Introduction

Spanish-German Relations during the Second World War

Bibliographic Data

ID10073651
AuthorsMercedes Peñalba Sotorrío (0000-0002-2774-7556, Manchester Metropolitan University, corresponding author)
Year2019
Volume54
Issue4
Pages825-833
Publication date2019-09-05
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueJournal of Contemporary History (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0022-0094 • E-ISSN: 1461-7250
PublisherSAGE Publishing (PUBLISHER • US)
DOI10.1177/0022009419861373
OpenAlexW2971442912
LanguageEN
References cited9

The Second World War has had a profound effect on recent history, how we understand Europe and what we consider necessary to build stable democratic societies.At a juncture in which the most important legacy of that conflict, the European Union, is being questioned and where nationalist populism is on the rise, it seems particularly important to look back and re-evaluate the global conflict in a new light.Indeed, the conflict left no European nation untouched.The Spanish case shows how the war had a serious impact not only on the belligerent nations but also neutral and non-belligerent ones.This special section aims to explore the dynamics of relations between Francoist Spain and Nazi Germany during the Second World War, and in doing so contribute to a better understanding of the conflict.The analyses brought together in these pages aim to place Francoist Spain in the broader context of the global conflict, focusing particularly on the transnational contacts between fascist and para-fascist movements, 1 Spain's engagement with the Nazi-fascist European project and the role of neutral countries in the midst of total war.Rather than focusing excessively on Spain's potential entry into the Second World War, the different contributions look more broadly at Spanish-German relations in this period.Such a viewpoint illuminates not only the role Spain had within Nazi foreign policy or the inner workings of Francoism and Nazism, but also key themes in the field of European history.On 23 October 1940, after the fall of France and at the high point of the Falange's dreams of imperial expansion, Francisco Franco and Adolf Hitler met in the French town of Hendaye, which lies just over the border from Spain.They met to negotiate Spain's limited participation in the Second World War.However, Franco would end the meeting refusing to enter into the war.Some might argue that Germany's failure to take over Gibraltar was one of Hitler's most costly mistakes, but at the same time Franco's refusal to engage in the project came to be one of his most fortunate decisions.The mythification of the Hendaye meeting proved extremely successful.For decades after 1945, Franco was presented as a brilliant statesman, a fatherly figure who had kept the Axis powers at bay and saved Spain from yet another tragedy.By 1943, both the mythification of Hendaye and the rejection of the term 'totalitarianism' (replaced, conveniently, with the concept of 'organic democracy') presented a new and successful narrative that in the post-war period would present a sanitised version of Spain's role in the Second World War.Francoist Spain entered a process of rhetorical de-fascistisation.In this context, marked by the Cold War, former diplomats like W.L. Beaulac helped consolidate the myth, characterising Francoist 1 On the concept of para-fascism see R. Griffin, 'Stating the Nation's Rebirth

Ancient history · Archaeology · Economic history · First world war · German · Political science · World War II · History · Law · Media, Journalism, and Communication History · Spanish History and Politics

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