![Himmler in San Sebastian with Jose Finat and Gerardo Caballero Olabezar [es]. Autoridades alemanas como el ministro de Interior Heinrich Himmler (3 de 3) - Fondo Marin-Kutxa Fototeka.jpg](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/7/7b/Autoridades_alemanas_como_el_ministro_de_Interior_Heinrich_Himmler_%283_de_3%29_-_Fondo_Mar%C3%ADn-Kutxa_Fototeka.jpg/220px-Autoridades_alemanas_como_el_ministro_de_Interior_Heinrich_Himmler_%283_de_3%29_-_Fondo_Mar%C3%ADn-Kutxa_Fototeka.jpg)
The visit of Nazi leader Heinrich Himmler to Spain in October 1940 had a major propaganda component for the Francoist regime, which at that time was invested in a diplomatic rapprochement with Nazi Germany with the anticipation of Spain's entry into World War II in support of the Axis powers. Himmler's stay in Spain took place between 19 and 24 October. [1] It was one of the very few trips that the Nazi leader made to neutral countries. [2]
Himmler had accepted the invitation extended by Director General of Security José Finat y Escrivá de Romaní, whom he had met in Berlin in August of that year. [3] The main purpose of the visit was to inspect the Spanish security forces, discuss Spanish-German police cooperation, and prepare for the planned meeting between Franco and Hitler. [4] However, the official version at the time depicted this visit more like a mere tourist trip. [2]
Himmler was accompanied by a German entourage, including close collaborators such as Karl Wolff and Joachim Peiper. [5] [6] On the morning of 19 October, the Nazi leader entered the country via the border control checkpoint at Irun, where he was received by, among others, the director general of security; the commander of the Sixth Military Region , General José López-Pinto Berizo ; the German ambassador to Spain, Eberhard von Stohrer; the head of the Gestapo in Madrid, Paul Winzer ; and the president of the Nazi Party in Spain, Hans Thomsen . [7] [8] Shortly after crossing the border, he stopped in San Sebastián, [9] where he was the guest of honor of the local authorities and visited various sites. He made another stop in Burgos and visited its famous cathedral. [10] While in this city, he met and had dinner with Franco. [7]
On the morning of 20 October, he arrived at the Estación del Norte railway station in Madrid, where he was received by a military retinue, the German ambassador in Madrid and Ramón Serrano Suñer. [lower-alpha 1] In the streets of the capital city, decorated with Nazi flags, he was received by Falangists in uniform and members of the Armed Police Corps. [2] [11] The regime's official newspaper, Arriba , was not sparing of praise for the foreign dignitary, going so far as to comment con hombres como Himmler llegan a su cenit los Estados fuertes. [lower-alpha 2] [11] After meeting with Serrano Suñer at the headquarters of the Foreign Ministry, Franco received him at the Royal Palace of El Pardo. The Spanish dictator, who—according to British Ambassador Samuel Hoare—had received Himmler like a "sovereign prince," made a poor impression on the Nazi leader. [12] Himmler later attended a bullfight offered in his honor at the Las Ventas ring, organized by José Finat himself. [13] As the newspaper of the Nazi Party, Völkischer Beobachter , reported it, he was greeted with great applause upon his arrival. [2] Bullfighters Pepe Luis Vázquez , Marcial Lalanda , and Rafael Ortega Gómez (Gallito) took part in the bullfight. [14] The head of the SS was horrified by what he saw and would later express his displeasure with the bullfight, [15] referring to it as a "cruel" spectacle. [16]
Serrano Suñer used this visit to boost his political position within the regime. Since he was not satisfied with the coverage by the regime's press outlets, he gave instructions to Enrique Giménez-Arnau —the general director of the press—so that newspapers such as ABC , Ya , or Arriba would [estar] a la altura de las circunstancias. [lower-alpha 3] [17]
The following day, Himmler traveled to El Escorial [lower-alpha 4] and to the former capital of the Visigothic Kingdom, Toledo, where he toured the ruins of the Alcázar. Spanish archaeologist Julio Martínez Santa-Olalla , an ardent Nazi sympathizer, was assigned to the entourage and accompanied Himmler during these visits. [19] In the evening, the head of the SS attended a dinner at the Hotel Ritz in Madrid, organized by José Finat, at which the top Falangist officials were also in attendance. [20] In the morning of 22 October, Himmler paid a visit to the Prado Museum, [21] the headquarters of Falangist aid organization Auxilio Social , and the National Archaeological Museum—where he meticulously studied a map of the Germanic invasions—and then in the afternoon, gave a speech at the Madrid headquarters of the Nazi Party. [22] During his speech, Himmler announced that "all Jews from the Greater Germanic Reich would be placed in a 'closed ghetto' in the General Government." [23]
