Une Catalogne Indepéndante? European Geopolitics and The

TEMPORARY EXHIBIT

ENGLISH

Democratic Memorial
June 2017

“Une Catalogne indépendante”?
European Geopolitics and the Spanish Civil War (1936-1939)

Temporary Exhibit · Democratic Memorial · June 2017

1. EXHIBITION SCRIPT

0. «Une Catalogne indépendante»? European Geopolitics and the Spanish Civil War (1936-1939) 1. What never was. The crude realpolitik of international relations 2. The radical transformation of the map of Europe between World War I and II. 1919-1945

2.1. New borders, new countries 2.2.The idea of Europe 2.3. Diplomacy: A game? 2.4. Calling on France

3. Catalonia existed in the world; the world was present in Catalonia.

3.1. Catalonia as a subject 3.2. The Italian view. Mussolini’s policy of Mediterranean power 3.3. Foreigners in Catalonia 3.4. Barcelona was also a city of diplomats. 3.5. Barcelona, a great city of the Western Mediterranean.

4. A Catalan Maginot line? The importance of the third French front in a European war

4.1. The Pyrenees, the importance of the southern border to France 4.2. Franco before Stalin! Fear of communism. 4.3. The port of Barcelona, a desirable location 4.4. A View from Catalonia

5. A real debate amidst rumours. Catalan independence in an international Spanish Civil War

5.1. Madrid’s fate determines the future of Catalonia 5.2. A de facto independence 5.3. Catalonia or Spain, an unresolved dilemma (May 1937 - April 1939)

6. Why didn’t it occur?

0.«Une Catalogne indépendante»?
European Geopolitics and the Spanish Civil War (1936-1939)

“Une Catalogne indépendante?”

History is made up of fait accompli and things that were lost along the way. Without falling into a «falsification» of history, we must also study failed political movements. The issue is to open our focus and try to understand the complexity of historical processes. Without explaining failures, nothing can really be understood.

This exhibit speaks to us of a possibility that was discussed in diplomatic circles, in newspaper offices, and in political circles, and the reasons why it didn’t happen.

(Quotes on the wall)

“Francia conseguiría por este hecho para sí misma con su protección a esa república latina catalano-aragonesa la supresión de toda una extensísima frontera pirenaica peligrosayadversa para ella con una España probablemente adicta a ItaliayAlemania.”

Luis de Arana, 2 d’agost del 1938

(Text associated with objects)

The Basque nationalist Luis Arana Goiri suggested a «Basque Republic» under British protection and a federal «Catalan-Aragonese» one under the protection of France.

1. What never was. The crude realpolitik of international relations

What never was. The crude realpolitik of international relations

An independent Catalonia during the Spanish Civil War? Yes. A Soviet or democratic Catalonia? Who knows? What is unquestionable is that the idea of this possibility spread like wildfire around the European and American chancelleries in those years.

In a Spain at war, in a Europe about to burst into flames, in a completely unstable world... if there was a reality that seemed to fit the times, it was the idea of changing borders, at least from 1912-1919. One country more, one country less... it didn’t seem at all strange in journalists’ discussions or geopolitical debates.

Catalonia’s fate -inside or outside of Spain- wasn’t the focus of the world’s attention, but rather just another piece on an international checkerboard where a match was being played with multiple sides, on different boards, and with combined effects.

The geography was different for other analysts. For the German Nolden, Africa started at the Pyrenees, so Catalonia and Euskadi were included.

We have few testimonials and analyses about the diplomatic view of 20th-century Catalonia. In the ample production of written memoirs by diplomats —and there is a sample of them here— Catalonia is virtually non-existent. It’s the same with monographs written by historians.

«[…] aprendí í que tanto Cataluña, como el País Vasco querían diferenciarse del resto de España. Un vasco me diría más tarde: “El Ebro, que divide a España en dos, de este a oeste, casi paralelamente a los Pirineos, no es sólo una divisoria geográfica. Indica, para nosotros, el límite extremo de Europa. Todo lo que está al sur del Ebro tiene tonos africanos”.»

Extremely controversial comment made by the first delegate of the International Red Cross to Spain during the Spanish Civil War, the Swiss Marcel Junod, but which shows a part of foreign perceptions at the time.

