falange-the axis secret army in the americas - chase

5/28/2018 Falange-The Axis Secret Army in the Americas - Chase

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Spain is the key to tw o continents. ''-HERM ANN GOERING, 93 6The great unity of the Axis includes Nazis,Fascists, and Spanish Falangistas. There is nolonger any distinction between Fascism, Naz-ism, and Falangismo.

-BENITO MUSSOLINI,eptember 30, I942Many thanks to you and the Germ an peoples.Ma y you r arms triumph in the glorious under-taking of freeing Europe from the Bolshevikterror.-FRANCISCO RANCOo Adolf H itler, Decem-ber 7, 1942

This book is made possible by the work of hundreds ofbrave, selfless, devoted men and women in Latin America,the United States, North Africa, and Axis Spain. Many ofthem are my friends. Many of them I know only by theirefforts. Many of them are anonymous soldiers in the ranksof the republican Spanish People's Army , scattered, withoutuniform, throughout the world.There are times when a writer can gratefully acknowl-edge by name the persons who helped him most in the crea-tion of a book. T her e are other times when such acknowl-edgments would be like a kiss of death. Such are the timeswe kn ow today: a time which sees the armies of the Axisalive and intact. T o reveal the names of many of the bravepeople wh o helped me-to reveal their names while Hitle rsits in Berlin as a ruler rather than as a prisoner in a deathcell-would be to betray them t o the mercies of Axis killerseverywhere.I am thinking particularly of people like the girl Josefina,whose hair turned gray in twelve hours during a Nazi as-sault on Cartagena in 1937, and wh o today is making th einvaders of her native land pay a fantastic price for theircrimes. O r General X, whose loyalty to the republic heserved wavered with neither defeat nor poverty. O r theformer scholar, Esteban.Esteban is a proud, fearless Spaniard. When Hitler's le-gions invaded S pain in 1936, Esteban was a gradu ate stude ntin philosophy a t a Spanish university. His fam ily was amongthe first to be killed by the bombs which fell from the blackbellies of the Axis planes. His books were destroyed, hisclassroom became a snipers' nest, his college became a fr ont -line trench of Wo rld W ar 11Esteban gave up his books for the war. H e has not pickedthem up since 1936; fo r Esteban, like so many o thers of hisgeneration, has long since learned that freedom of thought

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vis impossible in a Fascist world. Without heroics, and after1939with out unifo rm, Esteban has been a soldier cf democ-racy in the w ar against fascism. From dawn t o dawn, sevendays of each week, Esteban has waged the good fight.Whether in Spain, in France, in North Africa, in LatinAmerica-the fro nt remained.H e is merely one of m any w ho never surrendered-likethe Spanish Republican Ar my which too k to t he hills in theAsturias in 1939and has been killing Nazis ever since. Likethe Spanish Republican veterans n ow in the armies of theUnited States and England, Esteban goes on fighting thebutchers of Guernica, of Warsaw, of Lidice. For the warwhich started in Spain has since spread all over the world.W e met in a cafe somewhere between Key L argo andBuenos Aires. Josefina, who had made the arrangements,had warned me to make a tight fist while shaking hands withEsteban. As I sat down after so greeting him, there was apaper-covered roll of microfilm in my right fist; negativesof documents taken fro m a supposedly secret vault theFalange maintained in the Wes tern Hemisphere.It was a very plain cafe, its open front looking out o n anancient cobbled square, a brooding massive cathedral, a stallwith a white and pink quarter of beef hanging in the sun.The square and the cathedral had been built by Spaniardswho died hundreds of years ago.W e might have been sitting in Spain itself, I thought; and,as if to heighten this fancy, an old woman wound the an-tique gramophone under the yellowing lithograph of a Ma-drid bull-fight on the far wall and put a scratchy diskund er th e blunted needle. Flamenco, Esteban said wea-rily. Gyp sy music.Th e record played through to the end, and then the oldwom an played a dozen others. Th ey w ere mainly flamencorecords; and listening to them und er th e steady flow of Es-teban's words I thought of what an old friend had saidabou t flamenc o songs-that they are all rituals before death.I remembered these words and thought of Spain's ordeal asEsteban spoke and flamenco followed flamenco.

Esteban's long fingers tor e the hard c rust of a f lauto and,because he had grown used to hunger as a way of life, heautomatically brushed up the crumbs and flipped them intohis soup. It was perhaps an imperfect republic,'' he said,but it was a good one. Man, too, is imperfect; but man isfundamentally good. H e spoke about the school the Re-public had opened in a small Andalusian village in 1932 andof the girl who had gone from Madrid to teach the childrenof illiterate peasants how to read. H e spoke of a clinic inMadrid, an agricultural institute in Valencia, a momentoussession of the Cortes in 1936 H e spoke of the law which p utwindows into the rooms of the slums in Barcelona and ofthe prize fighter w ho had carried Pablo Casals on his shoul-ders from the concert hall to th e hotel after a great recital.It was a republic of hope, he said.H e spoke of the fascists, too. Of the Falangistas wh o shotthe poet Federico Garcia Lorca. Of the vulgarian Quiepode Llano and his pornographic radio speeches to the w omenof the Republic. Of the Italian Colonel a t Guadalajara, theday it rained and the Republic fo r once had enough avionesand the Italians ran like sheep: the Blackshirt Colonel toreoff his uniform and picked u p a spade, and stood in the fieldturnin g the soil and shouting in Spanish, I'm just a poorpeasant, until Esteban's command er personally sent astream of machine-gun bullets through the coward's eyes.He was a small creature, Esteban said of the Colonel. Asmall creature without dignity.We finished our coffee, and Esteban said no to anothe rrum. The old woman was changing another record whenEsteban said it. I don't remem ber the words th at came first,but I recall them as being quite natural and easy. I knowwhat I'm doing, Esteban said softly. I know w hy I'm do-ing it, and I'm not afraid. T h e wor ds read like bad theater,but he spoke them like a man talking about the weather.Th ey were a casual answer to a question I had framed with-out speaking.Because I am a Spaniard, he concluded, as simply and


