Spain region to rehabilitate memory of executed ‘witches’

Tortured, hanged, condemned without trial: Catalonia’s regional parliament passed a resolution on Wednesday to rehabilitate the memory of hundreds of women executed for “witchcrafts” between the 15th and 18th centuries.

The move was driven by pro-independence and left-wing groups who believe these women were “victims of misogynistic persecution”. They want their memory to be honoured by naming streets after them.

The centuries-long witch-hunt was particularly intense in this northeastern region of Spain.

An investigation by local scientific journal Sapiens and research by Barcelona historian Pau Castell found that Catalonia was one of the first regions in Europe to carry out witch hunts, starting in 1471.

It is also considered one of the regions where the most executions took place.

“We have recently discovered the names of more than 700 women who were persecuted, tortured and executed between the 15th and 18th centuries,” say the groups behind the resolution which was passed by a large majority of 114 in favour, 14 against and six abstentions.

The lives and tragic deaths of these women will now be reviewed from a gender perspective to raise public awareness about their fate, echoing similar initiatives in Spain’s Navarre region but also in Scotland, Switzerland and Norway.

“Before they called us witches, now they call us ‘feminazis’ or hysterical or sexually frustrated. Before they carried out witch hunts, now we call them femicides,” said regional deputy Jenn Diaz of the ruling ERC.