In pictures: Uncovering Spain's dark past

The Spanish Civil War ended in 1939 with General Franco's fascist forces defeating supporters of the democratically-elected Republican government. Spain was to be ruled by dictatorship for 36 years until Franco's death in 1975.

Exhuming skeletons at the largest mass grave so far located, in Malaga, Spain

After Franco's death his foes and friends alike agreed an amnesty in which the past was papered over to allow the country to move on. Only now are the details of that bloody period emerging.

Nuria, a volunteer, at the Malaga mass grave

Across Spain teams are working to locate and exhume the bodies of some of the 350,000 people killed in the war. They receive little government funding and are dependent on unpaid volunteers - most are students who were not alive during the dictatorship.

The killing continued long after the war ended with tens of thousands of people suspected of being enemies of the regime executed and disposed of in unmarked mass graves.

Teresa Hernando at a mass grave in Milagros, Spain

Teresa Hernando hopes the remains of her grandfather will be found at this mass grave near Milagros in central Spain, so that she can give him a proper burial. He was shot by Franco supporters in 1936 together with local mayors and trade unionists.

This skeleton from the dig in Milagros was identified by the gold teeth which were extremely rare in the region in the 1930s. In other cases DNA samples are taken from the dead and those believed to be their living relatives to try to find a match.

Uxenu Ablana pictured at the gates of the orphanage

Another detail emerging from Spain's dark past is the practice of taking the children of left-wing parents, like Uxena Ablana seen here, from their families. Some 30,000 children were forcibly removed.

Dr Felix Morales, vice president of the Franco Foundation

However, some like Dr Felix Morales of the Franco Foundation still revere General Franco. He says that the general should be respected for transforming Spain from a backward country into a modern, industrialised nation.