A Columbarium to "honour the memory and dignify the example of the people who gave their lives to defend democracy and freedom"
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Lehendakari Iñigo Urkullu today opened the Dignity Columbarium in Elgoibar where the remains of 27 people now rest.
Lehendakari Iñigo Urkullu, the Basque Premier, today opened the Dignity Columbarium in Elgoibar where the remains of 27 people now rest. This space will serve to “hold on to and honour their memory and dignify their example" stressed the Lehendakari after explaining that many of them “gave their lives to defend democracy and freedom”. The Dignity Columbarium is located in the vicinity of the Olaso cemetery in Elgoibar.
Around one hundred people attended the ceremony, including relatives and representatives of remembrance and historical associations of the Basque Country and dignitaries from the municipalities where the remains that could not be identified were exhumed, along with representatives of different Basque institutions.
From oblivion to remembering
During his speech, Lehendakari Urkullu stressed that by honouring the memory of these 27 people, “we are also remembering all the people who disappeared as they depended freedom and democracy in the Spanish Civil War".
The Columbarium, as he went on to explain, is “a further step in the recovery of the Historical Memory". That step has been the result of the cooperation of associations, scientific staff and institutions. The Lehendakari called for work to continue in this way as “unity is the best recognition and repair that we can offer to their memory”. In this regard, Urkullu stressed that “the disappeared in the War were victims of criminal injustice” and recognised the unfair suffering of their families. “This space symbolises moving the oblivion to remembering, from darkness to light,” added the Lehendakari.
The Ceremony
The Mayor of Elgoibar, Ane Beitia, started the ceremony to open the Columbarium. After an aurresku ceremonial dance, the interment of the remains of 27 people, 25 of whom had not been identified, began. They were all carried by representatives of Basque remembrance and historical associations and of the municipalities were they were found. The municipalities are as follows: Arrasate, Andoain, Azkoitia, Elgeta, Elgoibar, Legutio, Lemoa, Mañaria, Mutriku, Valdegobia, Zaldibia and Zigoitia.
Paco Etxeberria, chairman of the Aranzadi Science Society, then explained the exhumation process and provided a case-by-case summary of the inhumed. The Lehendakari then gave the closing speech. The ceremony ended with wreath laying at the foot of the Dignity Sculpture.
Search for the disappeared in the Civil War
The Dignity Columbarium now houses the remains exhumed in mass graves by the Basque Government and the Aranzadi Science Society in recent years.
Precisely, the search and identification of those people is one of the objectives of the Basque Plan to Investigate and Locate Mass Graves that the Basque Government unveiled at the end of 2015, in conjunction with the Aranzadi Society. A work programme up to 2020 has therefore been established, which envisages investigating different sites where a grave is thought to exist. This Plan has provided continuity to the exhumation process started by the Basque Government in 2002.
Press:
Eitb: http://www.eitb.eus/es/noticias/politica/detalle/4619592/inaugurado-elgoibar-columbario-dignidad/