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as softly as he had spoken when telling about that villageschool.And n ow, he said, rising to his feet, I must go.W e both stood up, and he embraced me and pounded myback and laughed. I tried to think of something to tell him,somethin g tha t wou ld no t sound banal. Because, I said,because I am an American . And then I stopped, alittle self-conscious, and more than a little afraid to makeEsteban feel I was mocking him.W e were supposed to meet again that week. But the nextday Esteban was already o n the high seas, bound f or Spainand the republican underground on a boat that had onceflown the colors of the Spanish Republic.Because a m an Amer ican , Es teban- this bookALLANCHASEApril 1 9 1 9 4 3

ContentsCHAPTER ONE:

Der Auslands Falange Is BornCHAPTER TWOFalange Es Espafia, or W ha t Really Happened in

Manila?C H A P T E R T H R E E :

Cuba: Pattern and Cen ter of Falangist Ameri caCHAPTER FOUR:

Meet the Gray ShirtsCHAPTER FIVE:

Cliveden in the CaribbeanCHAPTER SIX:

Compania Transatldntica Esp ola: Hitler's Bridgeof Spies

CHAPTER SEVEN:Puerto Rico: Gibraltar or Pearl Harbor?

CHAPTER EIGHT:Mexico: Falange Concentration Point

C H A P T E R N I N E :Patagonia t o Panama

C H A P T E R T E N :T h e Falange in th e United States

CHAPTER ELEVEN:W o m b of Pos twar Fasc ism

INDEX:


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C H A P T E R O N E :

Der Falange BornEARLYN 1934, Adolf Hitler summoned General Wilhelmvon Faupel to the C hancellory in Berlin. Th eir con ferencelasted fo r nearly a full day. Wh en he left, von Faupel's bulg-ing brief case was thicker b y one sheet of paper, a paper t hatwas to affe ct the destinies of score s of nations, millions ofpeople.Th e paper, signed by H itler, was Wilhelm von Faupel'sappointment as chief of the Ibero-American Institute ofBerlin.O n the surface, there was nothing sinister in this appoint-ment. Th e Institute had been formed in 1930 by D r. O ttoBoelitz, a G erma n scholar. Its assets had inclu ded some I 50,-ooo volumes collected by German universities, donated byLatin-American institutions, and willed by individual Ger-man and South American pedants. It had acted as a culturalclearinghouse between intellectuals in Germany and theircolleagues in Latin Am erica, and had added materially to itscollection of books since its inception. Then, a week or sobefore von Faupel met with Hitler, Boelitz suddenly foundhimself in disgrace. H e was booted out of his post and disap-peared from sight.General Wilhelm von Faupel was not a scholar. slight,graying aristocrat, he peered at the world from under thearchest, bushiest eyebrow s in all Europe . Hi s fellow officersof the old eichswelw generally tried to avoid him; he had anasty manner of mocking their inner weaknesses with hiscobra eyes. Behind his back, they called him Colonel Eye-brows and Field Marshal Earsy'-the latter in deference tohis huge teddy-bear ears. But the y never op enly treated himwith disrespect.Th ere w ere man y reasons for this cautious politeness; per-laps the foremost was von Faupel's know n standing as an1. G general. His fellow officers were no fools. The y


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F L N G Eknew that the I. G. Farben chemical trust and the heavy-industry cro wd led by Thyssen were th e real powers behindHitler. F or at least a year prior t o von Faupel's appointmentthe Berlin grapevines had been heavy w ith rum ors about akey post being created for the general by I. G . Yet none buta handful of key men had even an inkling of what this postwould entail.Th e man had many talents. During the First Wo rld Wa r,von Faupel had distinguished himself at the Western Front.H e spoke French, Russian, Spanish, Portuguese, Chinese,and ot her languages with fluency. H e was a great militarytheorist. H e had served as Inspector General of the P eruvianArmy.T h e fabulous career of th e tight-lipped General offeredmany keys to the mystery of his new assignment. As ayoung Imperial Staff Officer, von Faupel traveled to Chinain 1900 to serve on the Kaiser's military legation. FromChina, he had moved to a similar job in Moscow. In 1904,fresh from his stay in Moscow, he was rushed to GermanEast Afr ica, where he served as an officer in th e punitive ex-peditions which came close to touching off the First Wo rldW ar a decade ahead of its time. The n, in 19 I, Wilhelm vonFaupel made the most important move of his career: he ac-cepted an offer to join the staff of the Argentine W a r Col-lege in B uenos Aires.Wilhelm von Faupel left Argentina when the war brokeout in 1914, but in 192 he returned t o Buenos Aires as mili-tary counselor to the Inspector General of the ArgentineArmy. T he von Faupel who returned to Argentina, how-ever, was a completely changed man. N ot a trace remainedof the youn gish, soft-spoken military specialist w ho had rel-ished native wines and Viennese waltzes in the gay yearsbefore the war. His soft, almost gentle voice had hardenedinto a perfect instrument for the tempered steel trap thatwas now his mind. Germany's defeat had seared vonFaupel's soul with its bitterest of acids.The new von Faupel started counseling the Argentinemilitary leaders on more than merely army procedure. D ay

