All language subtitles for Abandoned.Engineering.S14E04.Border.Wars.1080p.UKTV.WEB-DL.AAC2.0.H.264-RAWR_track3_[eng]

NARRATOR: A derelict compound in
Texas,

once the epicentre of a violent
revolution.

It was exciting, but it was also
dangerous.

Bullets were flying, artillery
shells were going off.

They had front row seats to this
amazing battle.

A top secret facility outside Berlin
used by a ruthless dictator

to escape justice.

This place should have lost all
relevance,

but it had one final dramatic
mission to carry out.

An aristocratic party palace that
became an IRA stronghold.

The women would use these statues,

these symbols of colonial
oppression, as target practice.

And in Spain, a medieval fortress
town abandoned under duress.

MAN:Events beyond the perimeter of
the walls finally overcame

these defences and left behind a
tragic legacy.

NARRATOR: In downtown El Paso, Texas,

a hollow construction holds a
revolutionary history.

MAN:It's a very attractive, stately
old building,

but once you go inside,

it's a pretty sad state of affairs.

MAN:There's wires hanging out of the
ceiling.

Windows are taken out of their
frames and stacked up.

Nearby, right next to the freeway,
which straddles the border,

a second abandoned building was
embroiled

in the same dramatic struggle.

WOMAN:It's a huge warehouse-style
building.

It looks like it might have once
been a small industrial operation

of some kind.

The rooftop is a prime vantage point
to look right across the border

into the neighbouring Mexican
city of Juarez.

And if you look closely, you'll see
that there's damage on the walls.

Pivotal in the birth of the Mexican
state,

these bullet holes are remnants
of a time when El Paso was caught

in violent crossfire.

So the question is, how are these
two buildings,

this one here on the border, this
one here in the city,

how are they connected?

These buildings might look a little
forlorn today,

but there was a time when this town
was a hotbed

of international intrigue.

From here, a revolution was planned
and a war was launched,

while citizens watched from the
rooftops.

El Paso was once Spanish territory,

but it became part of the United
States

when America annexed Texas in 1845.

It began as a trading post and
became one of the most important

points of contact between the US
and Mexico.

Between 1890 and 1910, the
population of El Paso quadruples.

You see this explosive growth
as kind of a window

on America's southern border, and an
outlet and an inlet for trade.

This, once ornate, structure was born
during that early prosperity.

Richard Caples was a former mayor of
El Paso

and, kind of, a local big shot.

He had big plans for the city and
wanted to help it grow.

Construction began on this building
in 1909.

It was planned as a five-storey
office building

with retail on the ground floor.

It was built at tremendous cost,
$135,000 at the time,

which works out to be $4.5 or $5
million today.

This is the Caples Building, named
after its owner.

It was still under construction
when the abandoned warehouse,

half a mile away, hosted an iconic
meeting of presidents.

The gathering took place in front
of the El Paso Laundry,

which sits right on the border.

There was an historic international
meeting between Mexican President,

Porfirio Diaz, and American
President, William Taft.

This was an important turning point
in Mexican American relations.

People crowded around this street,

so much so, that the American
soldiers

had to push back the crowds

when they saw the carriage of
President Diaz come along.

And when he came, there was a 21-gun
salute, first by the American army,

and then it echoed towards the
Mexican side of the river.

And then, the Mexicans also did a
21-gun salute.

David Dorado Romo understands the
subtext of this event.

There seemed to be a lot of
agreement and harmony,

but that was just for public show.

Diaz was really the archetype
of a corrupt dictator.

He maintained his power by crushing
dissent,

not really allowing a free press,
favouring certain elites.

He was also known to be in the
pocket of big American businesses.

In El Paso, Diaz was seeking to
further cement

American support along the border
in the run-up to a crucial election,

one that had already been mired in
controversy.

A couple of years earlier, Diaz had
said that he'd be ready to step down

and the country could have free
elections really for the first time,

and he would walk quietly off into
the sunset.

