Attitudes towards the Jews (13 March 2017, 15 Adar, 5777)
See Also: Spain Tested. Hispanics as Israelites?
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In answer to the Quora question. No. It is not true.
The Spanish helped the Nazis to some degree and they also helped save Jews to some degree. They could have done more but we have to be grateful for what they did.
It needs also to be remembered that Spanish assistance to Jewish refugees was at least in part forced on it by the imperative not to unduly antagonize the Allies.
These issues are discussed briefly in the article below.
Contents:
1. Historical Background
2. The Spanish Civil War
3. Was Franco Jewish?
4. World War-2
5. Churchill Intervenes on Behalf of the Jews
6. Spanish Heroism Existed to Some Degree
7. After the War
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1. Historical Background
The Spanish had exiled the Jews from Spain in 1492 and initiated a policy of vicious persecution in which 100s of thousands of Jews and people of Jewish descent perished.
There was always a strong anti-Jewish element in Spain.
This is also the case at present. Spain is nearly always usually critical of Israel though there have been occasions in the past when Spain helped.
See:
SPAIN AND THE JEWS by Yair Davidy
http://britam.org/spain.html
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2. The Spanish Civil War
The attitude of Spain during World War-2 needs tob e considered against the background of the Spanish Civil War which left the rulers of Spain under a certain obligation to Germany and Italy.
The Spanish Civil War 1936-1939 had been fought by left-wing Republican against right-wing Nationalist under General Franco.
The Nationalists had received munitions and soldiers, from Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy and an air force from Germany.
The Republicans were reinforced by volunteers from all over the world and from Communist Russia.
The Nationalists were victorious.
Many of the defeated Republicans fled to Britain and served in the Free French forces, or they went to France and served in the Resistance..
During World War -2 many Jews were saved by the Spanish. These include members of the family of a friend of mine.
The attitude of Spain was ambivalent and perplexing as shown below.
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3. Was Franco Jewish?
Generalissimo Francisco Franco (1892-1975) was a devout Catholic. Franco may have had some Jewish ancestry on both his father's and mother's sides. There were rumors to that effect but no-one knows for sure and he may not have known. He was reported to have been friendly towards Jews in Spanish Morocco when serving there in the 1920s.
Franco however in general spoke badly of the Jews and was prejudiced against them.
At his victory parade in May 1939, Franco vowed to remain alert to the "Jewish spirit which permitted the alliance of big capital with Marxism"
A few months later, he severely criticized England and France and justified the persecution of "those races marked by the stigma of their greed and self-interest".
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4. World War-2
The Second World War had began with the German invasion of Poland in September 1939. In June 1940 France surrendered.
The Government of Spain was divided between those who were sympathetic to the Germans and those who supported the Allies.
In May 13, 1941, an order went out to prepare lists of Jews in Spain including Spaniards of Jewish descent. This list was later handed to Himmler.
The Blue Division of Spanish ca. 19,000 volunteers was trained in Germany and served against Russia. Another 26,000 Spanish volunteers also served the Germans in various capacities.
Spain had seemed pro-Axis at the beginning of the war but Franco evaded full participation.
On November 6, 1937, Italy and Spain had joined Germany and Japan in the Anti-Comitern Pact directed against Communism.
Franco was under pressure to allow German troops to move through Spain and attack Gibraltar. Franco said he preferred to wait until Britain was on the verge of collapse before joining the Axis.
Carmen Franco Polo, the daughter of Franco, says he feared being abducted by the Germans to force Spain into the Second World War.
With the collapse of France many Jews tried to escape German clutches. Spain bordered France to the south and was an avenue of escape. Spain in 1940 and 1941 issued strict orders against allowing refugees to enter its territory.
Nevertheless tens of thousands did enter. Most of them passed through Portugal to Britain and the USA, etc. From 20,000 to 30,000 Jews passed through Spain.
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5. Churchill Intervenes on Behalf of the Jews
In 1942 the Germans proceeded to send Jews from France, Belgium, Luxembourg, and the Netherlands to concentration camps in the east, to be killed there. Many Jews managed to flee to Spain but were arrested by the Spanish authorities who intended to return them to France. This would have meant certain death for them. Spain was warned that the fate of these refugees would have a major impact on Allied policy on Spain.
Martin Gilbert, "Churchill and the Jews," 2007, p. 197, tells us:
#... On 7 April, Churchill protested at the Spanish Government's closure of the Franco-Spanish frontiers in the Pyrenees to Jewish refugees. Churchill told the ambassador [of Spain] 'that if his Government went to the length of preventing these unfortunate people seeking safety from the horrors of Nazi domination, and if they went further and committed the offence of actually handing them back to German authorities, that was a thing which would never be forgotten and would poison the relations between the Spanish and British peoples.'
# Churchill was able to see, from intercepted diplomatic telegrams from the Spanish Ambassador in London to his government in Madrid, that the message was passed on. He also learned within a few days that the Spanish authorities had re-opened the border for Jewish refugees. #
In April 1943 Spain announced that it would admit refugees,
"as long as some other party would provide for their care and the refugees would leave the country as fast as they could."
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6. Spanish Heroism Existed to Some Degree
Individual Spanish officials in occupied Europe (e.g. Hungary) helped Jews. The Germans in 1943 asked the Spanish to remove all its Jewish citizens from Western Europe. The Spanish issued entry visas for 800 though 4,000 could have been allowed if Spain had have so wished.
In 1944 in Hungary the Spanish diplomat Angel Sanz Briz, and, later, Giorgio Perlasca, an Italian attached to the Spanish legation, by issuing passports, etc, saved about 5,200 Hungarian Jews.
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7. After the War
After the war, in 1949 Israel voted against Spain being admitted to the UN. Abba Eban, the Israeli ambassador to the UN stated that Spain had aided and abetted Hitler's persecution of the Jews.
The Spanish Foreign Ministry rushed a rebuttal of over 50 pages. It was claimed that Spanish diplomats had saved the lives of 50,000 Jews.
Spain under Franco did not recognize the State of Israel. The Spanish government claimed there was an international conspiracy of Jews and Freemasons against Spain.
"Most Spanish opinion viewed the Zionists as tools of both Anglo-American (Protestant) as well as Soviet communist influence and power. "
Nevertheless,
# Despite the lack of diplomatic ties, the Franco government helped Jewish emigration from Morocco in the 1960s and, during the Six-Day War in 1967, issued Laissez-Passer documents to Egyptian Jews, enabling them to emigrate.#
Only in January 1986 did Spain formally recognize the State of Israel.
Hatred of Jews in Spain is still rampant:
# According to the Pew Research Center's most recent report, nearly half of all Spaniards now have negative views of Jews compared to 36% of Poles, 25% in Germany, 20% in France and only 7% in the United States. #
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Sources:
Spain -
Shoah Resource Center, The International School for Holocaust Studies (Yad VeShem)
http://www.yadvashem.org/odot_pdf/Microsoft%20Word%20-%206034.pdf
Was Franco the 'good' fascist?
https://www.thejc.com/comment/comment/was-franco-the-good-fascist-1.62863
General Franco gave list of Spanish Jews to Nazis
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2010/jun/20/franco-gave-list-spanish-jews-nazis
WWII Document Reveals: General Franco Handed Nazis List of Spanish Jews
by Ofer Aderet
http://www.haaretz.com/wwii-document-reveals-general-franco-handed-nazis-list-of-spanish-jews-1.297546
Spain and Israel - A Tale of Many Turns by Norman Berdichevsky
http://www.newenglishreview.org/Norman_Berdichevsky/Spain_and_Israel_-_A_Tale_of_Many_Turns/
See Also: Spain Tested
