them. "
No identification, card or card has been found on the corpses. That of the pit is not a typical burial, since it is appreciated that the bodies were forced to fit into the hole and lime was cast on them, obviously for the purpose of making them disappear quickly. Pujades has recalled that in Barcelona during the Civil War "happened of everything" and it has returned to mention the Fets de Maig, and the internal fights between the POUM and the communists - on the other hand, significantly, the specialist has not referred at any time at the entrance of the Francoist troops in Barcelona in 1939. He has reflected that it could be members of a union or a party, victims of a political struggle or a settling of accounts. On whether the Czech prisons, the atrocious political prisons, could be victims, one of which, Vallvidriera Avenue is relatively close, as this newspaper pointed out yesterday, Pujades has declined to comment. "There is no data yet."
The bullet that killed (or finished, it could have been a coup de grace) to the subject that has the shot in the head has not been found. It is possible that he went in and out and that the projectile was left in another place if the individuals were killed in another place and they were moved. The second individual is the one who is most covered with lime and the skull is too undone to know if he also received a bullet in the head. What does seem clear is that the two men were buried in what was then a relatively isolated and discreet place, on a hillside, next to a torrent. Sediments covered the tomb and left it 2.5 meters deep. The technician has thought that, unlike the villages in which graves have appeared, it is difficult in a place like Barcelona to clarify the meaning, if any, of the place in popular memory. The fact that the individual with the head shot had gold teeth, has explained that it is a prosthesis and was something usual at the time.
He said that you can not know if there are more graves; it is clear that in this were only the two bodies that have appeared. The fact that they were buried and covered with lime seems to indicate a desire to hide them, since the usual thing in cases of executions was simply to throw the corpses or deliver them to the families. In any case, the archaeologist has again stressed that for now there is nothing clear and that perhaps the episode has nothing to do with what it appears.
The remains have been taken to the Autonomous University to be thoroughly studied. "It's going to be a very long job," Pujades warned.