Der uslands Falange Is Bornafter day, as he drilled the Republic's troops, von Faupeldrilled into the heads of the influential upper-class Argen-tinians the doctrine of total wa r on the mob-beast of de-mocracy.'' I t was this mob-beastv-the comm on man ofGermany-whom Wilhe lm von Faupel held primarily re-sponsible for the victory of the Allies and the collapse of theGerman home front.For five years von Faupel held his important post in Ar-gentina. H e brought over many of his Germ an officerfriends, found assignments for them as specialists in theArmy. H e made many friends among the wealthy landown-ing Argentinians who controlled the political life of the na-tion. In 1926 he left Buenos Aires to accept a high militarypost in the Brazilian Arm y. H ere, again, he assumed the dualrole of military expert and anti-democracy agitator.T he em bittered Prussian general's fame as an army builderspread throu ghout the continent. It became so imposing thatthe Peruvian Government invited him to assume the job ofInspector General of Peru's armed forces. Von Faupel tookthis command in 1927. Not until he was certain that theNazis would get con trol of the Fatherland did von Faupelresign this post. H e left it for an amazing mission in Chinawhich ended when Hitl er called him to Berlin to take overthe Ibero-American Institute.During all of his years of self-imposed exile in SouthAmerica, Wilhelm von Faupel had maintained close tieswith German enemies of democracy-men like Fritz Thys-sen, the banker Baron von Schroeder, Franz von Papen, andI. G. Farben's Georg von Schnitzler. H e knew of their plansto destroy the Weimar Republic through the Nazi revolu-tion they were financing and guiding. An d he knew oftheir plans to create a German world empire once their manHitl er assumed the mantle of Germ any's chosen leader.Wilhelm von Faupel lived only for the day whe n he couldplay his part in this coming drive for empire. Carefully heworked out a theory of his own, a theory of Ger man worldconquest. Bit by bit he put together the jig-sawed pieces offlawless plan.


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F A L A N G EI am prepared to conquer all of Latin America, heblandly informed von Schnitzler when he returned to Ger-many in 1934. His plans were minutely detailed in a fatthesis typed at least a year before th e Reichstag Fire.T he idea of a German conquest of Latin America was farfrom a new one in R e i c h e h r circles. During the FirstWo rld W ar, the G ermans had tried to win over Mexico and

other Latin-American governments. That they failed vonFaupel ascribed to the stupidity of the Imperial Staff's ap-proach to the problem. His tw o decades of intimate contactwith Latin America had brought him face to face with w hathe became convinced was the key to the domination oftwenty nations. That key was-Spain.In nearly every country south of the United States bor-ders, von Faupel had made co ntact with the landed Spanisharistocracy. T he grea t bulk of these people, ma ny of themfirst- or second-generation Spanish by birth, still recognizedno allegiance other than the one they bore to monarchistSpain. Immensely powerful in the economic and politicallife of the Latin-American countries, these Spanish concen-trations looked forwar d to the day whe n the victories of thearmies of Bolivar, San Martin, O'Higgins, Sucre, and theUn ited States-victories which drove Imperial Spain ou t ofthe N ew Wo rld and the Philippines-would be wiped out.Th ey talked morosely, mystically, but seriously of the glo-rious day wh en the Spanish Emp ire would again come intoits own.T he ca nny von Faupel always made a point of agreeingwith s uch sentiments whenever he heard them expressed. Arealist to the bitter core, he had nothing but contempt forthe uprooted Spanish aristocrats wh o worshiped a m onarch-ist Spain as deca dent and as futile as tha t of Alfonso. H e kep this contempt discreetly hidden, however, and formulatedwha t in th e beginning seemed even to him hopeless dreamsof an imposing imperialist Spain revived and controlled bythe coming new German W orld Order .The events of April I 2 193 -when the Spanish mon-archy was bloodlessly overthr own by the mob-beast at

Der Auslands Falange Is Bornthe ballot boxes-seemed to wri te finis to von Faupel's ma-turing dream. For it was clear to the fact-facing Prussianmilitarist that th e great ma jority of Spaniards in Spain itselfentertained none of the mystical notions of empire commonamong the Spanish aristocrats of the New World. AlfonsoXIII's inglorious abdication and retreat to th e M onte Carloprnbling pavilions, the Constitution of the New Spanish~e~u b l i c -p a t t e rn ed so closely after the Constitution of theUnite d States-were fronta l attacks on the very spine ofWilhelm von Faupel's master plan. Without a hope of aSpanish empire, with a new Spain committed to travelin the democratic path of the despised Jew-Pro testant Co-lossus of Washington, the spiritual ties which bound theoverseas aristocrats with the mother country were doomedto wither and die.T o von Faupel's joy, he discovered that the men w howere financing Hitler had no intention of letting such tech-nicalities as the Spanish general elections of 193 stand inthe way of the German drive toward empire. T o be sure,the Thyssens and the von Schnitzlers had somewhat over-looked the spiritual ties which bound noble Spaniardsabroad to the Bourbon throne. They had not, however,overlooked the tungsten, mercury, iron, olive oil, citrus,copper, tin, lead, and potassium riches of the young IberianRepublic.Nor had the tacticians and military geographers of thefinance-Reichswehr-industry cabal behind Hitler ignoredSpain's strategic position as the key to the Mediterranean,the gateway to the Atlantic, and the flank supreme againstFrance.Spain, Herm ann Goering declared while studying themaps of Europe and South America, is the key to tw o con-tinents.

T h e Berlin gossip mills hummed overtime w hen W ilhelmvon Faupel was appointed head of the Ibero-American In-stitute. While tongues wagged, the General himself setabout quietly changing the course of wo rld history.