2. The radical transformation of the map of Europe between World
War I and II. 1919-1945

The radical transformation of the map of Europe. 1919-1945

Between 1919 and 1945, the maps changed radically. The diplomatic game, conditioned by military force and the effects of World War I, made the creation of the Baltic republics, Finland, or Poland in 1919 possible, as well as the dissolution of the AustroHungarian empire, the independence and later civil war of Ireland in 1922, or the possibility of Catalan secession during the 1936-1939 period. Besides this, in the east, the Russian Revolution gave birth to the Soviet Union. Everything was possible, and at the same time, unstable. The Spanish Civil War, of social origin, but with evident nationalistic elements, in tune with the European identity conflicts of the time, was a focus of world attention intermittently during the period between the summer of 1936 and the winter of 1939.

«La diplomàcia és una qüestió de geografia...»
Jules Cambon, 1933.

«El Govern de la Generalitat, preveient la possibilitat d’una derrota del Govern central, treballa activament per a, quan arribi aquell dia, proclamar la independència.»

Alfredo Casanova, consul of Portugal in Barcelona, 3rd August, 1936.

«Diuen telefònicament des de Ciudad Rodrigo que el govern de Catalunya ha proclamat la independència, i que Burgos li ha contestat que gaudís durant alguns dies aquella situació, ja que en pocs jorns ajustarien comptes.»

Diário de Noticias, Lisbon, 3 August 1936.

New borders, new countries

From Alsace-Lorraine, in Western Europe, to Finland, in the northeast, borders changed radically in 1919. On the other hand, in Western Europe only the Tyrolean area of Southern Austria -now Italian-, the return of Alsace-Lorraine to France, and Ireland (a free state in 1922) changed their status. Starting in 1919, the revising of borders and/or the consolidation of the new situation would be the warhorse of international politics, especially when Adolph Hitler came to power in Germany in 1933.

The Baltic republics declared independence from the capital in Moscow twice in the 20th century, first from the Russian empire (1918), and later from the USSR (1990). Between one declaration of independence and the other, they were occupied, in part, by the German Kaiser’s troops and by Hitler’s, in the two world wars. Secular German Baltic minorities would be replaced by today’s Russian ones.

After World War I, the German, Austro-Hungarian, and Russian empires disappeared and gave way to the German Weimar Republic, the republic of Austria, of Hungary, of Czechoslovakia, etc., and Russia became the Soviet Union (USSR). The interests of European powers played a determining role.

A few weeks after the outbreak of the Spanish Civil War, Nazi authorities sought out Catalan tourists.

The idea of Europe

In this context, collective security and disarmament failed, as did projects to create a European Federation, or an impotent League of Nations, which had no power to arbitrate effectively in any conflict.

Diplomacy: A game?

Diplomacy seen as a card game There were many players at the table, with more or less at stake. The Spanish Civil War gave rise to a daring play by Italy and Germany, a risky one by the Soviet Union, and a terribly conservative one by France and Great Britain.

Calling on France

When the Spanish Civil War broke out, the two sides seemed clear. But they weren’t really. The possibility of Catalonia seceding was as surprising —or not— as that of thinking that France would diplomatically recognise the Spanish rebels, or that Spain would end up divided into two republics like Korea or Germany after 1945, Mallorca being practically occupied by Italy, or Andorra, by France.

3. Catalonia existed in the world; the world was present in Catalonia.

Catalonia existed in the world; the world was present in Catalonia.

From the beginning of the 20th century, the general consulates in Spain were established in Barcelona, with jurisdiction for much more than the surrounding territories. Industry, the main port, and the largest foreign communities were all there. Besides this, Catalonia was where modern ideologies found a fertile breeding ground.

From 1931, with the constitution ofthe Generalitat de Catalunya, in the context of the Second Spanish Republic, the Catalan capital became a city with an almost diplomatic life. Ambassadors went to the autonomous Parliament building, and they were received by the president of the Generalitat on New Year’s Eve... In fact, the Catalan autonomous government was seen as the last opportunity before separation. It was even called semi-independence, so the events of 6th October, 1934 were interpreted as an attempt to secede. In any case, the foreign perspective always erred in its interpretation of the nature of Catalanist sentiment of the time.

«Si Catalunya, ha declarat el general Queipo de Llano, es proclama independent, els tres països que formen el front feixista reconeixeran el nou govern de Madrid i proclamaran la integritat del territori espanyol.»
Le Figaro, 2nd November, 1936.

«Si Madrid era presa pels blancs i si, immediatament després, Catalunya es declarava independent […] i entrava immediatament a la Societat de Nacions, què faria la societat quan els blancs enviessin una expedició militar contra Barcelona? Els catalans no podrien demanar llavors una intervenció de la SDN contra els blancs?»

Georges Rotvand, Le Figaro, 18 August 1936.

