The Judeo-Masonic Enemy in Francoist Propaganda (1936-1945)
The Judeo-Masonic Enemy in Francoist Propaganda (1936-1945) Javier Domínguez Arribas* 1. INTRODUCTION Between the beginning of the Spanish Civil War and the end of the Second World War, Francoist propaganda depicted Jews and Freemasons as two closely linked forces that conspired tirelessly against Spain. They were considered responsible for all the evils that afflicted the country, together with the leftists. While the “Reds” were an obvious and significant enemy for the nationalist forces, there were no more than about 5,000 Spanish Freemasons in 1936, and their influence in Spanish public affairs was limited, at least as an organization (although the individual influence of some Freemasons is another issue). However, their fate was the same as that of the “Communists”: relentless repres- sion.1 The case of the Jews is even more surprising. The antisemitic propaganda of the early days of the Franco regime took place in a country where almost no Jews had lived since their expulsion by the Catholic monarchs in 1492. Furthermore, most members of the tiny Jewish community in the Iberian Peninsula in 1936 had arrived just a short time previously, coming mostly from Hitler’s Germany. Their number, although impossible to establish precisely, has been estimated at close to 6,000.2 In spite of the violent rhetoric against Jews, the regime did not systematically implement discriminatory policies against them. Above all, the Franco government did not facilitate Nazi antisemitic persecution during the Second World War, while some Spanish diplomats in fact pro- tected Jews in danger.3 Why, then, were two groups that were so small, so different, and so differently treated by the regime, presented together by official propaganda as the powerful Judeo-Masonic enemy to be fought? This, among other aspects, is the focus of the research presented in this paper.4 * Associate Professor, University of Paris XIII—CRESC.
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