The Participation of the Francoist Regime in the Anti-Communist International Exhibition Le bolchevisme contre l’Europe (1942)

Authors

  • Antonio César Moreno Cantano Universidad Complutense de Madrid

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.53351/ruhm.v6i12.349

Keywords:

Hate, Fear, Propaganda, Anticommunism, Axis Europe

Abstract

One of the basic elements for achieving social cohesion in times of war is the creation of the image of an enemy, hated and feared, which justifies the policies of a government in such a turbulent situation. In Axis’ Europe, in the midst of a world-wide struggle, the focus was put on international communism, the true embodiment of evil according to the propagandists of that time. Organized by the Third Reich and its ideological machinery, since the late 1930s major public events were held against its great phobias: Jews, Freemasonry and Bolshevism. Through the creation of overwhelming photomontages and all kinds of audiovisual material, a series of stereotypes of the enemy were developed, which would reaffirm citizen support for the State's cause, especially after the outbreak of the Second World War. In this article, through unpublished Spanish and French archival documentation, we will analyze the Spanish participation exhibition Le Bolshevisme contre l´Europe, held in Vichy's France in 1942. By explicit desire of the French and German occupation authorities, the francoist regime was asked to show the dangers of communism, considering that this nation –according to their perspective– had been the first to defeat it. The remembrance of the Civil War would not only reaffirm the legitimacy of the new Spanish State but would also have a major propaganda component. For that reason, efforts were focused on recreating, before the whole world, the functioning of the "checas" during the Spanish Civil War. Through this study we will be able to delve into the efforts made by Francoism to ideologically contribute to the consolidation of the principles of the New Order, exposing at the same time the internal difficulties and the lack of economic resources that accompanied them.

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Author Biography

  • Antonio César Moreno Cantano, Universidad Complutense de Madrid
    Doctor en Historia Contemporánea por la Universidad de Alcalá de Henares (2008). Es, además, miembro del grupo de investigación CEFID (Centre d´Estudis sobre les Èpoques Franquista i Democràtica) y GREF (Grup de Recerca sobre l´Època Franquista), adscritos a la Universidad Autónoma de Barcelona y del grupo Catolicismo y laicismo en la España del siglo XX, vinculado a la Universidad de Alcalá. En la actualidad, trabaja como Profesor de Secundaria en el Colegio Madrigal (Loranca –Fuenlabrada-, Madrid). Ha participado en diferentes congresos nacionales e internacionales sobre la dictadura franquista y ha publicado numerosos artículos sobre la propaganda interior y exterior de la España franquista durante la Guerra Civil y la Segunda Guerra Mundial en diferentes revistas especializadas. Ha coordinado en Trea una trilogía sobre las culturas bélicas y la propaganda en España entre 1936 y 1945. Su última publicación ha sido la obra colectiva Otra Iglesia. Clero disidente durante la Segunda República y la Guerra Civil. En la actualidad está investigando –junto al profesor Misael Arturo López Zapico- las exposiciones anticomunistas en la Europa del Eje.

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Published

2017-12-30

How to Cite

The Participation of the Francoist Regime in the Anti-Communist International Exhibition Le bolchevisme contre l’Europe (1942). (2017). Revista Universitaria De Historia Militar, 6(12), 198-220. https://doi.org/10.53351/ruhm.v6i12.349

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