The Francoist Military Trials: Terror and Complicity,1939-1945

by Anderson; Peter

• ISBN13: 9780415800068
• ISBN10: 0415800064
• Edition: 1st
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2009-09-08
• Publisher: Routledge

Summary

In Spain between 1936-1945, the Franco regime carried out one Europe#xE2;#xAC;"s more brutal but less remembered programs of mass repression. Many were murdered by the regime#xE2;#xAC;"s death squads, and in some areas Francoists also subjected up to 15% of the population to summary military trials. Here many suffered the death sentence or jail terms up to thirty years. Although historians have recognised the staggering scale of the trials, they have tended to overlook the mass participation that underpinned them. In contrast to the discussion in other European countries, little attention has been paid to the wide scale collusion in the killings and incarcerations in Spain. Exploring mass complicity in the trials of hundreds of thousands of defeated Republicans following the end of the Spanish Civil War, The Francoist Military Trialsprobes local Francoists#xE2;#xAC;" accusations whereby victims were selected for prosecution in military courts. It also shows how insubstantial and hostile testimony formed the bedrock of #xE2;#xAC;#xDC;investigations#xE2;#xAC;", secured convictions, and shaped the harsh sentencing practices of Franco#xE2;#xAC;"s military judges. Using civil court records, it also documents how grassroots Francoists continued harassing Republicans for many years after they emerged from prison. Challenging the popularly prevalent view that the Franco regime imposed a police state upon a passive Spanish society, the evidence Anderson uncovers here illustrates that local state officials and members of the regime#xE2;#xAC;"s support base together forged a powerful repressive system that allowed them to wage war on elements of their own society to a greater extent than perhaps even the Nazis managed against their own population.

Table of Contents

Introduction: The Killing that Will Not Die

The Roots of Conflict

Planting the Seeds, 1898-1923

The Arrival of the Masses, 1923-1933

Sharpening the Knives, 1933-1936

Rebellion and Occupation

Rebel Terror

Climbing out of the Abyss: The Struggle to Bring Order in the Wake of Rebellion in Loyalist Spain, 1936-1939

FrancoG++s Judicial Monstrosity

Patria Chica, Infierno Grande

The Pozoblanco Partido: case study in grassroots judicial terror

Denunciation and Selection

Into the Dock

Under the Judicial Hammer

Civil Death

Caught in the Web

Dashing Families against the Rocks Epilogue: Making Francoism from Below

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