CiF chairman Jaume Ferrer plus Susana Labrador, who is both deputy chair and councillor of culture and patrimony, were joined by regional minister of culture, participation and sport Fanny Tur and Luis Ruiz, the chair of Eivissa and Formentera's Fòrum per a la Memòria Històrica, in attending a symbolism-charged ceremony involving the remains of five islanders killed by Franco supporters on March 1, 1937 along the back wall of the cemetery in Sant Ferran.

On Saturday March 9 at the very same cemetery, the officials handed over the remains of Jame Ferrer Ferrer, Josep Ribas Marí, Joan Tur Mayans, Jaume Serra Juan and Vicent Cardona Colomar to surviving members of the victims' families. The remains were found as part of an effort to locate, excavate and subsequently exhume a mass grave at the inside of the Sant Ferran cemetery, which is property of the Eivissa-Formentera bishopric.

Exhumation effort
Crews performed various targeted digs on and adjacent to the 125-square-metre lot (six and five, respectively) which has been used as a burial ground since 1903. Inspections inside the cemetery followed conventional wisdom about where the interred remains might lie: beside the cemetery entrance, underneath headstones built in 1956 and 1984, below another gravesite and in a portion of the cemetery without grave markers.

Popular memory again directed the probes outside the cemetery walls, conducted with the help of excavating machinery. Patches of cement found on the southeast wall served to confirm the hypothesis that holes were pocked into the walls by executioners' bullets. Four bullets were detected as well; one wedged into the wall was uncovered with the help of a metal detector.

The major discoveries emerged thanks to investigation of skeletal remains, which suggested the bodies of the five executed were at some point transported to the ossuary to make room in the cemetery for new burials, then a common practice with ageing remains.

Crews unearthed a piece of a humerus bone and two fragmented skulls bearing firearm damage not unlike others found in Civil War burial sites. The crew of specialists carried out two checks to confirm the skeletons belonged to the individuals in question. The first involved reviewing entries in the civil registry from 1991 to 1994 and confirmed the absence among the 156 deaths catalogued of any caused by impact of a projectile, which would indicate that the three bone fragments might indeed correspond to one of the five victims.

The second test involved DNA cross-checking of the remains and living relatives of the victims. Due to imperfectly preserved DNA samples, however, it was impossible to establish consanguinity. Saturday's gathering included a symbolic ceremony during which the remains of three individuals who had been shot were deposited into a niche that will be accessible to the victims' families.

Other actions
Last year on March 1, eighty-one years after the islanders were killed, a monolith with the engraved names of the five victims was unveiled in the cementery as a symbol of the effort to reclaim this portion of local historic memory.

The regional ministry of culture, participation and sport's efforts to locate and then exhume the mass grave were conducted thanks to a grant received by the Fòrum and additional support from the Formentera Council.

Published on June 16 in issue 76/2016 of the BOIB, a piece of legislation known as “Law 10/2016 (June 13)” to recover the bodies of people who disappeared during the Spanish Civil War and the Franco dictatorship sets out measures to ensure the protection and dignity of resting grounds of Spanish Civil War victims.

Formentera Council
Àrea de Comunicació
March 11, 2019

The CiF patrimony department reports that a project titled “Cultural landscape of Formentera. Studying the dynamics of stone extraction and use throughout history” (Paisaje cultural de Formentera. Estudio de las dinámicas de explotación y uso de la piedra a lo largo de la historia) has been awarded the Formentera Council's 2018 research grant. The project will be led by Anna Artina, who holds a bachelor's in Art History and a master's in Classical Archaeology, and is currently a predoctoral researcher affiliated with Institut Catalpa d'Arqueologia Clàssica.

Nine researchers submitted grant requests to the Council. From a review based on scientific interest, coherency and methodology as well as the researchers' past experience, Artina's study emerged with the highest score. The Council's €6,000 grant will help ensure the research goes forward.

The project researchers' anticipated study of quarries in the punta de sa Pedrera area of the island is conceived as a pioneering attempt to pinpoint and grapple with the sites in a geomorphological context and detail the characteristics of stone extraction. Plans include conducting a historical and archaeological study of work processes from ancient to modern times in an effort to link manufactured stone construction, the selection of specific natural areas on the island and extraction techniques used to obtain the raw material.

From a scientific viewpoint the project is interesting because Formentera's marès (limestone) quarries constitute ethnological and archaeological heritage which has scarcely been documented and that has yet to undergo systematic study. The CiF culture and patrimony councillor hailed the initiative behind the project—“it will help thicken the texture of understanding around this part of our cultural heritage”.

Formentera Council
Àrea de Comunicació
March 6 2019

The Formentera Council's culture department reports that at 6.00pm Saturday March 9 islanders will be able to catch Refugi performed at the Sala de Cultura (cinema). Produced by the Clownidoscopio company, the 50-minute show costs three euros to attend.

In Refugi, the duo formed by Ibizans David Novell and Monma Mingot combine their signature strengths —lyricism, wit and joy— with acutely honed chops as clowns, to present a keen and gentle yet powerful look at human relations. Culture councillor Susana Labrador encouraged islanders to “come to a show that is guaranteed fun for the whole family” and “enjoy an evening of culture with their children”.

Last year Clownidoscopio dazzled us with Fràgil, a family-friendly show in which the fusion of laughter and poetry invited audiences to uncover life's mysteries.

Synopsis
Two characters, two realities. In one reality, the figure makes every effort to feel safe where he is (refuge). The person in the other, meanwhile, has lost everything and flees in search of a new place in the world (refugee).

How can these two realities occupy the same space? Refugi offers a lighthearted, magical look at a conflict that is universal, a voyage through empathy and respect with the poetry and humour of clowns. We all need to find our own place in the world, and places, in the end, are merely the sum of legions of human stories.

Production
Refugi is the first of its kind: a co-production between the Fundacions Teatre Principal of Palma and Maó; Institut d'Estudis Baleàrics; the Eivissa council; the Santa Eulària des Riu town council; Sa Xerxa, a regional youth theatre group; the Clownidoscopio company, and, as of 2019, the Formentera Council. Refugi is also included in the l'Illa a Escena programme.