Franco Spain

The White Terror in Spain was part of Francisco Franco’s Dictatorship and Repression (Spanish: Represión franquista) of the People of Spain from 1939-1975.

(My Great-Aunt  got this on one of her many Trips to Franco Spain from the 1950s to the 1970s -she continued to travel to Spain until 2006.

It says "Catalonia" - the Region of Spain - but it says it in Spanish: "Cataluña" and not in Catalan: "Catalunya" because she got it during Franco's Dictatorship (1936-1975) where the Catalan Language, Culture and Traditions were banned.)

During Franco’s White Terror the following were considered State Enemies: Loyalists to the Second Spanish Republic (1931–1939), Liberals, Socialists, Protestants, Intellectuals, Homosexuals, Freemasons, Roma and Sinti, Jews, Muslims, the Basque, the Catalans, the Andalusians and the Galicians.

The Roman Catholic Church in Spain actively supported Franco and his Fascists and his attacks on the different Groups of People (which was solidified with the 1953 Concordat (Spanish: Concordato de 1953) between Franco and the Roman Catholic Church in Spain.)

The Concordat made it Mandatory for all Catholics to have a Church Wedding (alongside the Civil Marriage Ceremony), the right to publish Books and Newspapers, gave Exemptions to the Clergy in the Spanish Military, gave the Catholic Church Tax Exemption, made Catholic Prayer Mandatory in all Public Schools and solidified the Roman Catholic Church as the one and only Official Religion in Spain.

The United States (which had been Neutral during the Spanish Civil War) changed to a more Pro-Franco Stance in 1947 due to the Cold War as Franco and his Fascists were Anti-Communists.

In 1955, the US even opened American Military Bases in Franco Spain.

That is despite that fact that Franco and Spain favored Hitler and Nazi Germany during World War 2 (both Countries being Fascist Dictatorships – even though Spain was Officially Neutral during the War.)

Franco also sent 45,000 Spaniards to fight with Hitler on the Eastern Front (known as the Blue Division – Spanish: División Azul.)

Franco even compiled the Jewish Archive (Spanish: Archivo Judaico) of all 6,000 Jews living in Spain so he could give it to Hitler if Spain ended its Neutrality in favor of the Nazis during World War 2.

From the moment of Victory in 1939 Franco carried out a Social Cleansing (Spanish: limpieza social) of all aspects of Public and Private life in Spain.

At least 400,000 Men, Women and Children spent time in Prisons (there were 12,042 Children in Franco’s Prisons in 1942 alone.)

300,000 Children were removed from their “State Enemy” Families and raised by Franco Officials.

They are called the Lost Children (Spanish: niños perdidos del franquismo.)

There were 300 Franco Concentration Camps (Spanish: Campos de concentración franquistas) from 1936-1947 that held 431,251 Men, Women and Children in them.

At least 5,000 Homosexuals were arrested, imprisoned and/or murdered under Franco.

The number is much higher, but many Homosexuals were imprisoned under different Laws than just the 1954 ("Vagrancy Act" (Spanish: "Ley de vagos y maleantes.)

An estimated 200,000 Men, Women and Children were murdered by Franco’s Dictatorship from 1939-1975.

The exact number is unknown (and most likely much higher) because the vast majority were shot and buried in unmarked graves through Spain.

Franco and his Fascists moved to eliminate the Catalans from both Public and Private Life (Spanish: Anticatalanismo, Catalan: Anticatalanisme.)

The Catalan Language and Culture was made Illegal and only Castilian Spanish was allowed in Education, Commerce, the Government, the Media, etc.

From 1939 until the 1960s Franco Officially encouraged Non-Catalan Spaniards to Rape Catalan Girls/Women so the Catalan Population would be diluted.

The 1944 Penal Code said Rape was a punishable offense when a Girl was between 12 and 23 if she was a Virgin, and between the ages of 17 and 23 if she was not, but even this Laws was Officially Overlooked when it came to the Rape of Catalan Girls/Women by Non-Catalan Men.

The Exact Number of Catalan Girls/Women that were Raped by Non-Catalan Men under Franco will never be known since there were never any Police Reports or Official Statements made.

In the 1960s and the 1970s Franco also supported Thousands of Non-Catalan Spaniards moving into Catalonia to reduce the growing influence of the Catalan Culture in the latter years of the Franco Dictatorship.

It has been calculated that, without Franco’s Forced Migration, the Population of Catalonia would have gone from 2 Million People in 1900 to 2.4 Million in 2001instead of the more than 6.1 Million registered on that date (an addition of 3.4 Million Non-Catalans into Catalonia.)

Spain has official laws that prevent the country from dealing with the crimes (including murder) committed during Franco’s Dictatorship:

In 1975 the Pact of Forgetting (Spanish: Pacto del Olvido) was the Political Agreement for all Spanish Political Parties to avoid confronting Franco’s Repression.

The 1977 Amnesty Law (Spanish: Ley de Amnistia de 1977) -still in force today - guaranteed impurity to those who committed crimes during Franco’s Dictatorship. It also made the Pact of Forgetting official.

The 2007 Historical Memory Law (Spanish: Ley de Memoria Histórica) recognizes the victims on both sides of the Spanish Civil War, gives rights to the Victims and the Descendants of Victims of the Civil War and the subsequent Dictatorship of General Francisco Franco, and formally condemns repressions of the Franco Regime.

It doesn’t negate the 1977 Amnesty Law so no one can be punished for their crimes.

The Association for the Recovery of Historical Memory (Spanish: Asociación para la Recuperación de la Memoria Histórica) formed in 2000 is a Spanish Organization that collects the oral and written testimonies about the White Terror of Francisco Franco and excavates and identifies their bodies that were often dumped in mass graves.

Franco wasn’t removed from the Valley of the Fallen (Spanish: Valle de los Caídos) until 2019 which was 44 years after his death (for reference Joseph Stalin was removed from Lenin’s Mausoleum by the Soviets in 1961 which was 8 years after he died.)

The last Statue of Francisco Franco in Spain was only removed in Melilla in February 2021.

During the Spanish Transition to Democracy (Spanish: Transición española ) from 1975-1982 where Spain switched from the Franco Dictatorship that had ruled Spain for the past 36 years to a Constitutional Monarchy the Roman Catholic Church lost most of the Privileges that Franco had given them in support for his Murderous Regime.

In 1978 the Roman Catholic Church was removed as the Official State Religion and allowed for the Free Practice of every Religion across Spain.

Note: None of these Numbers or Victims include what happened during the Spanish Civil War from 1936-1939.