But when that day came, Diaz
decided to run for president,

and he didn't exactly play fair.

Diaz had thrown his main political
opponent, a formidable man

by the name of Francisco Madero,
in jail during the proceedings.

This was clearly not a free and
open election.

And it was Madero

who became the face of the Mexican
people's burning resentment.

Madero actually managed to escape
from prison, and he headed

across the border to El Paso.

At that time, that wasn't a major
division.

There was no barbed wire. There was
no fence.

Mexicans could cross freely.

So Madero snuck into El Paso
disguised as a labourer,

and took up residence on the top
two floors

of the newly completed Caples
Building.

He made it the epicentre of his
endeavours,

and he really only had one goal,

and that was to violently overthrow
the Diaz regime.

So, on this floor, the international
headquarters

of the Mexican Revolution was
situated in early 1911.

So this was a place that would
have served for diplomatic,

administrative, but also arms
smuggling

and of course, recruitment.

Madero even managed to gain
the support

of legendary Mexican revolutionary,
Pancho Villa,

which earned him some significant
clout.

With an open border,

these headquarters were at the heart
of an explosion of activity.

El Paso then really became this hub
of different revolutionary groups

who all set up shop in different
bars, restaurants and buildings

throughout the city.

Throughout the revolutionary period,

the American government would change
their allegiance.

Despite Madero advocating democracy,

the US eventually issued a warrant
for his arrest.

During my research, I found more
than 80 buildings,

that are still standing here in El
Paso, that have connections

to the Mexican Revolution.

There were probably hundreds,
if not thousands of spies.

Every little nook and cranny,

you're gonna find people plotting
revolution or counter-revolution

or even counter-counter-revolution.

A lot of people have compared
El Paso to East and West Berlin

during the Cold War.

You had Madero and his associates

plotting, raising money, building
support.

Diaz had his spies gathering
information.

No one really knew who was
on what side or who you could trust.

And it was all building
to a truly violent conflict.

On the 7th of April, 1911, Madero
made his move against Diaz

and his troops.

A rebel offensive known as the
Battle of Ciudad Juarez.

Madero had put together a force
of 2500 men,

but Juarez was well-defended by 700
Mexican federal troops

who were in a very good defensive
position.

They had artillery. They had plenty
of weapons.

Madero was happy to just call it a
stalemate and start negotiating.

But one notorious gunslinger in the
rebel's ranks had come for a fight.

The time for talking was over.

While Madero sought to negotiate
a surrender,

the more aggressive Pancho Villa
disobeyed orders.

He went ahead and led his troops
on the attack,

and a raging battle commenced.

In the city of El Paso this was
very exciting.

They were right on the border.

People climbed to the rooftop
of the laundry building

where they had front-row seats
to this amazing battle.

So, this was one of many rooftops
in El Paso

where people would stand on top.

There were some where you would
have to pay a quarter to a dollar

to watch the revolutionary scenes.

They were treated to a spectacle
straight out of the Wild West.

One story is that in one moment,

one of the federal soldiers dropped
his gun,

and one of the revolutionaries got
out his lariat and lassoed the guy.

He is able to, like a Mexican
cowboy,

bring him in together with his gun.

And people on the rooftops started
applauding,

just like if it were some kind of
ringside seat.

But it ended up becoming a much
more deadly spectator sport.

These citizens didn't realise
how close they were to the danger,

and five were killed and 18 wounded
in El Paso

from fighting that was taking place
in Juarez.

Today we just let the newscasters
take that danger.

Back then, everybody wanted to be
part of the act.

So, these bullet holes actually
have a lot more significance

than meets the eyes.

They were part of the story of the
Mexican Revolution.

Eventually, after two days of
intense fighting,

the Juarez garrison was forced to
surrender.

This Battle of Juarez became the
decisive battle of the Revolution.

