Historic memory

Sencelles Civil War grave exhumation has restarted

Further exhumation of Republican remains. | Archive

Majorca Daily Bulletin reporterPalma11/03/2020 17:32

The second phase of exhumation of the Civil War grave at the cemetery in Sencelles started on Wednesday morning. The work is scheduled to take fifty days.

The remains of three victims are believed to be buried in Sencelles. Josep Miralles Garau, a farmer who was 31, and Josep Serra Joan (56 and also a farmer) were from Montuiri. They were murdered on the first of September 1936. Their bodies were found by the Santa Maria-Montuiri road between Sencelles and Biniali.

Pilar Sánchez Llabrés was 33 and a market trader. From Palma, statements have been given which say that she was abducted, raped and shot. Her body was found at the Son Palou finca in Sencelles.

Jesús Jurado, the regional secretary for democratic memory, has reiterated the regional government's commitment to recover the remains of victims and to return their remains to their families. The Sencelles exhumation, he notes, is one of the most complex to have been organised.

The second phase also includes exhumations in Arta, Bunyola, Manacor, Porreres, Santa Maria and Valldemossa as well as in Ibiza. In addition, a study is to be made of a possible grave in Formentera