Historical Notes for
"...and they put handcuffs on the
flowers."
FRANCO'S DICTATORSHIP IN SPAIN.
While Arrabal's play is undoubtedly meant as a
universal denunciation of oppression and brutality. But, at the same
time, the play is also very specific to the events and issues of Spain under
Franco's military dictatorship.
Therefore, to fully appreciate the meaning and
purpose of the play it is helpful to be aware of the details of General
Franco's rise to power and the abuses of his dictatorship.
Note: the quotes you'll find
here are from FRANCO by Paul Preston, Copyright 1994 by Basic Books, a
division of HarperCollins Publishers, Inc. Numbers in [] refer to Preston's
footnotes. Numbers in {} refer to the pages on which you'll find the
quotes.
Franco was raised a devote Catholic, but saw no contradiction in wanton
murder, cruelty and terrorism when he fought for the Spanish Army in Morocco,
where he was a commander in Spain's Foreign Legion:
"Despite fierce discipline in other matters, no limits were put by
Millin Astray or by Franco on the atrocities which were committed against the
Moorish villages which they attacked. The decapitation of prisoners and the
exhibition of severed heads as trophies was not uncommon. The Duquesa de la
Victoria, a philanthropist who organized a team of volunteer nurses, would
receive in 1922 a tribute from the Legion. She was given a basket of roses in
the center of which lay two severed Moorish heads." [84]
When the Dictator General Prime de Rivera visited Morocco in 1926, he was
appalled to find one battalion of the Legion awaiting inspection with heads
stuck on their bayonets.[85] Indeed, Franco and other officers came to
feel a fierce pride in the brutal violence of their men, reveling in their
grim reputation. That notoriety was itself a useful weapon in keeping
down the colonial population and its efficacy taught Franco much about the
exemplary function of terror.
In his Diario de zona bandera, he adopted a tone of benevolent paternalism
about the savage antics of his men. In Africa, as later in the Peninsula
during the Civil War, he condoned the killing and mutilation of
prisoners.{29}
After the army revolted against the Republican government of Spain in 1936,
Franco quickly rose to be the leader of the insurrection, which was supported
by the Catholic Church. Franco's propaganda presented him as a modern
Catholic Crusader:
"The analogy was given the sanction of the Church on 30 September
by the long pastoral letter, entitled 'The Two Cities', issued by the Bishop
of Salamanca Dr Enrique Pli y Deniel. The Church had long since come out in
favour of the military rebels but not hitherto as explicitly as Pli y Deniel.
His pastoral built on the blessing given by Plus XI to exiled Spaniards at
Castelgandolfo on 14 September in which the Pope had distinguished between the
Christian heroism of the Nationalists and the savage barbarism of the
Republic. Pli y Deniel's text quoted St Augustine to distinguish between the
earthly city (the Republican zone) where hatred, anarchy and Communism
prevailed, and the celestial city (the Nationalist zone) where the love of
God, heroism and martyrdom were the rule. For the first time, the word
'crusade' was used to describe the Civil War."
The text was submitted to Franco before being published.{184-185}
Once established as Head of State, and with the eyes of Nationalist Spain
now upon him, Franco's propagandists built him up as a great Catholic crusader
and his public religiosity intensified. From 4 October 1936 until his
death, he had a personal chaplain, Father Josi Maria Bulart.[61] He now
began each day by hearing mass, a reflection of both political necessity and
the influence of Dona Carmen. In order to please his wife, when he was
available he would join in her regular evening rosary, although, at this stage
of his career at least, without any great piety.
"No one can say with total certainty what part Carmen Polo played
in encouraging her husband's ambition nor how much he had been affected by
Bishop Pli y Deniel's declaration of a crusade. Dona Carmen believed in his
divine mission and such fulsome ecclesiastical support made it easier for her
to convince him of it.[64]"{188}
The Catholic Church was pleased at Franco's savagery, but the [atheist]
Musolini and his Fascists were far more humane, and appalled:
"Away from the pomp of Salamanca, Roatta, Faldella and other senior
Italian officers were shocked by the relentless repression behind the
lines."
Cantalupo requested instructions from Rome and on 2 March Ciano told him to
inform Franco of the Italian Government's view that some moderation in the
reprisals would be prudent because unrestrained brutality could only increase
the duration of the war. When Cantalupo saw Franco on 3 March, the
Caudillo was fully prepared for the meeting. Cantalupo appealed to him to slow
down the mass executions in Milaga in order to limit the international
outcry. Denying all personal responsibility and lamenting the
difficulties of controlling the situation at a distance, Franco claimed that
the massacres were over 'except for those carried out by uncontrollable
elements'.