After their stay in the capital, the German entourage headed to Barcelona by plane. In the morning of 23 October, Himmler landed in El Prat Airport, [24] where he was received by military and civilian authorities. [25] Accompanied by the Captain General of Catalonia, General Luis Orgaz Yoldi, and Barcelona Mayor Miguel Mateu y Pla , he attended a folklore presentation at the Poble Espanyol in Montjuïc. In Barcelona, Himmler and his entourage stayed at the Ritz . [26] At around 3:30 p.m., the entourage went to visit the Montserrat Abbey, well known in relation to the Holy Grail tradition. In fact, Himmler firmly believed that Montserrat was really the "Monsalvat" depicted in Richard Wagner's opera Parsifal . [27] One of the monks, Andreu Ripoll Noble, was the only one who could speak German and thus he served as interpreter for the group of visitors. [18] Himmler—who on several occasions explained to the monks the Germanic and pagan origin of Montserrat—asked to see the archives related to the location of the Holy Grail, although the monks pointed out to him that it was not there. [28] Upon their return to Barcelona, the members of the entourage visited the German consulate and later attended a dinner hosted by the City Council. After the dinner, Himmler and other Francoist leaders visited a former Republican checa located in Vallmajor street. [29] The following day, he boarded a plane and returned to Germany. [22]
It so happened that while the Nazi leader was in Barcelona, his portfolio, carrying secret documents, went missing. [lower-alpha 5]
During his tour around Spain, Himmler also visited some prisons and Francoist concentration camps. [28] [31] The Nazi leader was stunned by the magnitude and harshness of the Francoist repression. [32] Nonetheless, his reaction was not motivated by humanitarian reasons. Rather, by the fact that he believed the level of repression was "politically" counterproductive [33] and also because of how absurd it was to exterminate valuable labor when there was an urgent need for workers in order to rebuild the country. [28] In light of the depressed atmosphere that Himmler found during his stay in the capital, he recommended Franco and Serrano Suñer to turn the page "so as to prevent all national life from continuing to revolve around the national tragedy." [11]
Himmler held several meetings with Serrano, after which they reached an agreement to strengthen the political and police cooperation between both countries: [34] the Gestapo would open an office at the German Embassy in Madrid and the Sicherheitsdienst (SD) would establish delegations in each German consulate in Spanish soil, [12] while the Nazi agents acting in the Spanish territory would have diplomatic immunity. In return, Spanish agents acting in Germany and occupied France would also have immunity. [3] Likewise, Himmler made sure that one of his deputies who was already operating in the country, Paul Winzer , would train the new Spanish secret police. [35] These agreements would ultimately join the one signed in 1938, which provided for the mutual extradition of detainees between both countries and the establishment of an SD network. Apart from police matters, some issues related to Nazi propaganda in Spain were also discussed. [4]
Ramón Serrano Suñer, was a Spanish politician during the first stages of the Francoist dictatorship, between 1938 and 1942, when he held the posts of President of the FET y de las JONS caucus (1936), and then Interior Minister and Foreign Affairs Minister. A neofalangist originally from the CEDA, Serrano Suñer came to embody the most totalitarian impetus within the regime. Serrano Suñer was known for his pro-Third Reich stance during World War II, when he supported the sending of the Blue Division to fight along with the Wehrmacht on the Russian front. He was also the brother-in-law of Francisco Franco's wife Carmen Polo, for which he was informally nicknamed Cuñadísimo or the "most brother-in-law".
The 250th Infantry Division, better known as the Blue Division, was a unit of volunteers from Francoist Spain operating from 1941 to 1944 within the German Army on the Eastern Front during World War II. It was officially designated the Spanish Volunteer Division by the Spanish Army.
Joachim Peiper was a German Schutzstaffel (SS) officer and war criminal. During the Second World War in Europe, Peiper served as personal adjutant to Heinrich Himmler, leader of the SS, and as a tank commander in the Waffen-SS. German historian Jens Westemeier writes that Peiper personified Nazi ideology, as a purportedly ruthless glory-hound commander who was indifferent to the combat casualties of Battle Group Peiper, and who tolerated, expected, and indeed encouraged war crimes by his Waffen-SS soldiers.
National Catholicism was part of the ideological identity of Francoism, the political system through which the Spanish dictator Francisco Franco governed the Spanish State between 1939 and 1975. Its most visible manifestation was the hegemony that the Catholic Church had in all aspects of public and private life. As a symbol of the ideological divisions within Francoism, it can be contrasted to national syndicalism, an essential component of the ideology and political practice of the Falangists.
The Falange Española Tradicionalista y de las Juntas de Ofensiva Nacional Sindicalista, frequently shortened to just "FET", was the sole legal party of the Francoist regime in Spain. It was created by General Francisco Franco in 1937 as a merger of the fascist Falange Española de las JONS with the monarchist neo-absolutist and integralist Catholic Traditionalist Communion belonging to the Carlist movement. In addition to the resemblance of names, the party formally retained most of the platform of FE de las JONS and a similar inner structure. In force until April 1977, it was rebranded as the Movimiento Nacional in 1958.
