Spanish exiles, transnational soldiers from the French internment camps to the Free French Forces

Bibliographic Data

ID12699178
AuthorsDiego Gaspar Celaya (0000-0001-8891-9879, Universidad de Zaragoza, corresponding author)
Year2021
Volume27
Issue1
Pages27-40
Publication date2021-01-02
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessNo
TypeARTICLE
VenueJournal of Iberian & Latin American Studies (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 1469-9524 • E-ISSN: 1470-1847
PublisherTaylor & Francis (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1080/14701847.2021.1898153
OpenAlexW3136169661
LanguageEN
References cited19

Thousands of Spaniards contributed to the defence and the liberation of France as military contractors, legionnaires and soldiers between 1939 and 1945. This paper focuses on three elements of their contributions. First, it investigates the importance of French internment camps for Spanish refugees that became key recruitment grounds for soldiers and labourers. Secondly, it will analyse the importance of the military background Spanish volunteers acquired in both Spanish and French ranks. Thirdly, it will analyse the features of Free French Spanish volunteers and their fighting itineraries as transnational soldiers. Despite its importance, politicians in both France and Spain only recognised Spanish contributions to the French resistance after the Second World War. This is a fourth aspect of the entangled Franco-Spanish history of the Second World War that this article analyses. By incorporating the accounts of French Gaullists, Communists and Spanish Francoists, it demonstrates how the context of the Cold War, which reinforced these interpretations, left little room for the study and commemorative inclusion of these “outsiders”

Ancient history · Genealogy · Political science · French Historical and Cultural Studies · Historical Studies and Socio-cultural Analysis · History · Law · North African History and Literature

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