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The controversy about the recovery of historical memory has been the most intense symbolic confrontation waged in Spain since the transition. This paper shows the main features of this concept and tries to explain the major social, political and academic controversies raised in Spain in the recent years, with special attention to the Law of 2007 on the Historical Memory, which recognizes and extends rights and establishes measures in favour of those who suffered persecution or violence during the civil war and francoist dictatorship.