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The Documentary Podcast

The Documentary Podcast

BBC World Service

A window into our world, through in-depth storytelling from the BBC. Investigating, reporting and uncovering true stories from everywhere. Award-winning journalism, unheard voices, amazing culture and global issues.

From Trump's new world order, to war in Sudan, to the legacy of football icon Mo Salah, The Documentary investigates major global stories.

We delve into social media, take you into the minds of the world's most creative people and explore personal approaches to spirituality. Every week, we also bring together people from around the globe to discuss how news stories are affecting their lives.

A new episode most days, all year round. From our BBC World Service teams at: Assignment, Heart and Soul, In the Studio, OS Conversations, The Fifth Floor and Trending.

Categories: Society & Culture

Listen to the last episode:

50 years after the death of the dictator Francisco Franco, Spain continues to feel its way towards an accommodation between its once-warring factions. And nowhere in Spain is more emblematic of the lasting divisions provoked by the Spanish civil war than the place known for decades as El Valle de los Caidos – the Valley of the Fallen. Built partly with the forced labour of political prisoners, this is a monument that symbolised Franco’s fascist victory over Republican Spain. The Valley became a pilgrimage place for people who revered the dictator – especially after he was buried behind the basilica’s altar. But in the 21st century, the debate has been about the place of such a monument in modern Spain. And since 2018, Spain’s Socialist government has been determined to change the narrative. In 2019, the remains of Francisco Franco were removed. Then the site was renamed El Valle de Cuelgamuros. And just this year - after lengthy negotiations - the Vatican and the Catholic Church in Spain accepted the government’s plans to make the site, ‘a place of democratic memory’, rather than somewhere paying homage to the dictatorship.

But it seems no one is happy. For Assignment, Esperanza Escribano and Linda Pressly explore the story, legacy and future of El Valle de Cuelgamuros.

This episode of The Documentary comes to you from Assignment, investigations and journeys into the heart of global events.