In the history of Spain, the White Terror describes the political repression, including executions and rapes, which were carried out by the Nationalist faction during the Spanish Civil War (1936–1939), as well as during the following years of the regime of General Francisco Franco. In the 1936–1975 period, Francoist Spain had many officially designated enemies: Loyalists to the Second Spanish Republic (1931–1939), Liberals, socialists of different stripes, Protestants, intellectuals, homosexual people, Freemasons, Romanis, Jews, Black people, immigrants, Basque, Catalan, Andalusian and Galician nationalists.
Onésimo Redondo Ortega was a Spanish Falangist politician. He founded the Juntas Castellanas de Actuación Hispánica, a political group that merged with Ramiro Ledesma's Juntas de Ofensiva Nacional-Sindicalista and José Antonio Primo de Rivera's Falange Española.
Gabriel Arias–Salgado Montalvo was a Spanish politician of Falangist ideology, who held positions during the Franco dictatorship.
Dionisio Ridruejo Jiménez was a Spanish poet and political figure associated with the Generation of '36 movement and a member of the Falange political party. He was co-author of the words to the Falangist anthem Cara al Sol. In later years he fell from favour with the Francoist State and eventually became associated with opposition groups.
Alejandro Rodríguez de Valcárcel y Nebreda was a Spanish falangist politician and State lawyer, who served in important positions during the dictatorship of Francisco Franco.
The Nationalist faction or Rebel faction was a major faction in the Spanish Civil War of 1936 to 1939. It was composed of a variety of right-leaning political groups that supported the Spanish Coup of July 1936 against the Second Spanish Republic and Republican faction and sought to depose Manuel Azaña, including the Falange, the CEDA, and two rival monarchist claimants: the Alfonsist Renovación Española and the Carlist Traditionalist Communion. In 1937, all the groups were merged into the FET y de las JONS. After the death of the faction's early leaders, General Francisco Franco, one of the members of the 1936 coup, headed the Nationalists throughout most of the war, and emerged as the dictator of Spain until his death in 1975.
In Francoist Spain, at least two to three hundred concentration camps operated from 1936 until 1947, some permanent and many others temporary. The network of camps was an instrument of Franco's repression.
The Jewish Archive was the name given to a collection of documents compiled by the regime of Francisco Franco in Spain during the Second World War. In accordance with instructions of the Directorate of General Security the provincial governors of Spain assembled records of all Jews who lived in Spain, whether or not they were Spanish. Jorge Martínez Reverte has suggested that the resulting list, which recorded 6,000 Jews living in Spain, was handed to Heinrich Himmler's SS in 1941 and was included in Adolf Eichmann's Jewish Population Census, tabled at the Wannsee Conference, chaired by Reinhard Heydrich, in January 1942.
Esteban de Bilbao Eguía, 1st Marquess of Bilbao Eguía was a Spanish politician during the dictatorship of Francisco Franco.
Rafael García Serrano was a Spanish writer and journalist who held a Falangist ideology. As a teenager he joined the Spanish Falange and participated as a combatant on the Nationalist side in the Spanish Civil War.
Ángel Alcázar de Velasco was an apprentice bullfighter, Falangist, journalist and spy.
The Political-Social Brigade, officially the Social Investigation Brigade, was a secret police in Francoist Spain in charge of persecuting and repressing opposition movements. The brigade was a section of the General Police Corps (CGP). During the Spanish transition to democracy, it was restructured and replaced by the Central Information Brigade (BCI). Among the anti-Franco opposition, it was known colloquially as "the Social", "the Secret" or "the Brigade".
The mottos of Francoism are mottos which encapsulate the ideals of the Francoist dictatorship. Although the regime had many ideological influences, it employed Falangism in its popular movements. Falangist ideology was easily incorporated in the creation of mottos as it is believed to demonstrate a certain reluctance towards political agendas, and to favour empiricism, taking action, and the simplification of ideas.
Lo que escondían sus ojos is a Spanish romance television miniseries directed by Salvador Calvo adapting the novel of the same name by Nieves Herrero, which focuses on the adulterous love story between Sonsoles Icaza and Ramón Serrano Suñer. It stars Blanca Suárez and Rubén Cortada. While successful in terms of audience, the miniseries, with limited historical rigor, was decried as a banalization of the Francoist regime and the figure of Serrano Suñer in particular. It aired in 2016 on Telecinco.
The Vice-Secretariat for Popular Education was an internal body of FET y de las JONS existing during the early stages of the Francoist dictatorship in Spain. It took over press and propaganda duties in the country from 1941 up until its dissolution in 1945.
