Spain’s conservative government (PP), Franco and Nazism.

The Guardian. June 6, 2013. Madrid’s dangerous attempt to distort the history of the Spanish civil war. Read the article here.

The planned removal of a monument in Madrid to the anti-fascist International Brigades is an attempt to lock down discussion. Every day, thousands of Madrileño students pass by a monumental arch called el Arco de la Victoria (or victory arch) as they make their way into the city’s Complutense University. The vast structure is similar in appearance to the Arc de Triomphe in Paris, but unlike the French model this was not constructed to celebrate some famous victory in which Spain vanquished a foreign foe. The grandiose construction was built by General Franco to celebrate the defeat of the Second Republic by his nationalist troops in the civil war, which raged between 1936 and 1939. Franco’s victory came after a conflict that left up to half a million of his fellow Spaniards dead, the country in ruins and presaged the outbreak of the second world war.

El País. July 1st, 2012.  Germany removes a Nazi plaque in Madrid defended by the Conservative Popular Party of Mr. Gallardón. You can read the Spanish written article here.

Spain’s conservative government honors Spaniards who fought for Nazi Germany, and stubbornly refuses to remove monuments honoring those troops or troops sent by Hitler (e.g., Luftwaffe’s Condor Legion) and Mussolini to help Franco during the Spanish Civil War. In contrast, Germany recently removed one memorial in Madrid which honored fallen Condor Legion airmen. Interestingly, the German text of the memorial speaks of “German airmen fallen in battle FOR SPAIN’S FREEDOM.” Quite ironic, considering that they were Nazi volunteers supporting a coup against the legal Spanish government and committed atrocities and war crimes such as the bombing of Gernika, considered the first mass raid on a defenseless civilian population in the history of military aviation.

El Confidencial. November 2, 2012. The Pro-independence Activist Gather 12,500 Signatures to Illegalize Francisco Franco Foundation. Read the Spanish article here.

El País. October 16, 2002. The Conservative Popular Party Refuses to Remove Subsidies to the Francisco Franco Foundation. Read the Spanish article here.

ABC. September 19, 2002. Controversy Surrounds Subsidies for Francisco Franco Foundation. Read the Spanish article here.

El País. May 22, 2012. Franco was not a dictator (According to Spanish Royal Academy of History). Read the Spanish article here.

El Mundo. May 30, 2011. The Spanish Royal Academy of History ‘ will not correct’ Franco’s controversial biography. Read the Spanish article here.