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8 F A L A N G EHis first move, in 19-54 was to reorganize the Instituteitself. He broke i t up into five main divisions, each directlycontrolled by himself. Section I covered Argentina, Uruguay, and Paraguay. Its executive was Professor Freiberg,director of the Asuncion (Paraguay) Botanical Gardens.His assistant was Frau Simons Erwin Hoene, a Germanaristocrat.Section 11, whi ch consisted of Brazil only, was headed b yProfessor O tto Quelle-editor of the Ibero-AmerikanischesArchiv, published in Berlin. Doctor Richert was appointedQuelle's liason with the huge German colony of Brazil.Section I11 covered Ch ile and Bolivia. Fritz Be rndt, Berlincorrespondent for a number of Bolivian newspapers andprincipal of a Berlin high school, headed this division. Hisliaison in Bolivia was Federico Nielsen-Reyes, one-timesecret ary of the B olivian Legation in B erlin.Section IV was responsible fo r Peru, Ecu ador, Colombia,and Venezuela. T hi s section was placed in charge of one ofthe most extraordinary women in Germany, Dr. Edith von

Faupel. Ma ny years the junior of her husband, Peter, asshe was called by her intimates, not only performed her ownsectional duties but also roamed the length and breath ofLatin Am erica as her husband's inspec tor general.Section V, Panama, Central America, and Mexico, wasplaced in charge of Dr. Hagen and a Nazi spy named Bock.T h e primary function of these sections was to organizethe first- and second-generation German populations ofLatin America. Through this block of some six million ex-patriates, General von Faupel planned to organize wide-spread espionage and fighting machines in all of the tw en tynations below our borders. These were to be the ThirdReich's shock troops in the coming battle for wor ld empire.Since they were Germans, these shock troops could nothope to consolidate the power they might ultimately seize.General von Faupel knew that the consolidation of Nazipower in Latin America depended heavily on the concen-trations of S panish aristocrats in each of th e countries. Thes eSpaniards-controlling as the y did so much of the economic

er Auslands Falange Is Bornlife of Latin America-were earmark ed fo r the role of Ger -nian y's most powerful allies. Themselves tied spiritually andeconomically to Spain, the y wer e potentially capable of per-forming great service for Germ any if these services weredemanded in the name of Spain. But to win them over, theSpanish Republic had to be crushed and replaced with aGerman-controlled Spain which would appeal to the aristo-crats,Destruction of democratic Spain called for huge fundsand extraordinary powers. T he m en behind the creation ofHitler saw to it that Wilhelm von Faupel lacked nothing inthe way of m oney o r authority. In fact, I. G. Farben loanedone of its most trusted agents to the Institute to work di-rectly under von Faupel.Thi s agent, Eber hard vo n Sto hrer , spoke Spanish fluently.It was the least of his qualifications fo r the job. D uri ng theFirst Wor ld W ar, S tohrer had served in the German Em -bassy in Madrid as military attache. In this post he had madefirm and lasting friendships with the pro-G erman cliques ofthe swollen Spanish military hierarch y. H e had also made afew clumsy diplomatic blunders. Th e chief of these was theorganization of a military ring designed to force Spain intothe war on the side of Germ any. Allied Intelligence agentsexposed this plot so devastatingly that the Spanish Govern-ment was forced to expel von Stohrer from the country.An older and wiser von Stohrer was determined to makeup for his old mistakes in Spain. While the furniture wasbeing moved into th e newly organized Ibero-American In-stitute in Berlin, von Stohrer boarded a plane for Lisbon,where he made a beeline for a qu iet villa at exclusive Estor il

Beach. The master of the villa was a chubby little dandywhose talents with win e and women had m ade von Stohrer'syears in Madrid more pleasant than they might have been.His name was General Jose Sanjurjo.This time von Stohrer's desires to see his old friend hadlittle to do w ith past pleasures. He rr von Stohrer was on amission, a quite official mission. H e was charg ed w ith theresponsibility of bringing Sanjurjo back to Berlin.


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1 F L N G ET w o years earlier, on A ugust 10, 1932, Sanjurjo had led amonarchist up rising against the year-old Spanish Republic.T h e putsch had been squelched in less than a d ay, its leadercaptured at the Portuguese border while fleeing the coun-try. In their anger the Republic's officials had sentencedSanjurjo to death; but within a fe w days, with the charac-teristic Christian generosity which was later to spell their

ow n doom, they had commu ted Sanjurjo 's sentence to l i feimprisonment.Sanjurjo was jailed in th e San ta Catalina fortress in C adiz.In prison the old monarchist general held court like anEastern potentate. H e was visited daily by M aria Caballe,the M adrid music-hall entertainer he subsequently m arried.Monarchist officers made his cell their Mecca.The n, in 1934, the l iberal government gave w ay t o theCE DA coali t ion headed by Gil Robles. O ne of the f i rst actsof the new govern ment was the declaration of a general am-nesty freeing all the imprisoned leaders of the 193 uprising.Sanjurjo was exiled to Portugal and given a governmentpension of 10,000 escudos a month.Gil Robles knew exact ly what he was doing when hefreed Sanjurjo. For Robles, like the men behind him, hatedthe Republic and wanted i t overthrown. H e looked uponSanjurjo as the strong military leader chosen by destiny torestore the monarchy. Before long, the old general 's Portu-guese villa had become a regular port of call for enemies ofthe Republic like Juan March, the sinister ex-smuggler whorose to becom e one of Spain's wealthiest financiers; the coaland oil magnate Goizueta; and ranking officers of the oldArmy.All this was known to von Faupel when he sent vonStohrer to Lisbon to fetch Sanjurjo. Other agents of theThird Reich were already conspiring with officers of theSpanish A rm y in Madrid-particularly with Colonels Kin-delan and Gallarza, Major Haya, and Julio Ruiz de Alda.T h e exiled Sanjurjo greeted von Stohrer with undisguisedjoy, and after a brief conference gaily consented to retu rn to