In fact, the slaughter hardly diminished but its judicial basis was
changed. Random killings were now replaced by summary executions under the
responsibility of the local military authorities. Franco claimed to have
sent instructions for greater clemency to be shown to the rabble (masse
incolte) and continued severity against 'leaders and criminals' as a
result of which only one in every five of those tried was now being
shot. Nevertheless, Rome continued to receive horrifying accounts from
the Italian Consul in Milaga, Bianchi."{225}
Even the Catholic Basques were not spared by Franco. With the
Nationalist forces inexorably marching westwards, the Basques finally agreed
to surrender to the Italians at Santona to the east of Santander on 26 August,
1948. In accordance with the agreement made, Basque political
personalities embarked on two British ships, the SS Seven Seas Spray and the
SS Bobie, under Italian protection. On 27 August, with Nationalist
warships blockading the port, on Franco's orders, Divila told the Italians to
disembark the refugees, which they refused to do, although they advised the
Basques to go ashore. The prisoners were held by the Italians for four days
but, on 31 August, Franco ordered Bastico to hand them over. He
hesitated and only after assurances from Barroso that the surrender conditions
would be respected. He relinquished the captives on 4 September.
Summary trials began at once and hundreds of death sentences were
passed.
The Italians were appalled by Franco's duplicity and cruelty. Bastico
sent Roatta to Salamanca to plead with Franco to stop the executions and allow
the Basque leaders to leave the country. Roatta reminded the Caudillo
that the Basques had surrendered after being offered such terms and pointed
out that Italian honor was at stake. The Generalisimo simply ignored his
arguments.{285}
It wasn't just the atheists, anarchists, and socialists that the Catholic
Church wanted Franco to slaughter -- anyone who even believed in democracy was
executed. Indeed, the Republican will to resist was kept alive only by
the fear born of Franco's much-publicized determination to eradicate liberals,
socialists and Communists from Spain.
Baron von Stohrer wrote to the Wilhelmstrasse on 19 November 1938:
"the main factors which still separate the belligerent parties are
mistrust, fear and hatred."
Franco told James Miller, Vice-president of the United Press, that a
negotiated peace was out of the question 'because the criminals and their
victims cannot live side-by-side'. Committed to a post-war policy of
institutionalized revenge, he rejected the idea of a general amnesty and
declared that the Nationalists had a list of two million reds who were to be
punished for their 'crimes'.
The political files and documentation captured as each town had fallen to
the Nationalists were gathered in Salamanca. Carefully sifted, they
provided the basis for an immense card index of members of political parties,
trade unions and masonic lodges. The Republican zone was kept on a war
footing by terror of Nationalist reprisals."{316} Nationalists
entered an eerily silent Madrid on 27 March, 1939. A delighted Ciano wrote in his
diary. "Madrid has fallen and with the capital all the other cities of
Red Spain. The war is over. It is a new, formidable victory for Fascism,
perhaps the greatest one so far."
By 31 March, all of Spain was in Nationalist hands. A final bulletin
was issued by Franco's headquarters on 1 April 1939. Hand-written by
Franco himself, it read:
"Today, with the Red Army captive and disarmed, our victorious
troops have achieved their final military objectives. The war is over."
Franco had the gratification of a telegram from the Pope thanking him for
the immense joy which Spain's 'Catholic victory' had brought him.
It was a victory which had cost well over half a million lives. It was
to cost many more.{322}
With end of the Civil War, Franco's euphoria knew few bounds. Two closely
cherished illusions had come together in the triumph. Victory gave
substance to his carefully constructed self-image as the medieval warrior-
crusader, defender of the faith and restorer of Spanish national greatness,
with his relationship to the Church as an important plank in the theatrical
panoply.[1]
On 19 March, Gomi wrote to Franco that the newly elected Pontiff Plus XII (Eugenio
Pacelli) had sent him his blessing. On 3 April, Gomi again wrote to him
in terms which can only have inflated his notion of his God-given mission: 'God
has found in Your Excellency the worthy instrument of his providential plans.'[2]
The identification between the Church and the Caudillo was emphasized on 16
April in a broadcast in Spanish made by Plus XII on Vatican Radio. 'With
immense joy', the Pope gave his apostolic blessing to the victors
reserving special praise for 'the most noble and Christian sentiments' of the
Chief of State. The text had been prepared by Gomi.[3]{323} At
least as late as 1940 Franco's prisons still held hundreds of thousands of
political prisoners, who were being executed as fast as they could be 'tried.'
Even the Nazi Himmler was appalled - he believed most political prisoners
should be rehabilitated rather than executed. {392} [From sources other than
Preson:]
Not counting soldiers on the Republican side actually killed in the
fighting, the probable total of executions carried out by Franco was in the
vicinity of 2 million. The Catholic Church not only did not make any
effort to stop the slaughter. Priests reported citizens who had not
attended mass during or before the Civil War; that in itself was enough to
result in execution.
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