List of Illustrations
The Cañada Blanch Centre for Contemporay Spanish Studies
Series Editor’s Preface
Acknowledgments
List of Abbreviations
Introduction: The Interplay
of Political Myths, Foreign Policy and Colonial Ambitions
I Degeneration, Regeneration and the
Jews (1898–1931)
Exile, Conversion, Reencounter
Regenerationism and philosephardism
Philosephardism and Spanish expansion in Morocco
Promoting ties with the Balkans
Antisemitism
II Anti-Republican Antisemitism (1931–1936)
The Second Republic
Between Catholic antisemitism and biological racism
Uneasy asylum
III Antisemitism as a Weapon of War
(1936 –1939)
The Africanistas, the Republic and the Jews
International reaction to the Civil War and the rise of antisemitism
“The Crusade”
The situation in mainland Spain
The situation in Morocco
The Balkans
Nationalist reactions to the persecution of Jews abroad
IV A Policy of Contradictions: Germanophilia
and the Revival of
Philosephardism (1939–1942)
Pro-Axis leanings and imperial ambitions
The first wave of refugees
Consular protection to the Spanish Jews
Spain’s colonial ambitions and the Jews in French Morocco
V Welcoming the “Conspirators” (1943–1945)
Operation Torch and the “Anglo-American–Jewish conspiracy”
Dealing with the refugees
“Like light through glass”
Epilogue: The Contradictions
and Hypocrisy of Francoist Policy
Notes
Bibliography
Index
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“Rohr’s work deals especially with
politics and ideology, and is most original particularly in its
analysis of the influence exerted by the new Spanish imperialism
in northern Morocco. That the Spanish right was generally antiJewish
is not, of course, a new finding, and such an orientation was partially
contested by the new, early twentiethcentury trend of ‘philosephardism’
on the part of some Spanish nationalists, who held that Sephardic
Jews were superior to other Jews in having been ‘purified’
by Spanish culture. Rohr does an able job in sorting out these only
partially contradictory trends, and contributes more than a little
primary research in Spanish archives to present a more complete
account.
… The most important part of the book deals with the role
of Spanish Morocco, which contains the highest proportion of new
data. As Rohr emphasizes, there has been a considerable amount of
recent literature in Spain on Spanish policy and actions in the
Protectorate, focused almost exclusively on relations with and attitudes
towards the Moroccan population, while generally ignoring the place
of the once significant Jewish population in northern Morocco.”
Stanley G. Payne, European History Quarterly
“In the last and most thought provoking of the book’s
five chronological chapters, Rohr investigates the Spanish government’s
reluctance to repatriate its Jewish nationals from occupied Europe.
The fact that a significant number of Jews were able to escape via
Spain does not mean that the official attitude of the regime was
benevolent toward Jews. Rohr explains that while the Francoist regime
set itself up after the war as the savior of Sephardic Jews from
Eastern Europe, such rescues were the personal initiatives of Spanish
diplomats rather than responses to official directives. Likewise,
Rohr points out that during the same period Franco developed pro-Nazi
policies and anti-Semitic rhetoric and that the coalition of antiliberals
and fascists that supported his regime used anti-Semitic propaganda
repeatedly. This took place even after 1943, when Spanish foreign
policy was shifting more toward neutrality because fortunes in the
world war had changed. It is true that, since Franco was convinced
that Jews controlled the politics and the economy of the United
States and Great Britain, and since from 1943 he was increasingly
persuaded that Hitler would lose the war, he was not unaware of
the need to improve his relations with Jewish groups. Consequently,
anti-Semitic propaganda decreased considerably, the section of political
police specializing in the persecution of Jews was dissolved (incidentally,
the book makes no reference to the creation of this unit in 1938
or to its functions), the treatment of Jewish refugees improved,
and closer relations were sought with the Anglo-Saxon powers. And,
as Rohr demonstrates, the Spanish government accepted contacts with
the World Jewish Congress and subsequently styled itself a good
collaborator with this organization. This improvement in relations
was a first step toward creating the myth of Spain’s rescue
of Jewish refugees. But the truth is that while measures aimed at
the persecution of the Spanish Jews were allowed to lapse (previously,
during 1939–42, some Jewish refugees had been imprisoned or,
on a few occasions, turned back at the border), the regime’s
fundamental policy toward Jewish refugees was unchanged. In fact,
as the author documents, the Francoist regime refused to give shelter
to persecuted Jews from Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy even when
they had Spanish nationality: Jewish refugees were allowed to pass
through Spain but were not permitted to settle there. Thus, Rohr
concludes, the Spanish policy toward Jews was similar to that followed
by such other countries as Brazil, Japan, and Italy.
