Upon the end of the Civil War, the Special Documentation Delegation of the Francoist apparatus confiscated tons of administrative documentation from the Generalitat and various entities with a clear repressive purpose. Among this documentation were the papers of the Generalitat's Subsidy Office, with the name, political affiliation, place of birth, and the fronts and columns where 37,002 militiamen and women had fought. Whether men or women, and regardless of their rank, they earned 10 pesetas daily. This documentation, after a long and intense mobilization of Catalan civil society, returned to Catalonia in 2006. It was the first intake, of 500 bundles, that arrived at the National Archive of Catalonia (ANC). This collection has made it possible for the Memorial Democràtic, with the collaboration of the archive, to create a public database of militiamen."With this tool, relatives and researchers will be able to find the life trajectories of their relatives," assures historian Gonzalo Berger, doctor in contemporary history from the University of Barcelona and specialist in militias. Berger has led the research that culminates eleven years of research initiated with his doctoral thesis. The human value of this tool is evident in testimonies like that of Marta Domper, who for years searched for proof of the history of her great-uncle, Joaquim Domper. "Sometimes I had even asked myself if he had really existed – she explains–. At home, my great-uncle had always been spoken of as a hero. He was from the CNT and went as a volunteer to fight against the rebels." Afterwards, he went to France to fight with the Resistance and never returned to Spain.

The Democratic Memorial was founded in 2007 with the aim of preserving the democratic memory of Catalonia through tributes, exhibitions, activities, and research. Over the years, it has had periods of greater or lesser activity, but also stages in which it has been cleared of content, budget, and personnel. "It is not attached to either the Government or Parliament, to avoid situations of inactivity or partisan exchange as has been experienced at some periods in its history," they assert. The signatories of the manifesto lament that some individuals, entities, institutions, and political parties believe that talking about memory "is a thing of the past." They argue that talking about the right to memory, truth, and normal justice in a democratic society."