It was enough to show that the
forces loyal to Diaz

could not control the revolutionary
troops.

Diaz fled Mexico, leaving its
leadership up for grabs.

Madero eventually came to power
in late 1911,

but he proved to be too moderate.

By 1913, another Mexican general led
a US-backed coup, and unfortunately,

Madero died in the resulting
conflict.

What initially was a relatively
bloodless revolution

is going to become ten years
of incredible civil strife,

and you're gonna have hundreds
of thousands of Mexican refugees

crossing to the United States.

My grandparents came to Ciudad
Juarez and then later to El Paso,

fleeing the violence during this
period after the Madero revolution.

One of my great aunts had been
kidnapped, literally

kidnapped by one of the federal
officers.

America's role in the revolution
was a sign of things to come

across the continent.

That's a story that's going to
repeat itself

for decades in Latin America, where
you have US military intervention

or you have the CIA overthrow
democratically-elected governments.

And as a result, you're gonna have
social chaos,

people fleeing into the United
States.

While the laundry would continue
to operate for many more years,

the Caples Building endured long
periods of vacancy

before both were eventually
abandoned.

These structures are symbolic of
tensions that remain

along the border to this day.

But a developer has purchased both
properties with hopes

of transforming them into apartment
buildings.

If that happens, the future
residents can certainly claim

that they live in a location of
historic intrigue.

In eastern Germany, just 25 miles
from Berlin,

a secretive complex lies hidden in
the woods.

HE SPEAKS GERMAN

WOMAN:Looking at the security
around this place,

this must have been one of the most
closely guarded places

in all of East Germany.

It's only when you go deep into the
heart of the site

that its scale becomes apparent.

We can see here that nature has
reclaimed something

and it has reclaimed something big.

You see a collection of buildings
that could house

a city of thousands.

But as with any ghost town, you
have to ask yourself,

"What happened to all the people?"

You go inside - cobwebs, trash,
crumbling masonry,

tumbledown structures that are
fading or flecked or graffitied.

But through the thick foliage, a
different style of structure

begins to emerge.

We've got something.

It's boarded up, and yet, you can
tell what it is.

This is a control tower.

This is an airfield.

There's one massive building, near
the runways,

clearly an aircraft hangar.

This facility would provide an
escape route

for a ruthless dictator desperately
fleeing justice.

Sven-Uwe Storm grew up nearby,

eager to understand why this site was
out of bounds.

And access is still forbidden,

due to the high risk of unexploded
ordnance.

That's because this location has a
long history as a weapons test site,

which began in the late 1800s.

This was a place where they tested
rifles, artillery, rockets,

and this was a place where Wernher
von Braun,

the father of German rocketry, came
to test his missiles.

They even conducted experiments
on uranium for a German atomic bomb.

But in April 1945, Soviet troops
were rapidly approaching

through these thick forests, as the
allies closed in on Berlin.

In the aftermath of the Second World
War, this complex was incorporated

into Soviet territory.

Germany was carved up among the
victorious allies,

with the Soviets occupying East
Germany.

They split Germany with the Western
powers,

but they also split the city of
Berlin,

which is inside the Soviet zone.

Initially just a line drawn on a map,

in time it would become a physical
wall,

as the two camps polarised along
ideological lines.

The formation of the North Atlantic
Treaty Organisation, or NATO,

in 1949, was seen by the Soviets
as a hostile act.

West Germany joined NATO in 1955,

and Khrushchev formed the Warsaw
Pact in response.

So, now you have these two opposing
alliances, one western, one eastern,

and it feels like things are
hotting up.

And for the Soviets, this is the
front line in the clash

with the Western powers in the Cold
War.

With a thousand miles separating
Moscow from Berlin,

this location was earmarked to
supply that front line.

This is Sperenberg airfield, the key
link between East Germany

and the Soviet Union.

