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Spain investigates collaboration with Nazi Germany in deaths of exiled Spaniards
Spanish prosecutors have initiated an investigation into whether General Francisco Franco's dictatorship collaborated with Nazi Germany during World War II to deport thousands of exiled Spaniards from France to death camps. This inquiry seeks to uncover the extent of responsibility and any potential coordinated efforts between Franco's regime and the Nazis regarding the detention and transfer of these individuals.
Following Franco's Fascist-backed nationalists' overthrow of the Spanish Republic in the civil war from 1936 to 1939, many Spaniards fled to France, only to find themselves under Nazi occupation starting in 1940. The public prosecutor's office stated that the investigation aims to clarify the circumstances surrounding the fate of these exiled individuals, particularly focusing on the Mauthausen camp in Austria, where many republican exiles suffered forced labor, torture, and murder.
This inquiry is being led by the human rights and democratic memory section of the prosecutor’s office and is particularly significant as it coincides with the 80th anniversary of the liberation of Mauthausen. It has been initiated under the 2022 democratic memory law, which aims to confront the legacy of the Spanish Civil War and honor the victims of violence and persecution under Franco's rule, which lasted until his death in 1975.
The left-wing government, which enacted this law, seeks to address historical injustices, while the right-wing opposition argues that the current administration is reopening past wounds, pledging to repeal the legislation should they regain power.