Der uslands Falange Is BornBerlin with his old German monarchist carousing com-panion.In the Nazi capital, Sanjurjo was granted an immediateaudience with General von Faupel . Th e old dandy gave vonFaupel a prepared list of officers still in the Ar my of the Re-public wh o would most certainly be willing to lead a mon-archist revolt against the governm ent they had given theiroath to uphold. Before the conference ended, it was alsoarranged to place Sanjurjo on the Nazi pay roll.W ithin a few months of this 1934 meeting, San jurjo madea series of visits between Lisbon and Berlin. In Lisbon, hemet secret ly with G enerals Mo b, Gode d, and Fanjul , al l ofthem then in the service of th e Republic. G eneral FranciscoFranco, at that time chief of the Spanish General Staff,never attende d these meetings in person. Mola w as his secretrepresentative at these sessions.By the end of the y ear von Faupel had formulated a com-plete set of plans for the Spanish revolt. H e appointedSanjurjo chief and approved of Sanjurjo's choices ofGoded and Fanjul as assistant chiefs. Privately, throughGerman agents in Madrid, von Faupel advised Franco that,once the shooting began, Germ any w ould look with greatfavor on the pudgy little traitor's own soaring ambitions.Franco, in turn, promised a nd sent hand-picked you ng Fas-cist officers to Germany for training in total warfare.Gen eral von Faupel played his cards like a master. H eknew that the language of m onarchy was the most potentone within the ranks of the old Spanish generals. (UnderAlfonso, there w ere 859 generals and 27,000 commissionedofficers in the stan ding a rmy of consid erably less than a mil-lion troops.) H e also knew tha t it would be a domestic po-litical blunder inside Nazi Ge rma ny if it became know n tha tthe Nazi N ew Ord er Saviors were backing a R oyal ist r isingin Spain. For G erma n home consum ption, a more congenialideological tie had to be invented.T he shaping of this ideological cipher became vonFaupel's next problem. A survey of the existing possibilities


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2 F L NGEin Spain turned up little that looked promising. The re werethree main anti-Republican groups: the Monarchists, theCE DA (Confederation of Spanish Rightist Parties), and theFalange.The Monarchists were out of the question for obviousNational Socialist reasons. T h e creators of the N azi move-ment had cleverly designed it to play on th e anti-monarchistsentiments of the German people-who could never forge tthe horrors of the war brought on their heads by theirKaiser. The pseudo-socialism of the Nazi platform wasmeant to win over the great anti-monarchist majority ofGermans. Were the Nazis to back an openly monarchistmovement in Spain, they would have weakened their psy-chological grip on thousands of their followers at home.T he CE DA, led by G il Robles, was the most powerful ofthe anti-Republican groupings. But Gil Robles was wellknown throughout Germany as the Jesuit political leader ofSpain, and the CEDA was too openly recognized as theCatholic political arm. T h e danger of backing the Churc hin Spain while attacking i t at home was too great fo r a totali-tarian super-state with an avowed ideology of the future.This left only the Falange, organized and led by youngJose Antonio Primo de Rivera, son of the late Spanish dic-tator. Openly Fascist in politics, the Falange was ignoredpolitically by Spain's most power ful F ascists themselves.Even von Faupel, b y 1935 accustomed t o the brawlingBrown Shirts, threw up his hands in sheer disgust when hediscovered the composition of the Spanish Falange. It wasnothing but a vast employment agency for the scum of th eunderworld in Spain's larger cities. The rank and file of theFalange consisted of paid mercenaries almost down to thelast man-hired sluggers and killers who , for a price, per-form ed acts of fatal and nonfatal violence for all of the par-ties in the anti-Repub lican opposition. N o idealistic convic-tions about throne, or empire, or Church kept them in theFalange-unless the creed of cash paid for bloody servicesrendered can be called a political or moral code.General von Faupel grew progressively more anxious

Der uslands Falange Is Born I3about the ideological end of his Spanish venture as the zerohour neared. Fo r wh at was needed was more than a politicalpackage suitable for Germ an home consumption. Th e newSpanish puppet state had to be endowed with a politicalfacade that would shine in the eyes of th e monarchist Span-iards in Latin America an d the P hilippines as the streamlinedhub of a dynamic empire.

In sheer panic, vo n Faupel deposited his ideological prob-lem squarely in the arms of the high priest of Nazi philoso-phy, Alfred Rosenberg. Hitler's court metaphysician retiredto his study and emerged in due time after a serious sessionof Aryan soul-searching. Rosenberg decided in favor of theFalange. Th e decision was passed on to Hitler, w ho in turnordered Goebbels to start building up the Falange as a truesister Fascist party .In du e time, Berlin gave the Falange a set of appropriateprinciples. Thes e Twenty-S even Points have not exactly

been kept under a bushel since 1936. They have been pub-lished by Falangistas in many p arts of th e world and in man ylanguages. T h e English version issued by the F alange in SanJuan, Puert o Rico, in 1936, is the one q uoted verbatim be-low. Whether in Spanish or English, the heavy Germanaccent of this program is apparent at once. Point by point,the program of the Falange Espaiiola Tradicionalista de laJ. 0 N S. (Juntas Ofensivas National-Sindicalista) isjust about carbon copy of the program of the DeutscherNazional Socialistiche Arbeiter Partei.Here is the full program of the Falange, exactly as it ap-pears in the official text, original spelling, punctuation andall, published by F alangist agent de la Tor re in Pue rto Rico.Th e italics, however, are mine. Th e Falange's ow n Englishtranslation is used fo r reasons of accuracy-an d because inthis translation it captures the same type of semi literatebanality that characterizes the original Spanish. Like thewritings of t he Nazis and the Italians, the official literatureof the Falange is an accurate reflection of its cultural level.


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FALANGETradicional ist Spanish Phalanx of the J.O.N.S.