In 1958, the first phase of
construction was rolled out,

as the site was converted into a
military airfield,

capable of handling huge transport
planes.

Anything that the Soviets were
bringing into Germany,

to prepare to fight against NATO,
came into this airport.

In the 1960s, the boundary dividing
Berlin

was fortified by the East German
government.

Desperate to prevent its citizens
from fleeing into West Germany,

they installed guard towers

and ordered any escapees to be shot
and killed.

Overseeing its construction was
Erich Honecker,

and he soon turned his attention
to Sperenberg Airbase.

Honecker was one of the key people
in building the Berlin Wall.

A ruthless dictator who subjected
all of East Germany

to his unquestioned rule.

Honecker and the Soviet army began
the new phase of construction

at Sperenberg, turning it into a
military airbase

of unparalleled proportions.

The real expansion is in the 1970s,
when you see Soviet bombers,

Soviet fighters, Soviet combat
helicopters

and lots of Soviet civilian
airliners

that are shuttling personnel.

It was the fastest and most direct
link between Moscow and Berlin,

and the only Red Army airport

that also had a civilian terminal
building

for use by families, as well as
musicians

brought in for troop entertainment.

Sperenberg base became the most
valuable military airfield

in East Germany. There's no doubt
about that.

But just as Sperenberg had gone
through a major upgrade,

the Soviets' iron grip on East
Germany began to loosen.

Numerous pro-independence groups
began to form as people demanded

things like democratic elections,
freedom of speech

and the withdrawal of Soviet troops.

Honecker refused to shift his ground
at all

and kept insisting that using the
security service, the Stasi,

which had informers everywhere and
thousands of agents,

that he would just repress all
dissent in East Germany.

And he nearly pulled it off.

The East Germans were one of the
last Warsaw Pact nations to rebel.

The Berlin Wall was being ripped
down by Berliners East and West.

As the Soviet Union began the
mammoth task of withdrawing

360,000 troops and their families
from across Eastern Europe,

the new government brought charges
against Honecker.

As East Germany frees itself from
the one-party control,

a hunt is on for these creatures
of the communist regime,

chief among them Honecker.

Everybody knew that Honecker had
approved orders

for East German border guards to
shoot to kill

if anybody tried to escape East
Germany.

That meant that Honecker had a
noose around his neck.

On the run, and desperate to avoid a
show trial,

Honecker turned to his overlords in
Moscow.

The last thing anybody needs is a
trial with Erich Honecker

talking about the truth of the East
German communist regime.

So, Sperenberg, throughout this
period, is in Soviet hands

as they shuttle people home
using this air base.

You know, hundreds of thousands of
Soviet troops and, and family

that were housed in East Germany.

So, in March 1991, Soviet communists
see an opportunity to spirit

Honecker out of East Germany.

Under the cover of darkness,

he was brought to Sperenberg by
Soviet troops.

The couple then boarded a plane on
the airstrip,

right beside the building, destined
for Moscow.

Honecker was later extradited from
Russia to stand trial in Berlin,

appearing in court in November 1992.

Honecker was defiant until the end,

claiming that the Berlin Wall had
saved lives,

that it prevented World War Three,
which would have killed millions.

The trial was quickly abandoned due
to his deteriorating health,

and he died two years later.

At that point in 1994, the last
of the Soviet equipment and people

were still being moved out of
Sperenberg,

but since then the site has remained
abandoned and largely untouched.

Local residents have formed a Museum
Association,

offering guided tours and are pushing
for the 2000-acre complex

to become a Unesco World Heritage
Site.

In the Republic of Ireland, lie the
remains of a doomed vanity project.

We're in County Carlow, an hour
south of Dublin,

in a wet and windy Irish
countryside.

One structure casts a long shadow
over the surrounding landscape.

WOMAN:When you first see the
building,

you almost can't believe it's still
standing.

The place has been hollowed out,
but the walls are still intact.

It's got the parapets and
battlements of a medieval castle.

