A clear conscience

I found Phil Brand’s letter on the last days of elderly Spanish Civil War veterans fascinating [ FT400:74]. I am inclined to take a cultural view. Those veterans who fought for Franco would have been more likely to be devout Catholics, believers in the possibility of eternal damnation. Therefore they may have fixated more on their sins catching up with them as life ebbed away. On the other hand, Spanish Republicans were more likely to be atheists, or at least more secular in outlook. It would make sense, then, for them to have more secular thoughts as they passed on. My sympathies are very much with the Republicans, but it is important to remember that atrocities were committed on both sides, as is often the case in civil conflicts. I suppose that hardcore communists, who believed that the ends justified the means and didn’t believe in divine retribution, would have died with particularly clear consciences.

Lewis JW Hurst

Tokyo, Japan