Franco and the Genocide of Jews ("La Vanguardia", Spain)
Until now, no one remembered Franco when it came to the Holocaust, as if pro-Nazi Spain in the early forties, described in detail in the once-classified documents, looked from afar at how Nazi Germany deported and killed millions of Jews and other minorities. But the reality, terrible, documented in detail, shows that Franco could save tens of thousands of Sephardi, but preferred to let them die, despite repeated ultimatums of the German leadership, who warned Franco about extreme measures (read about extermination) against Sephardic Jews, if Spain is not will be able to accept them.
The conclusion from the documentary study released in the book format, which Magazine announces, has several key points, the first of which is that there is almost no doubt that the Nazis encouraged the coup d'état in Spain in July 1936 of the year, which did not stopped supporting until Franco won in 1939. Thanks to German support, Franco - that is, in fact, his Franco-style regime - led Spain along the German path rather than Italian, so that it can be said that the nature of Francoism is perceived more as Nazi than fascist. Indeed, after the victory of the Frankists in the civil war, the Third Reich landed in Spain with a landing force with a total number of possessions, weapons and people far beyond the quantitative presence of any other country that participated in the upcoming world war. As a result, the Germans had a great influence on Spanish politics and economics, including the press, and as soon as World War II began, the relations between the Nazi elite, on the one hand, and Franco and his ministers, on the other, were very close, and the new Germany, whose empire was supposed to exist for a thousand years, treated with the highest favor with the generalissimo. Such a special attitude was expressed in the proposal of the Nazis to Franco to take the decision on the fate of the Spanish Jews scattered throughout Europe, who were planned to be destroyed on an industrial scale. Even being well aware of the reports of the Spanish ambassadors - witnesses of the deportations and the fate that was prepared for the Jews, Franco, however, did not save them. Thus, the Spanish dictatorship became an active partner in the Holocaust.
The proposal of the Nazis to send a spanish Juden (Spanish Jews) to Spain, the Nazis called these Jews in all documents, it was not a ridiculous accident, which was then quickly forgotten. Just the opposite. This question was of great importance, it was accompanied by hundreds of documents, telegrams, orders and instructions of the Department of Jewish Affairs of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Germany, the German Embassy in Madrid and the Spanish Ministry of Foreign Affairs. And due to Franco’s special status, the Third Reich repeatedly insistently informed “his friend” both in writing and through diplomatic channels through his diplomats about the possible dispatch of thousands of Jews to Spain. The Nazis were so much carried with their Spanish friend that they kept many imprisoned Jews without deportation, expecting a positive response from Franco, which they never received. Meanwhile, the Germans, on their own initiative, extended the expulsion deadline (March and April 1943), so that Franco had more time to respond.
We learn a brief description of what happened thanks to Eberhard von Thadden, the link between von Ribbentrop (foreign minister) and Adolf Eichmann (responsible for deportation), in a coded dispatch for the German embassy in Madrid, which he sent on December 27 1943 of the year: “During the negotiations that took place between 1942 and February 1943, the Spanish government insisted on its disinterest in Spanish Jews. Later [the German side] allowed the repatriation of all Spanish Jews. Spain repeatedly failed to meet the deadline for organizing their return. (...) However, as a precautionary measure, the expulsion of Spanish Jews began only on November 16. Please clearly explain the situation to the Spanish government and emphasize that the Reich government has done everything possible to solve this problem in a peaceful way and avoid complications. We did just that in view of Spanish citizenship [of the Jews], although it can be assumed with a great degree of confidence that all Jews are anti-German. ”
Does the Nazi proposal have a certain amount of sympathy towards Sephardic Jews? No, this was not the question. The reason for this was friendly relations with Spain, as well as a reduction in the cost of the destruction of the Jews. That is, before proceeding fully with the implementation of the final solution of the Jewish question, the Reich government made it possible for his friend Franco to decide for himself about the fate of the Juden spanischer, so that if he accepted them and dealt with them according to his preferences - and the Germans thought - the Nazi machine for the extermination of the Jews would require significantly less resources.
Perhaps, as a result of these events, another question will arise: what prompted Franco to show such insensitivity and such anti-Semitism? The documents found provide only a partial answer. There are many documents devoted to this issue and even analyzing it, and in some of them a slightest explanation slips. For example, an encrypted telegram from 22 February 1943 of the year, sent by Ambassador Hans von Moltke, who shortly before this once again insisted on resolving the issue in a conversation with the Spanish government and who reported to Berlin: "... The Spanish government decided not to allow the Spaniards of the Jewish race return to Spain residing in territories under German jurisdiction, adding later, the Spanish government leaves the Spanish Jews to the mercy of fate. ” And after his other considerations, he wrote: “The Director General [he meant Spanish diplomat José Maria Dusinage] said that these Jews are likely to be more dangerous in Spain than in other countries, because American and British agents immediately they would be recruited for further propaganda purposes against the Axis powers, especially against Germany. In addition, Mr. Dusinage did not express much interest in this issue from Spain. I am waiting for further orders. Signature: Moltke.
