About Me

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Troy Nahumko is an award-winning author based in Caceres, Spain. His recent work focuses on travels around the Mediterranean, from Tangier to Istanbul. As a writer and photographer he has contributed to newspapers and media such as Lonely Planet, The Globe and Mail, The Sydney Morning Herald, The Toronto Star, Couterpunch,The Irish World, The Straits Times, The Calgary Herald, Khaleej Times, DW-World, Rabble and El Pais. He also writes a bi-weekly op-ed column 'Camino a Ítaca' for the Spanish newspaper HOY. His book, Stories Left in Stone, Trails and Traces in Cáceres, Spain is published by the University of Alberta Press. As an ESL materials writer he has worked with publishers such as Macmillan and CUP.

Tuesday, June 17, 2014

El Mirador de la Memoria


The bullet holes you see in the sculptures at El Torno are real and recent. It has been more than 70 years since the guns of the civil war officially fell silent and more than 30 since Spain's brutal dictator died peacefully in his sleep. Even after so many years, tensions here lie close to the surface (as do the dead in unmarked mass graves across the land). The Spanish Civil War is still in many ways an open wound, one that festers yet is purposely ignored due to a national pact of amnesia. Overlooking one of the most beautiful valleys in the country, the gunned down and defeated were given a memorial and their peace, but it lasted for only a few hours when they faced a firing squad once again.

#history #valley #view #sunset #sculpture #landmark #war #death #fighting #spanishcivilwar #warmemorial #civilwar #memorial #mirador #panorama #europeanhistory #dictatorship #remembrance #scars #bullets #spanishhistory #fascism #jerte #wounds #leydelamemoria #miradordelamemoria

Originally published on Trazzler

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