La memòria de l’holocaust a l’estat espanyol. Des d’una perspectiva sociològica i una perspectiva històrica

Abstract

This Thesis addresses the topic of Memory of the Holocaust in Spain through a sociological perspective and a historical perspective. The concepts of memory, antisemitism and totalitarianism are those that have been considered as variables that articulate and justify the approach of this research. Through historiographic research and testimonies, the author analyses the different actors who participated in the Holocaust related to Spain along with those ideologies that could influence them. The first actor to analyse were the victims, mainly the Jews, but also a brief comment about the Republicans, as well as the Spanish Workers who went to Nazi Germany. Through various testimonies, it was possible to know who they were and what was their fate in the Holocaust, and what relationship they had with different foreign institutions of aid in Spain. The second group to be analysed was the Spanish government. The work hypothesis is to see if it is possible to classify it as a Perpetrator, Collaborator or Bystander. For this reason, a first concrete analysis is made on existence of antisemitism, secondly the relation between Franco and Nazi Germany. Thirdly, it analyses the ideological influence to the population of some of the main institutions of the Government: the Falange and the Church. At the end of this part, it is explored the foreign policy played by Franco’s government concerning the Holocaust in those countries where there were Spanish Jews, making a comparison with other supposedly neutral countries, to tackle the policy of Franco with Nazi Germany once the war was over and until the beginning of the cold war. Finally, the Holocaust is approached in the Soviet Union considering it as one of the most innovative and central points to understand the relationship and construction of memory towards the Holocaust. In the USSR is where Spaniards, both the Members of the Blue Division and the Republicans, were direct witnesses of the destruction of the Jewish people. In addition, the relationship with Bolshevism allows it to be related to the imaginary of the Judeo-Bolshevik enemy.

Date of Award	28 Nov 2018
Original language	Catalan
Supervisor	Joan Culla Clara (Director) & Joan Estruch (Director)