Madrid is not the tomb of fascism
- Madrid, 1939. Before the city fell into the hands of the Francoists, it was considered the capital against global fascism, thanks to the propaganda of the republican government and the famous anti-fascist intellectuals who passed there during the war. The winners thought of changing the capital to Seville, Salamanca or Burgos to get rid of its taste in Madrid. But they decided to change Madrid itself. Historian Pablo del Hierro has just met in Madrid, a (neo-)fascist metropolis ("Madrid, metropoli (neo)fascist", Critic, 2023).
As a young woman from Madrid, Del Hierro saw the influence of the extreme right in the city as young. Among other things, the Atlético de Madrid was in the football field when the fascist fans of its endearing band killed Aitor Zabaleta. “That stayed in my head and, although it is not the only reason, it is one of the things that has led me to write the book.”
As soon as they took Madrid, the Francoists began to change the image of the city: they changed the names of the streets, made a strong repression in some neighborhoods, started some urban project, invited personalities from Italy of Mussolini and from Hitler’s Germany…
At the end of World War II, Madrid became the ratlines station, the refuge of the criminal wars that were fleeing. They were fairly informal structures made up of important members of fascist regimes, such as those that helped the head of the secret services of Mario Roatta Mussolini to reach Madrid. Louis Darquier de Pelleix, in charge of the expulsion of the Jews from France, also hid in Madrid with his help, as did others who collaborated with the Third Reich. It's hard to know exactly how many they were, but Iron thinks they were at least a few hundred.
The comfort of the cold war
While the Cold War is coming, the fascists hiding in Madrid were meant to survive, but from 1949 they began to rebuild their economic and political activity.
Thus, Italian General Gastone Gambara would be the main intermediary of the wheat trade between Argentina and Spain. Former SS colonel Otto Skorzeny created companies dedicated to imports and exports, even during his stay in Markina-Xemein with the production of weapons, and tried to organize armies in secret. The Belgian León Degrelle spent 50 years in Madrid after an emergency landing at the Concha de San Sebastian in 1945 and had relations with the neo-fascist groups of the 1960s and 1970s. On the other hand, several South American dictators ended up in Madrid around the extreme right network: Marcos Pérez Jiménez, Fulgencio Batista, Ramfis Trujillo…
At the end of World War II, Madrid became the ratlines station, the refuge of the criminal wars that were fleeing
New fascists 70
A while later, a new generation of far-right militants gained strength in the city in the 1970s. These young people, who did not experience the Spanish Civil War of 1936, were critical of the Franco regime and believed that it was necessary to act beyond speeches, violence. The Young Europe of Vicente Talón and the New Force of Blas Piñares were mainly organized. This led to enormous spiral violence. In Madrid, two neo-fascist organizations competed to show which was more radical.”
Thus, an environment conducive to a coup was being promoted. But when the 1981 coup failed and in 1982 the PSOE won the elections, they had to go back. Here ends the road that Pablo del Hierro takes, but not the extreme right. “It’s still to know what the VOX has taken in Madrid from the extreme right-wing voices they had for decades.” 40 years ago they had to go back and think about new strategies, but Madrid was not the burial of fascism.
In the desert of Coahuila (Mexico), in the dunes of Bilbao, remains of a human skeleton have been found. After being studied by archaeologists, they conclude that they are between 95 and 1250 years old and that they are related to the culture of Candelaria.
The finding has been... [+]
Gulf of Ambracia (Ionian Sea). In the 15th century a. 2 September 31. The Romans achieved victory in the naval battle of Accio and ensured control over Egypt. Therefore, the Greek hegemony in the Mediterranean is concluded on that date, but the Hellenic influence has remained so... [+]
In the south of the Indonesian island of Sulawesi, in the cave of Leang Karampuang, archaeologists from the Griffith and Southern Cross universities and the Indonesian National Agency have discovered a painting of three anthropomorphic figures and a boar. According to the study... [+]
Born 20 July 1979 (United States) Indigenous activist Leonard Peltier and two other prisoners fled federal prison. One of the fugitives was shot outside the prison, while the other was arrested an hour and a half later a mile away. Peltier, for his part, was arrested three days... [+]
Paris 1845. The Labortan economist and politician Frédéric Bastiat (1801-1850) wrote the satire Pétition des fabricants de chandelles (The Request of the Sailing). Fiercely opposed to protectionism, he ironistically stated that the sailing boats asked for protection against... [+]
This winter the archaeologists of the INRAP (National Institute of Preventive Archaeological Research) have found a special necropolis in the historic centre of Auxerre (French State), a Roman cemetery for newborn babies or stillbirths. - Oh, good! The necropolis used between... [+]
Born 7 May 1824. Ludwig Van Beethoven (1770-1827) 9. Premiere of the Symphony. It was the last symphony that the German composer wrote, but as for intention, you can say it was the first. Beethoven wrote Symphony No. 1 in 1799 and 1800, years before he was born in his head No. 9... [+]
Born 27 June 1944. The German soldiers carried out a raid on a small town of about 80 inhabitants of Zuberoa. Eight people died on the spot and nineteen were arrested, all civilians, nine of whom would be deported and only two would survive from the concentration camps in which... [+]
In the fall of 1415 the battle of Agrincourt erupted between England and France, one of the most decisive wars of the Hundred Years War. To this end, when Henry V, king of England and lord of Ireland, decided to send his army to France that summer, the soldiers landed on the... [+]
Normandy. 6 June 1944. They started operation Overlord: Thousands of British, American and Canadian soldiers landed on the beaches of Normandy to drastically change the course of the Second World War and, therefore, history. Or at least that's what we've been told a few days ago,... [+]
It was founded by R about 6,500 years ago. And recently, the archaeologist at the German Institute of Archaeology, Max Haibt, has created the city's "digital twin," using the technology used in video games.
The team has made a three-dimensional record of the 40 square kilometres... [+]
Mallorca, 1968. The historian Joana María Escartin was born. In 1989 he was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis and died on 30 May in his hometown, at the age of 56, coinciding with the international day of multiple sclerosis.
He studied at the UIB (Universitat de les Illes... [+]
Two years ago, the Catalan archaeologist Edgard Camarós, two human skulls and Cancer? He found a motif card inside a cardboard box at Cambridge University. Skulls were coming from Giga, from Egypt, and he recently published in the journal Frontiers in Medicine, his team has... [+]
Elba basin, 1417. Due to the drought, the level of the river dropped considerably and someone marked the level of the water in a stone, carving a sign: “If you see this stone again, you will cry. The water was at this level in 1417.”
The following sign is 1616: “If you... [+]
A few weeks ago Sony launched the video game Rise of the Remaknin, in which experts highlighted the historical position of the game. The game is located in Japan in the middle of the 19th century, near Yokohama, Edo and Kyoto.
Or it was the last years of the era, the bloody... [+]