«El papel de Cataluña durante la guerra ha sido de importancia capital, en todos los órdenes. […] Barcelona es el Puerto más importante del Mediterráneo. Cataluña cubre la única frontera terrestre con Europa que le quedaba a la República. […] La posición fronteriza de Cataluña y la potente irradiación de Barcelona, influían notablemente en el aprecio que desde el exterior se hiciera de los asuntos de España.»

Manuel Azaña, Cataluña en la guerra, 1939

Catalonia as a subject

The national debate about Catalonia and Spain and the power of the Catalan workers’ unions became elements of diplomatic interest. Two vectors that, seen from Berlin, Rome, or Paris, became the main factors in the potential destabilising of Spain. Catalonia and its problematic dynamics were thought of as determining elements for Spanish politics.

Seen from outside, Catalan autonomy was seen as an experiment in the creation of a new Spain. The question was whether it could be established, or whether it would fail and lead to independence.

Knowledge about the reality of Catalonia was evident in the fact that the manuals of schools of diplomacy in the 1930’s had a voice regarding Catalonia and its autonomous regime.

In 1933, the historian and politician of the Catalan League Ferran Valls i Taberner signed in the name of the Catalan autonomous regime.

The Italian view. Mussolini’s policy of Mediterranean power

1930’s Europe pitted France and Italy against each other for domination of the Eastern Mediterranean. In this context, in February of 1933, the Italian ambassador in Spain, Raffaele Guariglia, stated that unlike Madrid, where «they hadn’t understood» the true nature of Fascism, Catalonia, where the Italian community and interests were more important, was where Fascio could be exported to. Attempts to create a Mussolini-style Catalan nationalist-Fascist connection in 1934 between Josep Dencàs, the chancellor and leader of the independentist political party group Joventuts d’Esquerra Republicana de Catalunya- Estat Català, and the Italian Vice Consul Alessandro Majeroni failed.

A final attempt with consul Carlo Bossi in the summer of 1936 also failed. Italy preferred the conservative Spanish rebels.

The Italian ambassador Raffaele Guariglia took over the Italian monarchical embassy in Paris in 1944. He believed that Catalonia was an ideal place to introduce Fascism.

Whoever declared themselves to be Fascist could seek Italian aid. In the case of Dencàs, in 1934 and 1936, he offered Catalonia as a base for attacking France; unlike the rest of the independentist rumours regarding France. Finally, only the Spanish military gained Mussolini’s favour.

Foreigners in Catalonia

Until 1939, Catalonia was seen as a modern, dynamic region: most of the communities of foreigners settled in Spain were established there: Italians, French, Germans, Swiss, and they made their main investments there —Pirelli, Barcelona Traction, Siemens, or General Motors, among others.

Some communities, such as the German or Italian one, had active social and cultural lives and associations and experienced here the first conflicts in their countries of origin, dividing themselves into Nazis and Fascists on one hand and opposition groups on the other.

The Italian community in Barcelona had a long tradition in the city and the country. Half of the Italians and French people established in Spain lived in Catalonia.

Barcelona —Catalonia— was the port of entrance to Spain by land, sea, and air. It was also important to go from France to Africa.

Barcelona was also a city of diplomats

From World War I, but especially from 1931-1939, Barcelona became a city of diplomats. The consulates acted almost like embassies. Intrigues, political analyses, the desire to influence events that were considered to be key in coming Spanish politics, and a potentially sovereign Catalonia, gave the city a de facto diplomatic status that it never legally held.

When he was named in June of 1934, French Foreign Minister Jean Trémoulet defined assignment to Barcelona as «one of the most important General Consulates (port, the Catalan question, industrial region) and one of the most pleasant places to live (proximity to France, climate).».

The outbreak of the war caught the ambassadors summering in San Sebastian. Most of them went to the south of France, which gave greater weight to the consuls in Barcelona until November of 1937.

The influential Soviet Consulate in Barcelona, laterthe embassy ofthe USSR in 1937, opened on Avinguda del Tibidabo in October of 1936. Specifically in the requisitioned residence of the famous Dr. Salvador Andreu. Vladimir Antonov-Ovseenko, the former legend of the Russian Revolution of October, 1917, was the first occupant.

The influential Soviet Consulate in Barcelona, later the embassy of the USSR in 1937, opened on Avinguda del Tibidabo in October of 1936. Specifically in the requisitioned residence of the famous Dr. Salvador Andreu. Vladimir Antonov-Ovseenko, the former legend of the Russian Revolution of October, 1917, was the first occupant.

