The General Archive of the Spanish Civil War (Spanish: Archivo General de la Guerra Civil Española) is an archive located in Salamanca, Spain. It was founded in 1999, and in 2007 it became part of the Centro Documental de la Memoria Histórica. "Historic memory", in this context, refers to Spain's coming to terms with its Civil War and the Franco Dictatorship.
The origins of the Civil War Archive, and the decision to house such documents in Salamanca, date back to the 1930s. The Franco regime decreed, on September 13, 1936, that "all properties and documents belonging to the political parties and organizations mentioned, as well as any others that opposed the movimiento nacional, were to become the property of the State."[1]
Documents known as the Salamanca Papers, which had been confiscated from the Catalan government, were returned to Catalonia in 2005.[2] However, the Centro Documental de la Memoria Histórica plans to increase the number of documents held at Salamanca, by for example, transferring items from the Archivo General de la Administración, Alcalá de Henares.