Xosé Núñez Seixas - The Spanish Blue Division on the Eastern Front, 1941-1945: War, Occupation, Memory

THE SPANISH BLUE DIVISION ON THE EASTERN FRONT, 19411945

War, Occupation, Memory

Xos M. Nez Seixas

In 1941, the Franco regime established the Spanish Division of Volunteers to take part in the Russian campaign as a unit integrated into the German Wehrmacht. Recruited by both the Fascist Party (Falange) and the Spanish army, around 47,000 Spanish volunteers joined what would become known as the Blue Division.

The Spanish Blue Division on the Eastern Front, 19411945 explores an intimate history of the Blue Division from below, using personal war diaries, letters, and memoirs, as well as official documents from military archives in Spain, Germany, Britain, and Russia. In addition to describing the Spanish experience on the Eastern Front, Xos M. Nez Seixas takes on controversial topics including the Blue Divisions proximity to the Holocaust and how members of the Blue Division have been remembered and commemorated. Addressing issues such as the behaviour of the Spaniards as occupiers, their perception by the Russians, their witnessing of the Holocaust, their commitment to the war aims of Nazi Germany, and their narratives on the war after 1945, this book illuminates the experience of Spanish combatants and occupied civilians.

(Toronto Iberic)

XOS M. NEZ SEIXAS is a professor of modern European history at the University of Santiago de Compostela.

XOS M. NEZ SEIXAS

Translated by Andrea Blanch, Daniel Blanch, and Craig Patterson

War, Occupation, Memory

UNIVERSITY OF TORONTO PRESS

Toronto Buffalo London

University of Toronto Press 2022
Toronto Buffalo London
utorontopress.com
Printed in Canada

ISBN 978-1-4875-4165-1 (cloth) ISBN 978-1-4875-4168-2 (EPUB)
ISBN 978-1-4875-4166-8 (paper) ISBN 978-1-4875-4167-5 (PDF)

Library and Archives Canada Cataloguing in Publication

Title: The Spanish Blue Division on the Eastern Front, 19411945 : war, occupation, memory / Xos M. Nez Seixas ; translated by Andrea Blanch, Daniel Blanch, and Craig Patterson.

Other titles: Camarada invierno. English

Names: Nez Seixas, Xos M. (Xos Manoel), 1966 author.

Series: Toronto Iberic ; 72.

Description: Series statement: Toronto Iberic ; 72 | Translation of: Camarada invierno : experiencia y memoria de la Divisin Azul (19411945). | Includes bibliographical references and index.

Identifiers: Canadiana (print) 2021037750X | Canadiana (ebook) 20210377569 | ISBN 9781487541651 (cloth) | ISBN 9781487541668 (paper) | ISBN 9781487541682 (EPUB) | ISBN 9781487541675 (PDF)

Subjects: LCSH: Germany. Heer. Infanteriedivision (19411943), 250. | LCSH: Germany. Heer. Infanteriedivision (19411943), 250. Biography. | LCSH: World War, 19391945 Campaigns Soviet Union. | LCSH: World War, 19391945 Spain. | LCSH: World War, 19391945 Regimental histories Germany.

Classification: LCC D757.32.N86 C3613 2022 | DDC 940.54/1343dc23

We wish to acknowledge the land on which the University of Toronto Press operates. This land is the traditional territory of the Wendat, the Anishnaabeg, the Haudenosaunee, the Mtis, and the Mississaugas of the Credit First Nation.

University of Toronto Press acknowledges the financial support of the Government of Canada, the Canada Council for the Arts, and the Ontario Arts Council, an agency of the Government of Ontario, for its publishing activities.

(AA: Authors archive; AGA: Archivo General de la Administracin, Alcal de Henares)

In the years it has taken for this book to mature, I have received help from several institutions and countless individuals: colleagues, friends, collectors, scholars, and descendants of Blue Division veterans, who made unpublished material available to me. Firstly, my thanks to the staff of the archives that I have accessed, who have so efficiently and decisively responded to my requests for material, as well as the librarians at the University of Santiago de Compostela and Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich. Chasia Bornstein-Bielicka, Alexandre Blumstein, Jos Manuel de Crdenas, Xos Fernndez Naval, Emilia Garca, Carlos Gil-Andrs, Jordi Gracia, Juan C. Jimnez de Aberasturi, Carmelo de las Heras, Hans-Jrgen Kugler, Juaco Lpez, J.A. Lpez Covarrubias, Antonio C. Moreno, Jorge M. Reverte, Fernando Rebollo, Ana Romero, Adrian Shubert, Ricardo Silva, Ral Soutelo, and Pavel Tendera kindly provided access to materials, diaries, letters, and pamphlets, some of which were nearly impossible to obtain. The HISPONA research group of the University of Santiago de Compostela provided financial support,

Discussions with interested colleagues on the cultural history of war and violence at seminars and conferences in Germany, Switzerland, Britain, Canada, Russia, and Spain also helped to refine my perspectives, identify focus areas, correct factual errors, and incorporate ideas. Though I cannot hope to do justice to everyone, I would particularly like to acknowledge ngel Alcalde, David Alegre, Birgit Aschmann, David Bankier, Martin Baumeister, Jrg Baberowski, Oleg Beyda, Gustavo Corni, Jens Ebert, Jos M. Faraldo, Stig Frster, Ferran Gallego, Nicola Guerra, Alexander Hill, Boris Kovalev, Marco Mondini, Snke Neitzel, Javier Rodrigo, Andreas Stucki, and Joan M. Thoms.

Parts of the original manuscript were read by ngel Alcalde, David Alegre, Andrs Antoln-Hofrichter, Miguel Cabo, and Henrike Fesefeldt. Maps were adapted for this edition by Alfonso Iglesias and Jos C. Garca Vega. However, the author assumes full responsibility for all errors or omissions. Finally, thanks to my wife Henrike and my daughters, Sara and Irene, who patiently put up with the writing of this hefty tome.

The original version of this book was published by Editorial Crtica, Barcelona, in 2016 (Camarada invierno. Experiencia y memoria de la Divisin Azul, 19411945, 2nd paperback edition 2017). A German version was also published in 2016 by Aschendorff, Mnster (Die spanische Blaue Division an der Ostfront, 19411945: Zwischen Kriegserfahrung und Erinnerung