Barcelona, a great city of the Western Mediterranean

Barcelona, and Catalonia as a whole, was the southernmost stop on the European circuits of international film stars, scientists, or political leaders. The red and black city, the workers’ «rose of fire,» had a modern cultural tradition that was reflected in its architecture, sciences, museums, and literature. Other, more titillating elements, such as the «Barri Xino,» for example, put Barcelona on the map in the Western imagination at the same level as other capitals. Tourism began to arrive there.

This cultural landscape was discovered by intellectuals and analysts from all over, who contributed to spreading the word.

From Barcelona or Paris, some foreign citizens, such as Frenchman Jean Joseph Achille Bertrand, director of the French Institute of Barcelona, or the writer Marcel Robin, tried to explain the Catalan cultural reality abroad.

4. A Catalan Maginot line? The importance of the third French front in a European war

A Catalan Maginot line? The importance of the third French front in a European war

When the Spanish Civil War broke out in the summer of 1936, all of the powers had to make decisions about the conflict. One of the key elements for understanding how each country acted was geography. If Spain fell into the hands of the Rome-Berlin axis, France would be isolated. Therefore, Catalonia could play an important role for Paris. On the other hand, for Italy and Germany there was only one choice: A united Spain in the hands of Franco.

The Pyrenees, the importance of the southern border for France

After centuries of wars, changes in borders in the Pyrenees and the evolution of military technology, modern geopolitics placed Catalonia in an interesting position in an imminent European conflagration. For the III French Republic, the outbreak of the war in Spain will be seen as a new threat; Surrounded by opponents - Italy and Germany -, the option of the southern border, the Pyrenees, also staying in the hands of the enemy was very concerned. Franco’s victory would close the circle and give Nazi-Fascist-Francoist aviation a radius of action that affected practically the entire country.

At the same time, control of the Western Mediterranean could fall into Italian hands. Therefore, the Catalan ports became areas of interest for the Marine Nationale French military. It was essential to guarantee the freedom of navigation between the base of Toulon, near Marseille and the bases of North Africa, where most of the colonial troops were located. From this perspective, Catalonia could become a Maginot line in the south, in a new Hispanic brand, satellite state like Belgium or Luxembourg, a gala wedge in the Iberian Peninsula. A third attempt to consolidate the French influence in Catalonia how they had tried in 1641 and 1812 in the form of Protectorate, of incorporation in France or of allied independence..

Unlike most German authors, Sieberer sympathised with Catalan nationalism. His book, widely translated and published, covered Catalan secession.

In the form of various reports and books, the attention generated in Germany by the possible turn of events in Catalonia was no less; it was very clear what the implications of a sovereign Catalonia would be.

Although without aspiring to the Mediterranean, Nazi Germany was still concerned about the implications that Catalan secession might have. These concerns led to some works, and in 1939, the Royal British Army Captain Sir Basil Henry Liddell Hart would summarise them in a short book titled Axis

Plans in the Mediterranean.

The British Captain Liddell Hart said: «According to German authors, the most interesting area, in geopolitical terms, is Catalonia, because it’s the Mediterranean door to the peninsula. The access routes open to France. They have been carefully studied by German authors.»

There was also no lack of Italian analyses regarding the effects of the possibility of Catalan secession in the midst of the war. Some thought independence was unviable. They would try to avoid it.

The European press did much more than insinuate that France was interested in full Catalan sovereignty, or in Catalonia being included in the French Republic, as was the case, for example, in the Swiss newspaper Journal de Genève on 2nd April, 1938. Diplomatic pressure forced the newspaper to retract this statement.

The fear that the Nazis would settle south of the Pyrenees and attack France was real.

Franco before Stalin! Fear of Communism

It’s true that the success of an independent Catalonia was never guaranteed, but the possibility was real for Ministries of Foreign Affairs. And what power would give support to a country dominated by anarchists and Communists? They caused so much fear that they frightened everyone who wasn’t a revolutionary away from Catalonia and the Spanish Republic. Catalonia, especially, was compared to Russia in 1917, the revolutionary Mexico of the period around 1910, or early 20th-century China. Almost everyone preferred for Franco to win rather than instability and Stalin in the middle.

No one was going to stick their neck out for Spain or for a hypothetical independent Catalonia. Even so, there were times when everything seemed to be ready. In 1938, Hitler had occupied Austria in March and the Czech Sudetenland in October. Between one occupation and the other, on 15th March, the French Permanent Committee for National Defence called together by the head of the Socialist government, Léon Blum, rejected the possibility of invading Catalonia suggested by the government. If the British didn’t take part, the operation was unviable. The policy of concessions to Hitler, which went on until 1939, prevented the operation.