The current state of identification in Catalonia of the remains of victims of the Spanish Civil War and the Post-war period

Genetics plays a key role in the process of identification of victims of the Spanish Civil War and the subsequent Postwar period. This article summarises the current state of the analyses of human remains exhumed in Catalonia in the framework of the EXI-2017-53 contracts and resolution EXI/2948/2016 of December 21.

The Group of Forensic Genetics and Population Genetics of the Department of Legal Medicine, Psychiatry and Pathology of the Faculty of Medicine of the Complutense University of Madrid, as a member of the team of Iltirta Arqueología SL, participated in collaboration with the Ancient DNA Laboratory of the Biological Anthropology Unit of the Autonomous University of Barcelona and the Pompeu Fabra University, in genetic analyses of exhumed victims. The Vall d’Hebron Hospital carried out the genetic analysis of relatives, as well as the search for kinship relationships.

Since September 2017, 199 individuals of the 380 exhumed since 2000 have been subjected to genetic analyses. The results to date correspond to the complete genetic profiles in 90% of the cases and nine identifications.

Keywords: forensic genetics, genetic identification, major catastrophes, Spanish Civil War, mitocondrial DNA, STR.