… In short, this is a thorough study that adds to our knowledge
both of anti-Semitism in Spain and of the antiliberal right that
brought about the coup d’état of July 1936 and thenceforth
supported Franco’s leadership. What should be highlighted
above all is the author’s contribution on the Francoist regime’s
treatment of Jewish refugees during the Second World War and the
relationship between foreign policy and political culture (the political
myths of Golden Age, conspiracy, Spain’s role in saving Jews,
and unity).” Journal of Modern History
“An original contribution to the historical literature in
that it combines a lucid analysis of ‘indigenous’ Spanish
sources of antisemitism over the long term, with a penetrating appraisal
of the specific mixture of ideological and strategic (indeed frankly
opportunistic) motives driving the contradictory policies adopted
by Francoists towards different groups of European Jews in the period
between c.1936 and 1945… The particular strength of Dr Rohr’s
work is its understanding of the constant interplay between the
political mythology of Spanish antisemitism and Spain’s geopolitical
interests and colonial aspirations. And it is the way her longue
durée analysis informs the intelligent dissection of
the war years (1939–45) that makes hers such an impressive
piece of work.” Professor Helen Graham, Dept. of History,
Royal Holloway, University of London
“The author has reconciled several different kinds of history – exploring political myths, colonialism and foreign policy during wartime as well as contributing to both Spanish and Jewish history… The subject of the Jews in Spain is one that abounds with clichés, largely because relatively little has really been worked out historically about the Jewish legacy in the contemporary period. This book explores the subject sufficiently broadly to allow us to view Spanish-Jewish relations in both the historical and historiographical contexts, and furthers our understanding of the triangular relationship between the Franco government, and Jews and (to a lesser extent) Muslims in Morocco, especially during and after the Spanish civil war… This engaging, stimulating and original work firmly gives the issue of race in contemporary Spain the historiographical importance that it merits. Just as the Moorish ‘Other’ has long been recognised as a significant term of reference of Spanish identity, this books shows how the construction of ‘the Jew’ plays a similar role.” Dr Michael Richards, University of the West of England
“This book debunks the so-called ‘paradoxical’
nature of Franco’s supposed benevolence towards the Jews,
showing that any generosity on the regime’s part was both
opportunistic and unreliable. Dr Rohr grounds Franco’s relationship
to the Jews during World War II in the fascinating and complex history
of post-Inquisitorial Spanish attitudes towards Jews, ranging from
Philosephardism to various forms of antisemitism according to shifting
ideological goals. Rohr’s reading of Franco’s neo-Philosephardism
in the context of his colonial ambitions in Northern Africa is groundbreaking.”
Dr. Soledad Fox, Assistant Professor of Spanish and Comparative
Literature, Williams College
“This careful history traces the determinants of Spanish
right-wing policy towards the Jews, traditional Christian anti-Judaism,
the role of the Reconquista in the national mythos, and the conspiratorial
fantasies of The Protocols of the Elders of Zion. Indeed the last
morphed into Judeo-Bolshevik and Judeo-French conspiracy theories,
the former especially during the Civil War, when the nationalists
fought the Soviet-supported republic and the latter because of French-Spanish
imperial rivalry in North Africa. These Spanish imperial designs
were partly the inspiration for what Ms. Rohr calls philosephardism.
Practically, it meant, for the Spanish right, an attempt to make
use of Spanish Jews in North Africa to further Spanish imperial
ambitions. The author maintains that the Franco regime’s attitude
to the rescue of Jews was opportunistic rather than philanthropic,
and changed as the tides of the Second World War turned in favour
of the allies. One consistent concern of the regime was to avoid
the reestablishment of a permanent Jewish community in Spain.”
Association of Jewish Libraries
“The Spanish Right and the Jews is a central
contribution to
the historiography of anti-Semitism in Spain. Its combined analysis
of ideology and foreign policy sets the volume apart from some other
significant works on the subject, such as Gonzalo A’ lvarez
Chillida’s El antisemitismo en España (Madrid:
Marcial Pons, 2002). More
importantly, the book exposes the Francoist myth of the dictatorship’s
benevolence towards the Jews. Franco’s policy on the Jewish
question was always selfish and hypocritical, but his fabrications
were allowed to stand unchallenged after World War II. Harry Truman
and,
particularly, Winston Churchill wanted Franco on their side and
the fairy tale of a compassionate Spain became a useful manner to
cleanse Franco’s pro-Nazi actions. The
myth was to last longer than the dictatorship itself.” Alejondro
Quiroga, Bulletin of Spanish Studies, University of Glasgow
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