MAN:Anybody looking up at this tower

would realise that these people
were in charge...

..in charge of their lives, and in
charge of their destiny.

But the owners of this house felt
the ground shifting under their feet.

The building once housed a powerful
and influential family.

But a tide of change was coming to
Ireland,

and this place was caught in the
middle of it.

It went from an aristocratic party
palace to an IRA stronghold.

But one organisation took up
residence here,

whose role in Irish independence
has been almost entirely forgotten.

It's really a privilege to have this
at our doorstep,

and lots of people in Carlow don't
actually know that it's here.

Danny McDaid has dedicated much
of his time to researching this site

and dispelling the many myths that
surround it.

When you look upon this house now
you see a ruin,

a Gothic mansion which has suffered
horrendous damage.

But for me, looking upon it, I see
life.

I see what it was.

This is Duckett's Grove, historical
home of the Duckett family.

The Duckett's were married into the
Protestant elites

and moved to Ireland during the
years of English plantation

and colonisation.

With the marriages that they made
and the money that they made,

they built the Georgian-style house,
a very square basic house.

But then in the 1820s, the Duckett
family starts to massively expand it

and makes it into this gothic
dreamland castle.

This was all about impressing
their rich friends.

So, their rich friends would come
around the corner.

They would look up at this
structure.

You have this magnificent tower,

and even today, almost 200 years
later,

you can see how impressive it still
is.

Duckett's Grove was not just
architecturally impressive,

it was also ahead of its time.

The technological achievements of
the Ducketts was quite amazing.

What you had was pipes leading into
a boiler house

just around the corner.

So they were able to temperature
regulate greenhouses

in the 18th century, and from that
they were able to grow exotic fruits

like melons and strawberries and
tomatoes

and, quite amazingly, pineapples.

This would have seemed like the
lap of luxury to the tenant farmers

who are just living in absolute
poverty in the area around.

The family had a reputation
that matched the extravagance

of the building and surrounding
grounds.

The last of the Duckett line was a
man named William Duckett,

and he was known as quite the
eccentric, quite a philanderer.

He married a much, much younger
woman.

Maria Duckett and William Duckett,
liked nothing more than to party.

They loved a good party. And then
William Duckett

would have ran downstairs to play
the organ to welcome the people in.

Some of the parties would have
lasted for days.

During the Irish Famine, Protestant
William Duckett

extended his generosity to residents
across the county,

regardless of their faith.

He was generally well liked for a
British landlord.

He provided food for the workhouses
and paid good wages.

Here in Carlow, the death rate
during the famine

was less than in other counties, in
part due to Mr Duckett.

But while he offered charity to his
Catholic neighbours,

his wife Maria, a staunch Protestant,
held a different attitude,

one born of bigotry and paranoia.

She felt that she was way above
everybody else.

She had almost a disdain for local
people.

She had a big distrust and probably
a big fear of Catholics.

She was always looking over her
shoulder at her Catholic staff

and the grounds workers.

Anti-British and anti-Protestant
sentiment was sweeping Ireland,

stoking Maria's fears.

And that was soon compounded
by the death of her husband.

William Duckett died in 1908.

But when he died, this house died
with him.

Maria Duckett stopped all the
parties.

She fell out with some of her
neighbours.

So, for eight years, Maria Duckett
led a very solitary life.

And her worst fears were soon
realised.

In April of 1916, Irish Republicans
launched an armed insurrection

against British rule, known as the
Easter Rising.

You can only imagine, if she was
paranoid before,

this must have felt like the end
of the world.

She believed that she'd be rounded
up and be killed.

So she packed it all in, abandons
Duckett's Grove

and leaves for England.

The house became a sitting duck

as the newly-formed Irish Republican
Army prowled the countryside.

The IRA targeted big houses like this

as a symbol of British colonial
oppression

in their fight for independence.