NATI ONAL SYNDICALISMPROGRAMNATION, UNITY, EMPIRE.I W e believe in the supreme reality of Spain. Th e urgent taskbefore all Spaniards is to strengthen and rise Spain to her oldglory. T o do this, all individuals, groups, classes and commu-nities pledge themselves above everything else.2 Spain is a unit of Dest iny in the Universe. Any conspir-acy against this unit is repulsive. All separatism is an unfor-giveable crime. Th e present [democratic] Constitution stimu-lates separatism, attemps, conspires, against the unit of destinythat is Spain. Which explains why we demand the immediateannulment of the Constitution now in force.3 W e have the wil l of an Emp ire and assert that the historiclegacy of Spain is the Empire. W e demand a place of promi-nence among the European nations f or Spain. W e won t tol-erate neither the isolation of o,ur country neither foreign inter -vention.

Regarding the Latin American countries we intend t o tightenthe links of culture econom ic interests and of p ower. Spainclaims to be the spiritual axel of the Spanish W or ld as a recog-nition of her universal enterprises.4 Our land, air and naval forces shall be as great and powerfuland numerous as the complete independence, the preeminenceof Spain and the national security demands.W e shall restore to our land, naval and air forces the prestigewhich it deserves and shall model Spanish life along militarylines.5 Spain will again find her glory of old and her riches in oceanpaths. Spain shall be again a great maritime power that it was intrade and war. We demand equality for our country, on theair, the seas and land.

STATE, INDIVIDUAL, LIBERTY.6 . O ur state will be a totalitarian instrum ent at the service ofthe country. All Spaniards will have a share in it through do-mestic municipal or syndical activities. N o one shall participatethrough political parties. Party lines shall be ruthlessly wiped,

Der Auslands Falange Is B o r n 5no matter what it costs, with their party representation, suf-frage and the Parliament.7 Human dignity and the integrity and liberty of man, areeternal and intangible assets. But only he who forms part of afree and powerful nation is a free man. Nobody shall haveright to use his liberty against the unity, strength and liberty ofhis country. A strict discipline shall prevent all atempt to poi-son the national mind, to desintegrate the Spanish nation orconspire against the destiny of Spain.8 The national syndicalist state shall foster all initiative of aprivate nature which is compatible with the collective interestsand shall help along and protect those initiatives which provebeneficial.9 From the economic standpoint we figure Spain as a giganticproducers syndicate. We shall orgaize corporatively Spanishsociety by means of a system of syndicates, according to fieldsof production, syndicates which will be at the service of na-tional economic integrity.10 W e repudiate the Capitalist system which overlooks theneeds of the masses and dehumanizes private property to theextent of reducing workingmen to an amorphous mass withonly misery and hunger as their heritage.W e also repudiate Marxism and will guide the energies ofthe workers, mislead by Marxism, into the right paths and willdemand their share of part icipation in the great task of keepingthe national unit.I I The National syndicalist state will not evade the economicstruggle between men nor shall have a grandstand seat to lookcomplacently at the struggle between the powerful against theweak. The national syndicalist regime will make class conflictimpossible, because all those who contribute to make govern-ment possible and cooperate in the production constitute partof the national unit.

W e shall repudiate and not tolerate abuses from certain par-ticular interests against others and will avoid anarchy amongthe working classes.12 Th e main purpose of richness-and thus the State will con-tend is to promote welfare and the standard of living of thosewho from the nation. It is intolerable that great masses shalllive deprived of their most elementary needs while a few enjoyluxuries and leissure lives.


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F L NGEI 3 Th e State shall acknowledge private proper ty as licit meansto meet personal, domestic and social needs and shall protectprivate pro erty against the claws of great financial interestsnd power ull speculators and professional loaners.14 W e contend that banks be nationalized and so shall be na-tionalized other public utilities.15 Every Spanish citizen has a right to work and the Stateshall see that unemployment it conjured or that public enter-prise provide bread and butter for those who can t find work.While the main objective of a great national structure is beingattained we shall see that workers derive the most benefits fromteh social legislation enacted.16 All Spanish citizens have the duty to work, so the Nationalsyndicalist State will have no consideration for those who donot fulfill their duty when they are able to do so and whenthey t ry t o live at the expense of others who are doing theirpart.

TH E LAND.17 W e must, at all costs, raise the standard of living of therural classes which are the seed of the Spanish nation. Towardsattaining that goal we have pledged ourselves to carry on andwithout excuses the economic and social reform in the ruraldistricts.18 W e shall enrich the agricultural production through thefollowing means:

Insuring a minimum price for all products of the land.Demanding that great part of what the cit y absorves today inpayment for intelectual and commercial services to the peas-antry, be returned to the country.Organizing a true Agricultural Center, which, when it maylend money to the peasant, with the warranty of it harvestsand lands, may deliver him from the clutches of usurers.Teaching the peasants all about modern farm methods.Decreeing the use of lands according to their conditions andthe chances of marketting the products.Enacting the tariffary laws protecting the agricultural prod-ucts an dairy products.Speeding up hydroelectric projects.Suppressing grea t properties of land as well as very small lots,by means of an equal distribution of fields.

Der uslands Falange Is orn 719 We shall socially organize agriculture through the follow-ing methods.

Redistributing tillable land, thus instituing the domesticproperty and stimulating the syndication of peasants andlaborers.Delivering from misery those poor classes who nowadaysgive the best of their energies to make baren land produce.Transporting these humble and willing workers to morefertile regions.

20 W e shall start a camping por [campaign for ] cattle repop-i~lation f the land as well as reforestation and shall deal merci-lessly with those who hamper this work. Even if the whole ofSpanish youth has to be mobilize to attain this objective wemust tackle the job of reconstructing the natural riches of theland.21 The state shall have right to expropriate without pay-ment of indemnity all property that has been acquired ilegallyor used without right to do so.22 Th e State shall pay immediate attention to the reconstruc-tion of property in city and country.

