His’Historias Robadas’ Antena 3 Mini Series Tells Story of Spain’s Stolen Babies (Video)

Screenshot from “Historias Robadas”

A new two-part mini series ‘Historias Robadas‘ or ‘Stolen Stories’ began airing on Spanish TV channel Antena 3 this week. Based on a best-selling book of the same name, it tells the story of Spain’s stolen babies, the practice of taking babies from their biological mothers right after birth and giving them to couples who were unable to have children of their own.

The people responsible for the baby theft were doctors, nuns and priests — a scandal that has only come to light in Spain in the last few years — and were people who felt certain Spanish women would not be be ‘fit mothers’.

Since the story broke in Spain, thousands of now-adult Spanish children stolen from their mothers as well as those adopted from Spain by couples overseas have tried to get justice in Spanish courts.

With little support from the Spanish government, however, and with little or no proof as most of it was destroyed by those responsible, it’s proving very difficult for most to find their biological mothers.

Stealing babies from their biological mothers and telling them that their baby had died began during General Franco’s dictatorship.

It went on up until 1987, when a new adoption law was established  in Spain. Estimates say several thousand babies were stolen over a period of several decades. Some Spanish mothers even say they gave birth to twins, and then were told by doctors, nurses or nuns that one of their babies had died. They were never shown the deceased baby’s body, however.

The Spanish tragedy, which has blackened the reputation of the Catholic Church in Spain, is now being told in the Antena 3 mini-series, ‘Historias Robadas’.  Rodolfo Sancho plays the role of two twin brothers, separated at birth. One lives his life with his biological mother while the other one is stolen from her and given to a childless couple to bring up as their own.

Antena 3 is also showing a documentary, ‘Sor María‘ (Sister Maria), about one of the nuns involved in the case. She is one of the few people so far to be charged in the case of the stolen babies, and has become a household name around Spain.

Watch the  ‘Historias Robadas’ video trailer below.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fe94ePAGEIg