Between just 1919 and 1923, the IRA
looted and burned

almost 300 of these country mansions
across Ireland.

But William Duckett's lasting
reputation in the county

ensured a different fate for his
grand house.

Because they had supplied food
into Carlow during the famine

and because they had kept employment
high, the local people asked the IRA

not to burn Duckett's Grove.

Instead, the army devised a use
for the sprawling mansion

that would grant it a new life.

It's practically already a fortress.

You've got these walled gardens
where you can garrison troops.

There's this giant tower where you
can see everywhere

from over 100 miles.

The property was turned into an IRA
training centre.

Soon three new arrivals would make
their mark on the mansion.

During the Irish War for
independence,

three women were locked up in the
Mountjoy Prison in Dublin,

Mae Bourke, Eithne Coyle and Linda
Kearns.

They were imprisoned for various
Republican activities.

Trading guns, possessing seditious
materials,

generally aiding the revolution.

What happened next made
international headlines.

And a story straight out of the
great escapes from World War II.

They fastened ropes and ladders,
and they escaped.

When they broke out of Mountjoy
Jail in Dublin,

they stole bicycles and they cycled
from Dublin to Duckett's Grove.

The escape plan was orchestrated
by Michael Collins,

the IRA's Director of Intelligence.

Three of the women cycled the 50
miles

to find the previously abandoned
mansion transformed.

It was now a fully-fledged IRA base
occupied by 400 men.

The women quickly set about getting
the camp in order.

They set up an officer's mess,
nursed the wounded back to health,

and even organised concerts to keep
up morale.

But they weren't here just to
support the troops.

They were part of what was known
as Cumann na mBan.

Cumann na mBan was the Irish
Republicans Women's Association.

They were at the heart of the
rebellion in Ireland.

They ran guns.

They supplied intelligence.

They worked in Dublin Castle,
supplying Michael Collins

with information.

They used Duckett's Grove
as a command control centre

for operations against the British.

You might see in old paintings that
there were statues once covering

the grounds of Duckett's Grove,
but most of them are gone now.

The women would use these statues,

these symbols of colonial
oppression,

as target practice, blowing them to
smithereens.

One particular photo of the women
survives, rifles in hand,

standing triumphantly in the door
of the house,

with the Union Jack firmly under
their boots.

In December 1921, the Anglo-Irish
treaty was signed by Michael Collins.

And the IRA training grounds were
dissolved.

But the treaty partitioned the island

into the largely Protestant north

and the predominantly Catholic South,

which would be named the Irish Free
State.

Its status was somewhere between a
province of the British Empire

and an independent republic.

Collins knew this was a compromise
many of his comrades wouldn't abide,

and reportedly said, "I may have just
signed my actual death warrant."

This prophecy came true just months
later as the IRA split in two

and he was assassinated by
Anti-Treaty forces.

Ireland was plunged into a terrible
civil war.

Brother against brother.

After that, the fledgling Irish
state needed money,

so they were selling off lands
belonging to these big houses

all across Ireland.

And Duckett's Grove was no different.

The mansion was sold and its
contents auctioned off.

Stripped of its original grandeur,

it then suffered further humiliation
when it was consumed by fire.

I believe the cause of the fire was
financial,

either insurance or taxes.

Because the bigger the house,
the more taxes people had to pay.

And if a house didn't have a roof,
you didn't pay taxes.

But this magnificent house
was left in ruins...

..in 1933.

Many big houses in Ireland remain
derelict,

but the work of volunteers like
Danny,

has opened Duckett's Grove up to the
public.

The building is wonderful, but it's
the story behind the building.

It's the people that truly bring it
to life.

The role of the Women's Army is
becoming more widely acknowledged,

but the full scope of their
activities may never be known.

As they grew older,

the women who had participated
in revolutionary activities

were very secretive and silent
about their role.

So sadly, because no one documented
what women did cos of patriarchy,

we'll probably never know the full
extent of their role

in the revolution.