NATIONAL EDUCATION23 Through a very strict discipline in education, the state tobuild up the one and only strong national spirit and make fu-ture generations feel the joy and pride of the Spanish nation.All men shall have premilitary education which will preparethem for the honor of becoming a soldier or officer of the Na-tional Army of Spain.24 Culture shall be so organized that no talent or genius shallbe lost because of means of development, for lack o r resources.All those who deserves, it, shall have free access even to supe-rior education.25 Our movement incarnates a Catholic sense of life-theglorious and predominant tradition in Spain-and shall incor-porate it to national reconstruction. The Clergy and the Stateshall work together in harmony without either one invadingthe other s field in a way that it may bring about discord or bedetrimental to the national dignity, and integrity.


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F A L A N G ENATIONAL REVOLUTION.

26. Th e Traditionalist Spanish Phalanx of the J.O.N.S. fightsfor a new order, summarized in the principles enunciated be-fore. T o establish it against the existent govern men t, it resortsto revolution. Its style shall be direct, passionate and active.Life is struggle and shall be lived w ith a sense of sacrifice.27 W e struggle to achieve our aims only with those forcesunder o ur con trol and discipline. W e shall make few negocia-tions. Only in the final push in the co nque st of the S tate shallour com mand talk terms and only w hen our term s are the onesto be discussed.

Like the Nazi and Fascist programs, the Falange's pro-gram promises all things to all men. W it h the exception ofthe point about the Catholic sense of life-included fo r ob-vious reasons-the entire program of the Falange is patentlya crude rehash of the standard Fascist programs of Ger-many, Italy, and Portugal.T o peasants, Falingismo promises the breaking up of largeestates and the redistribution of lands. T o large landowners,it guarantees the rights of private pro perty. T o radicals, itpromises the abolition of the capitalist system. T o capitalists,it promises war on Marxism.T he Ninth of the Twenty-Seven Points is a bow in thedirection of the pow erful anarcho-syndicalist movem ent ofthe Latin countries-a movem ent which preached the doc-trine of a state controlled by w orkers7 syndicates ( or un-ions.) T h e Nazi architects of the Falange neatly combinedthis theory with the corporate-state fascisms of Italy andPortugal . T o make the Falangist creed more acceptable toanti-Fascists, the Nazis (w ho fo r similar reasons called the irfascism national socialism ) dub bed Falan ge fascism na-tional syndicalism.In the hands of a master like von Faup el, this program wasjust the key German y had long needed-the key to thehearts of the Spanish aristocrats in the Ne w W orld and thePhilippines. His agents, working out of the many branchoffices of the Ibero-American Institute, were able to con

Der A uslands Falange Is Born Ivince the wealthy expatriates that the provisions of theFalange program which called for the redistribution of theland and the repudiation of capitalism were as completelymeaningless as the similar provisions of th e official progra msof Fascist I taly and Nazi G erman y.Over fragrant little cups of coffee in the private boardrooms of Havana and Buenos Aires, during the afternoonquiet in the great countinghouses of Manila, von Faupel'semissaries explained to Spaniards ho w t o read t he p rogramof the Falange. The points about Spain's will to empire,about this new empire's tightening her links with SpanishAmerica, about Spain's becoming a totalitarian state-thesewere couched in a language the wealthy expatr iates wel-comed and understood. Nor, when they learned that Na-tional Socialist Hitler was backing National SyndicalistSanjurjo, did the Spanish aristocrats in Spain or abroad haveany fears about the syndicalism of th e N ew Spain.T o the m ost realistic of the Spanish aristocrats abroad,von Faupel7sagents even discreetly boasted of the thousandsof trained Reichswehr t roops who were quiet ly shipped toItaly and Spanish Morocco as tourists between April andJuly I936. These husky tourists carried German-Spanishdictionaries in their pockets; arms and German army uni-forms in their trunks. T h ey w ere the advance troops of theCon dor Legions, organized by von Faupel to rise Spain toher old glory and to repudiate the Capitalist system whichoverlooks the needs of th e masses in Spain.These Condor Legionaires, quartered in hotels in Rome,Milan, Turin , and other Italian cities as nonpaying guests ofthe Italian Government, had an official marching songwhich became quite a hit in Italian army circles.W e whistle high and low,

nd the world may praise or blame us.W e are no t what t hey t hi nkO r what they l l one day name us.It was the kind of a song bound to appeal to all Fascistofficers, expressing as it did their philosophy of arms and


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2 F L NGEmen. Ever y ranking Fascist sang it-that is, every rankingFascist in Italy except I1 Duce.W ha t Mussolini actual ly had t o say about the Co ndorLegion in 1936 is still a deep secret-but no secret is thefact that these cocky Nazi warriors were living evidence ofone of Mussolini's latest mistakes. W it h characteristic judg-ment-or luck-I1 Du ce had chosen to back the wro ng Fas-cist par ty in Spain. As dictator of a Catholic country , Mus-solini had seen f i t to supp ort the CE DA of Gil Robles. Now ,in 1936, the Father of Fascism was learning that backing thewro ng Fascist cl iques of other countries was a luxury h ecould no t afford.Hit ler pointed out to Mussolini how to atone for thisearlier stupidity-a stupidity that had begun some yearsbefore the Nazis took over Germany . T he plan was simple:Italy was to pour tens of thousands of troops into Spainwhe n the Germans began their big push. In return, H it lerwas to throw open some Spanish Lebensraum for goodBlack-Shirt families who balked at emigrating to Ethiopia.Mussolini agreed to this plan with jackal's alacrity. It p rom-ised him a cheap, swift, and painless military victory, someland, and perhaps even a few Spanish mineral resources theGermans might care to throw in after the f inal victory.

