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Spanish Media Perception of the Third Reich, 1930-1936 Kenneth Alarcón

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Spanish Media Perception of the Third Reich, 1930-1936 Kenneth Alarcón THE NAZI MIRROR OF OPINION: SPANISH MEDIA PERCEPTION OF THE THIRD REICH, 1930-1936 KENNETH ALARCÓN NEGY A thesis submitted to the faculty at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts in the Department of History. Chapel Hill 2017 Approved by: Konrad H. Jarausch Lloyd S. Kramer Tobias Hof © 2017 Kenneth Alarcón Negy ALL RIGHTS RESERVED ii ABSTRACT KENNETH ALARCÓN NEGY: The Nazi Mirror of Opinion: Spanish Media Perception of the Third Reich, 1930-1936 (Under the direction of Konrad H. Jarausch) This thesis examines Spanish perceptions of German fascism from 1930, shortly before the establishment of the Spanish Second Republic, until the beginning of the Spanish Civil War in 1936. Specifically, it focuses on the reporting of events related to Nazism and Germany in ABC, El Socialista, El Fascio, F.E., and Arriba as a way to gauge the trajectory and character of the Spanish relationship with fascism. The portrayals and analyses of German affairs published in these newspapers in turn reflected the instability of the political situation in Spain prior to the Civil War and the impact of Spanish culture on its perception of Germany. This thesis contends that the German variant of fascism served simultaneously as a threat and warning for the far-left, an inspirational source for national rebirth for the center-right, and a possible model for the formation of a Spanish version of fascism for the far-right. However, despite the increasing international attention on Nazi Germany, events such as the assassination of Austrian Chancellor Engelbert Dollfuss and the death of German President Paul von Hindenburg revealed the limits of Spanish conservative enthusiasm for Nazism and its preference for more traditionally authoritarian figures. Overall, this study places the Second Republic into the broader narrative of both the transnational spread of fascism and the European context of the fragility of interwar democracy. iii For the Negy and Alarcón family. iv ACKNOWLEDGMENTS I express sincere gratitude to my advisor, Konrad H. Jarausch, for his excellent guidance and encouragement during my time at UNC thus far and for his generosity in endorsing my decision to straddle two fields of history. I am appreciative of Lloyd Kramer and Tobias Hof for all their invaluable support and assistance. A special thanks goes to Chad Bryant for his encouragement and feedback throughout the entire writing process. Thanks also to everyone else who helped in reviewing this work or in enabling me to complete this project. v TABLE OF CONTENTS LIST OF FIGURES ................................................................................................................... viii INTRODUCTION......................................................................................................................... 1 CHAPTER ONE 1930-1932: A Minor News Story from Abroad ............................................... 9 German Reichstag Elections (September, 1930) ................................................................ 9 German Reichstag Elections (July, 1932) ......................................................................... 13 CHAPTER TWO 1933: The Specter of Nazism Haunts and Excites Spain .............................. 16 Hitler’s Appointment as Chancellor (January, 1933) ....................................................... 16 Reichstag Fire (March, 1933) ........................................................................................... 18 Enabling Act (March, 1933) ............................................................................................. 20 El Fascio (March, 1933) ................................................................................................... 23 Germany Announces Exit from League of Nations (October, 1933) ............................... 26 CHAPTER THREE 1934: Reactions to Nazism Put into Perspective ....................................... 32 F.E.: Nazis and Jews (January, 1934) ............................................................................... 33 Röhm Putsch (June-July, 1934) ........................................................................................ 34 Assassination of Engelbert Dollfuss (July, 1934) ............................................................. 40 Death of Hindenburg (August, 1934) ............................................................................... 48 CHAPTER FOUR 1935-1936: Waning Interest in the German Political Situation ................... 56 Saar Plebiscite (January, 1935) ......................................................................................... 56 Arriba ................................................................................................................................ 59 vi Remilitarization of the Rhineland (March, 1936) ............................................................. 63 CONCLUSION ........................................................................................................................... 66 BIBLIOGRAPHY ....................................................................................................................... 70 vii LIST OF FIGURES FIGURE 1 "The Socialist Forces in German Parliament: 152 versus 339" (El Socialista, September 15th, 1930) ............................................................................................................................... 10 FIGURE 2 “The Sarcasm of a Motto” (El Socialista, March 22nd, 1933) ......................................... 20 FIGURE 3 “The Leader” (El Fascio, March 16th, 1933) ........................................................................ 24 FIGURE 4 “Dollfuss in Heaven” (El Socialista, July 28th, 1934) ....................................................... 47 viii INTRODUCTION During the early 1930s, two distinct European republics were on similar trajectories of turmoil and disarray. On January 29th, 1930, General Miguel Primo de Rivera was pressured into resigning as dictator of Spain, a position he had held since his military coup in 1923. As a result of this and the departure of King Alfonso XIII into exile the following year, Spain entered a period of extreme instability and increasingly hostile conflict between radical groups on both the left and right sides of the political spectrum. Spain’s Second Republic (1931-1936) was at the mercy of competing conceptions for the type of government and political system that was best for the country, in effect creating an environment in which there was ultimately little faith in a democratic system and little desire to maintain it. At the same time, the Weimar Republic (1918-1933) was experiencing instability and conflict due to similar circumstances stemming largely from the defeat in the First World War and the harsh terms of the resulting Treaty of Versailles. Then, exactly three years and a day after the resignation of the Spanish dictator in 1930, Adolf Hitler was appointed Chancellor of Germany by means of an agreement reached by President Paul von Hindenburg and the former chancellor Franz von Papen, among others, and Nazi Germany was established.1 These events 1 For works providing a historical background, I have used: Steven Beller, A Concise History of Austria (Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 2006); Mary Fulbrook, A Concise History of Germany, 2nd ed. (Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 1991); Konrad H. Jarausch, Out of Ashes: A New History of Europe in the Twentieth Century (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2015); Ian Kershaw, Hitler, vol. 1, 1889-1936: Hubris (New York: W. W. 1 gave fascism a greater prominence in Spain and other countries, and directed increased attention toward the Third Reich. In this paper, I analyze Spanish reporting of several major events in Nazi history from 1930 until 1936, when the Spanish Civil War began. The focus of this research is the Spanish perception of the Nazi rise to power in Germany and Spain’s struggle to understand fascism. I argue that the German variant of fascism served simultaneously as a threat and warning for the far-left, an inspirational source for national rebirth for the center-right, and a possible model for the formation of a Spanish version of fascism for the far-right. Further, although Italian Fascism may have had clearer and more lasting cultural connections to Spain, German politics during this time also resonated with the Spanish media because of the similarities in both countries’ political situations and the increased international focus on Germany.2 Spanish perception was shaded, however, by the specific Spanish context and ideological beliefs of each of the newspapers, which then would also be affected by the evolving political situation within the country resulting in a mutual pattern of influence. I have selected newspapers that serve as representatives of three of the main sides of the Spanish political spectrum. These are El Socialista, ABC, and each of the main incarnations of Norton & Company, 1998); Stanley Payne, The Collapse of the Spanish Republic, 1933-1936: Origins of the Civil War (New Haven: Yale University Press, 2006); Payne, A History of Fascism, 1914-1945 (Madison, Wisconsin: The University of Wisconsin Press, 1995); Payne, Fascism in Spain, 1923-1977 (Madison, Wisconsin: The University of Wisconsin Press, 1999); William D. Phillips, Jr. and Carla Rahn Phillips, A Concise History of Spain, 2nd ed. (Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 2016); Paul Preston,
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