Abstract

The central aim of this book is to assess two crucial issues in the contemporary history of Spain: the Francoist dictatorship (1936–75), which certainly contained fascist elements, and the subsequent workings of its propaganda machine. This machine sought to create a favourable international attitude towards Francisco Franco Bahamonde and to disseminate a longstanding myth concerning the protection of the Jews in Franco’s Spain. With the work under review here, the Centre d’Estudis Històrics Internacionals (CEHI) at the University of Barcelona shows its commitment to the publication of documents that are practically unknown or lie dormant in inaccessible archives. Such documents await rescue so that they can challenge myths perpetuated in the national and international collective imaginary. On this occasion, Luciano Casali and Lola Harana have rescued the Francoist pamphlet L’Espagne et le juifs (Spain and the Jews) from oblivion, and presented it here in the form of a critical edition with an introduction and 147 footnotes. Casali is Professor of Contemporary History at the University of Bologna with more than forty years of academic experience. In recent years, he has focused his research on Spanish fascism from a comparative point of view. Harana is a project coordinator at the CEHI, as well as a doctoral student in the Department of Contemporary History at the University of Barcelona...