It is impossible not to notice that this short text presents evidence that, in the eyes of the Francoists, Jews represented a great “danger”, in complete harmony with the above mentioned Eberhard von Thadden’s idea that he was a Jew, simply because Jew, always opposed to the Germans. One more detail should be emphasized: in the comments of Dusinage, which Moltke reported on, it is clearly seen how the representatives of the highest echelons of the dictatorship Franco did not believe in Spain’s declared neutrality in World War II, because the Spanish diplomat called the “Americans and the British” without hesitation enemies.
The regime existed in complete agreement with Berlin and, despite repeated — of course, secret — ultimatums from the Germans, who unambiguously warned the Spanish government about the extreme measures to be taken against the Jewish community, Franco objected to his salvation, but did not forget to demand return the property and money of the murdered Jews, in which case they were recognized as full Spanish citizens. It seems that the following document shows the real face of the regime. It was compiled at the Spanish embassy in Berlin, and the paragraph in which we are interested reads: “(...) The Spanish embassy asks the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (German) to contact the relevant authorities and explain to them that the property of the Spanish Jews left by their departure from France, Belgium and the Netherlands, should be made available to the Spanish consuls or representatives of Spain and should remain at their disposal due to its property status of the Spanish nationals and, therefore, the national property of the Spanish and. Berlin, February 25 1943.
This story has another, tragic, but very heroic part. While deportations were carried out and Spain denied the right to life to thousands of people, some Spanish diplomats, horrified by what was happening, acted independently against orders from Madrid. Forging documents, they managed to save hundreds of people. All of them informed Madrid about the genocide through secret telegrams, and two of them, Angel Sans Bris from Budapest (Hungary) and Julio Palencia from the Spanish Embassy in Sofia (Bulgaria), were toughly frank in their messages. The first of them, who knew about the Auschwitz protocol, spoke about the killings in gas chambers, and the second, also a witness to the events, reported from the embassy in Madrid about the human tragedy unfolding before his eyes. Julio Palencia, with respect inherent in a civil servant under the dictatorship, wrote several letters to the Minister of Foreign Affairs, the reading of which touches even the most insensitive: "... if your Highness deems it worthy to take into account my proposal ... allow me some flexibility in issuing visas to Israelis not what nationality or status is important ... because the Jews were victims of such cruel and bloody persecution that even the most balanced and cold person will be horrified at the sight of all the injustice and nightmare created local authorities ... "- from a letter from Palencia 14 September 1942 years. When the minister does not allow Palencia to issue visas, he, in desperation from impotence, adopted two young Jews in order to save those from death. Three years later, when the world war changed its vector of development and the allies put pressure on Franco, the latter appropriated the heroic actions of these diplomats in order to win the winners.
Years passed, Franco died in his bed, and young Juan Carlos secretly maneuvered in favor of democracy under the watchful eye of European and American intelligence services. His actions, many of which were undertaken in collusion with Adolfo Suárez, are described in detail in published documents: Juan Carlos, at the limit of his strength, tried to leave behind such dark episodes from the past as described above. It was a time of transition and change.
Western intelligence noted everything for themselves, even the way Adolfo Suárez drew up a plan for the restructuring of Spain, which was strictly executed no matter what. The book explains all this. And a little later, during the time of the new Spain, don Juan Carlos was the first head of the Spanish state, who paid tribute to the victims of the Holocaust at Yad Vashem, distancing themselves from the terrible historical legacy of Franco and the Spanish queen Isabella of Castile, who admired the Nazis - they dedicated several to her reports that would have sounded quite ridiculous if there were no slaughterhouses of colossal proportions behind them.
But not all that is carefully hidden, applies only to Spain. Allies must also explain something. The secret message from Sir Harold McMichael, the British High Commissioner in the Palestine Protectorate sent by 15 June 1944 to Sir Anthony Eden, who was British Foreign Secretary at the time and later became Prime Minister, says, among other things: “The Nazis hope to get some relief from Allies, not killing two million Jews now, believing that this will help us forget that they have already killed six million. " In other words, at the very height of the war, like Franco, the allies knew exactly what was happening in the death camps. The question is obvious: what did they do to avoid it?
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