Can collective memory be considered a moral duty? Are there situations in which it is preferable not to know what happened years ago? These are not only the fundamental dilemmas that inform the heated debates surrounding the representation, public presence, and political manipulation of Spain’s recent past (from the Second Republic to the Transition after the death of Franco). They also now constitute central questions world-wide, with implications that impact international law, philosophy, and politics, among other areas. This talk seeks to examine the current situation in Spain from an international and comparative framework. Its objectives are twofold. First, to clarify the presuppositions that underlie the seemingly irreconcilable stances of the advocates of memory, on the one hand, and the skeptics of memory, on the other. And second, to identify a possible common ground or compromise: conceiving of memory not as a duty but as a right.