Extrema violencia contra civiles como método de guerra en España (1936-1939): Fotoperiodismo y doble potencial de la fotografía

Abstract

According to the three acts ozf violence practiced against the republican figure during the war in Spain (1936-1939), photojournalism developed a counter-narrative by making visible the ravages of the massacres on the civilian population. Although, the journalistic coverage carried out in the Badajoz massacre and the bombing of Gernika -both episodes paradigms of the two methods of war exercised against the republicans- revealed the double potential of photography, and the disparate uses that the different actors made of it; a fact that raises the need for a rereading, beyond what the visual document shows and its apparent testimonial character. Taking into account the latent danger in the handling of photography by power, the work of photojournalists demonstrated its usefulness and social value as an instrument of dignification, denunciation and vehicle for the reconstruction of a hidden, distorted and silenced history.