Jewish Archive (Francoist Spain)
The Jewish Archive (Archivo Judaico) was the name given to a collection of documents compiled by the regime of
Prewar
As soon as the Spanish Civil War had ended, the Franco regime enacted legislation like the Law for the Suppression of Freemasonry and Communism of 1940, which legalised repressive actions against those who had supported the Spanish Republic since October 1934.[2] Jews were not included, as according to Álvarez Chillida, the Alhambra Decree of 1492 had already neutralised the "Jewish threat" by its expulsion, and since it remained in force, there was no need for further legislation against the Jews.[3] Otherwise, anti-Semitic rhetoric was present in statements made by Franco as well as his supporters and ideological allies since the late 1920s. Although the regime officially rejected racial anti-Semitism as contradictory to its National Catholic principles, but in practice, it was tolerated. On January 25, 1938, General Gonzalo Quiepo de Llano imposed a fine of 138,000 pesetas on the Jewish community of Seville 18 months after his forces took over the region. In one of his nightly radio broadcasts, he had accused the Jews of Spain of spending trillions of pesetas on the "promotion of Communism and the preparation of revolutions" by their tithes to the "supreme council, known as the Kahal". A department store founded by Jewish refugees in Zaragoza was also closed down and confiscated. In early 1939, one year after Franco's Directorate of General Security formally began police cooperation with the German Gestapo and before the military conflict came to an end, agents of the Gestapo raided the synagogue in Barcelona and committed a number of desecrations. The local authorities refused a hearing to the Jewish community, and German Jewish refugees who called on the German consulate general were also arrested.
Wartime
By 1940, a "Jewish department" was established, alongside the "Freemasonry department", under the direction of Eduardo Comín Colomer. Both were incorporated into the anti-Marxism section of the Directorate of General Security, headed by José Finat y Escrivá de Romaní, Count of Mayalde. Mayalde was "a representative of the fascistised Catholic Right who previously held the post of national delegate for information and investigation in the Falange and was very close to the cuñadísimo Ramón Serrano Suñer".[4]
Furthermore, a so-called "Special Brigade" was created, at whose head Mayalde named the virulent anti-Semitic
The Jewish Archive was compiled covertly by the "Special Brigade" and consisted of police records provided by the provincial governors on "activities of Jewish character" that occurred in their jurisdictions.[5] According to José Luis Rodríguez Jiménez, the Spanish police were usually able to hand over to Germany wanted persons. That collaboration came to a halt, as the tide of the Second World War changed.[6]
In May 1941, Mayalde stepped down as Director of General Security to take up the post as Spanish Ambassador to Berlin. Mayalde had issued the following circular to the provincial governors on May 5, his final day in the former post:
...[envíen a la central informes individuales de] los israelitas nacionales y extranjeros afincados en esa provincia (...) indicando su filiación personal y político-social, medios de vida, actividades comerciales, situación actual, grado de peligrosidad y conceptuación policial.... Las personas objeto de la medida que le encomiendo han de ser principalmente aquellas de origen español designadas con el nombre de sefardíes, puesto que por su adaptación al ambiente y similitud con nuestro temperamento poseen mayores garantías de ocultar su origen y hasta pasar desapercibidas sin posibilidad alguna de coartar el alcance de fáciles manejos perturbadores.
The Archivo Judaico came about as a result, the abbreviation AJ appearing in the records. One of them concerned a woman in Barcelona with no known political affiliation: "Se le supone la peligrosidad propia de la raza judía (sefardita)". The word "Jew" would be written in red ink on permits.[7]
Jewish victims
Spanish Jews who fell foul of Francoist legislation against Freemasonry and sympathy for the Spanish Republic included
Towards the end of the war, the Jewish Archive, along with other materials that suggested knowledge of the "probable final destination of the Spanish Jews", was destroyed as the Franco regime sought to downplay its collaboration with the Axis powers to the United Nations and to emphasise its supposed role during the war in the ferrying of Jews through Spain from occupied Europe.
References
- ^ Reverte, Jorge M. (20 June 2010). "Reportaje: el regalo de Franco a Hitler. La lista de Franco para el Holocausto". El País. Retrieved 20 June 2010.
- ^ Rodríguez Jiménez, José Luis (2007). El antisemitismo en el franquismo y en la transición. p. 253.
- ^ Álvarez Chillida, Gonzalo (2002). El Antisemitismo en España. La imagen del judío (1812-2002). p. 402.
- ^ Rodríguez Jiménez, José Luis (2007). El antisemitismo en el franquismo y en la transición. p. 253.
- ^ Pérez, Joseph (2009). Los judíos en España. p. 195.
- ^ Rodríguez Jiménez, José Luis (2007), El antisemitismo en el franquismo y en la transición, pp. 253–254
- ^ Álvarez Chillida, Gonzalo (2002). El Antisemitismo en España. La imagen del judío (1812-2002). pp. 402–403.
- ^ Álvarez Chillida, Gonzalo (2002). El Antisemitismo en España. La imagen del judío (1812-2002). pp. 403–404.
Sources
- Álvarez Chillida, Gonzalo (2002). El Antisemitismo en España. La imagen del judío (1812-2002). Madrid: Marcial Pons. ISBN 978-84-95379-49-8.
- Israel Garzón, Jacobo. "El archivo judaico del franquismo", en Raíces: Revista judía de cultura, ISSN 0212-6753, Nº 33, 1997, pags. 57-60.
- Israel Garzón, Jacobo (2007). Espana y El Holocausto (1939-1945): Historia y Testimonios. Madrid: Federacion de Comunidades Judias de Espana. ISBN 978-8461148097.
- ISBN 978-84-96467-03-3.
- ISBN 978-0300151220.
- ISBN 978-8496642713.
- Martín de Pozuelo, Eduardo (2007). Los secretos del franquismo. Barcelona: Libros de Vanguardia. ISBN 978-8496642270.
- ISBN 978-0-00-255634-7.
- Preston, Paul (1994). Franco: A Biography. London: Fontana Press. ISBN 978-0006862109.
- ISBN 978-84-8427-471-1.
- ISBN 978-1-84519-182-5.
External links
- Revista Raíces
- Jorge M. Reverte, "La lista de Franco para el Holocausto", El País, 20 de junio de 2010.