In a secluded region of western
Spain,

a peninsula juts out over a vast,
shimmering lake.

WOMAN:We're about 180 miles west
of Madrid.

It's a beautiful area, a glorious
green landscape.

MAN:It's picturesque. It's peaceful.

It's like something out of a fairy
tale.

Except that, there's not a single
soul to be seen.

This imposing ghost town displays
all the hallmarks

of an ancient stronghold.

WOMAN:The whole town is protected
by this high stone wall,

and it's even got its own kind
of castle tower

near the gates guarding it.

Within the walls, the town is laid
out around a large central plaza,

which is bounded by grand
townhouses and civic buildings.

You can imagine that this place
was once bustling with life,

but not any more.

It's a classic frozen-in-time
scenario.

Everyone just up and vanished.

And there's general decay, but no
big obvious clue

as to what caused this abandonment.

Not many people are left

to keep alive the story of what
happened here.

But sisters Vicenta and Rosario, are
some of the last

and recall a vibrant community.

SHE SPEAKS IN SPANISH

The square has been a focal point
since medieval times,

when the town adopted its name,
Granadilla.

The walls went up in the 12th
century.

A couple of hundred years later,
the imposing castle was added.

By the 20th century, this town was
home to over a thousand inhabitants.

It had evolved over more than a
millennium into a bustling town

with 300 family homes.

Though she was young, Vicenta
still fondly recalls family life

in her now ruined home.

Life here was rooted in agriculture
and farming.

But in 1955, Vicenta's childhood
was shattered.

This ancient town was about to have
the life sucked out of it,

thanks to a dictator who came to
prominence in the 1930s.

The Civil War was brutal, a bloody
and violent conflict that claimed

hundreds of thousands of lives.

General Francisco Franco, aided by
his fascist allies, Adolf Hitler

and Benito Mussolini, emerged as
leader in 1939.

But the country had torn itself
apart.

Poverty, poor housing, disease,
drought and famine were rife.

The challenges that Spain faced must
have seemed insurmountable.

Essentially, Franco needed to turn
around

the battle-scarred country's
fortunes.

So, one of the approaches that
General Franco took

was to back these vast civil
engineering projects.

Central to this plan was advances
in irrigation.

Over 600 dams were built between
1939 and 1975.

This was construction on an immense
scale.

The largest of these hydroelectric
dams was to be in the Alagon River,

just 24 miles from Granadilla.

In 1955, officials declared the town
a flood zone

and ordered its inhabitants to
evacuate.

Some began leaving, but to force the
remainder out,

the government declared that the
land,

including the town and the farms,
would become state property

and insisted that not even a chair
be left behind.

Can you imagine what that must
have felt like?

Just to be told to get up and leave

what had been your family's home
for generations?

It must have been absolutely
devastating.

The situation here was far from
unique. The same approach

was being taken to towns and
villages right across Spain,

to make way for these grand
infrastructure projects.

In 1963, the dam was complete and
the floodgates opened on Granadilla.

It completely altered the
surrounding landscape.

These roads that used to lead into
this town

kind of slip beneath the rising
tide.

But there would be a cruel twist to
this tale.

The rising waters turned the hill
on which the town sat,

into a kind of peninsula, but
that's as high as the water got.

The town was completely cut off.

It was surrounded, but the town
itself never actually flooded.

This was the plan all along,

and engineers would have known that
the town wouldn't flood.

In the end, it was either
bureaucratic blunder

or bureaucratic deception.

Either way, for the people there,
what happened was unforgivable.

The key question here is, why
hasn't anyone come back.

In order to prevent the residents
from ever returning to Granadilla,

the flood zone status is still in
effect,

ensuring that no one can live here
permanently.

The town is now a tourist site

and a monument to the many
communities across Spain

that suffered a similar fate at the
hands of the dictatorship.

Subtitles by Red Bee Media