Der Tag for von Faupel , came on July 17, 1936. By th atdate, however, Franco and Go ded w ere no longer in Spain.T he Gil Robles government had been replaced by the Po pu-lar Fro nt government, which exiled the two generals toarmy commands in the Canaries and Majorca, although ithad already accumulated enough evidence against both mento wa rrant sho oting them as traitors.General Jose Sanjurjo, wearing a peacock's dream of auniform-the Lon don-m ade gift of Adolf Hitler-boardeda Junkers plane in Lisbon and ordered his pilot, CaptainAnsaldo, to take off for a secret landing field in Spain. Buton Jul y 17 the old general was actually headed fo: anotherlanding field his Nazi comrades had chosen without hisknowledge.

Der Auslands Falange Is orn 2A f ew remarks he had let slip to intimate friends in Estorilearlier that year had, u nknow n t o Sanjurjo, reached certainBerlin ears. O n April 3, 1936, for instance, Sanjurjo hadcomplained, The y wa nt me to start a revolut ion t o servethe bankers and the speculators, but I won't do i t. T w oweeks after saying this, he made another t r ip to Berlin. H eremained in Germ any fo r only a few days, and on his returnhe went to work in earnest on his plans for the pendingrevolt . W ha t happened in Berl in while Sanjurjo conferredwith von Faupel is of little moment now. His fate had al-ready been sealed before the visit.Ve ry shortly after Sanjurjo's plane took off from Lisbon,a German t ime bomb planted in the baggage compartmentexploded. T h e blazing fragments of the Junkers mono planebecame the py re of the Anointed Chief of the Spanish Revo-lution. Jose Sanjurjo had the dubious honor of being thefirst of the Nazis' m illion victims of the Span ish W ar .General Goded was a bi t more fortunate. The planewhich was assigned to ca rry him fro m M ajorca to Barcelona

got through without incident . H e took command of the up-rising there within an hour of the time General Fanjul ledhis end of the putsch in Madrid's Mon tana Barracks.Th e events of the next few days sent chi lls down the steelspine of Wilhelm von Faupel. Again his hatred of the mob-beast of democracy had led him to underestimate this low-born creature 's tenacity. For within three days the armedcitizens and loyal soldiers of both Spanish cities had putdown both the Go ded and the Fan jul rebell ions, and the tw oGerman-owned generals were in the death cells of thearoused Republic.From Berl in, von Faupel sent word to Franco in theCanary Islands; the round little man was to fly at once toSpanish Morocco. There, supervised by Nazi staff officersand f inanced with German money, Francisco Franco yBahamonde was to organize an army of Moors and SpanishForeign Legionaires to be f lown to Spain in G erman armytransports piloted by Nazi officers. By default, Franco wasbecoming the Num ber On e man of the pu ppet general staff.


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F A L A N G EA few hours after these orders reached Franco, Hitl er dis-patched von Faupel to th e shores of the Mediterranean asthe head of a secret military m ission. pain is a uni t o Des-tiny in the Universe. General von Faupel's campaign forLatin America had finally reached the shooting stage.Th e conquest of Spain took a little longer than von Faupelhad expected. Th e General planned on a three-months cam-paign; it was three years before the w eary soldiers of th eRepub lic finally yielded-as much to sheer exhaustion andtreachery as to the power and w eight of G erman and Italianarms.It was the strangest, cruelest, dirtiest military cam paign inhistory. In their fur y at the embattled Republicans wh o re-fused t o surrender, the Nazis repeatedly drove themselves tomilitarily useless horrors like the blotting out of peacefulAlmerfa from the sea and the pulverizing of rural Guernicafrom th e air.The Nazis were more successful in London, Paris, and

Washington than they were in Spain. For in that unhappyland, they were bitterly opposed b y a brave, united people.Outside of Spain, aided to no mean extent by a favorableworld press which accepted the von Faupel line that th e warin Spain was a civil conflict between "Nationalists andReds," the Nazis early in the war won the greatest of alldiplomatic battles of the Spanish tragedy. Hitler himselfcould not have draw n up tw o more favorable pieces of aid-to-Germ any legislation than the Non-intervention Agree-ment of Londo n and its American corollary, the Arms Em -bargo Ac t of 1936T h e Non-intervention Agreement pledged all nations ofEuro pe not t o send arms to either side in Spain. Th e Ameri-can Embargo forbad e the shipment of arms to any warringnation. Th e Non-intervention A greement, to which Italyand Germ any w ere signatories, was observed scrupulouslyby E ngland and France in regard to both sides. T h e Axiscountries, of course, limited their observance of the agree-ment to o nly one side.

De r Auslands Falange Is ornEven m ore favorable to the N azis was the American Em -bargo-since the State Dep artm ent, while recognizing thelegally constituted Republic of Spain as a belligerent, re-fused to recognize the fact that Germ any and It aly had in-vaded Spain. Thus, according to the law, the SpanishRepublic was unable to buy either the arms or th e raw ma-terials of self-defense from the United States, while a t thesame time German and Italian commissions were openlybuying w ar materials in the United States and transferringthem to their Spanish front.On ly tw o countries, Mexico and the Soviet Union, recog-nized Spain's right as a sovereign nation t o bu y arms fo r herown defense. Whenever Soviet freighters got through thesub-infested Mediterranean, the speedy little fighter planesthey brought as cargo would soon be clearing the Spanishskies of Axis aviation. But all the sea approaches to Spainwere patrolled by Italian and German submarines, whichattacked, without partiality, English-owned food ships,Greek-owned medical ships, and Soviet-owned munitions

ships bound for Republican ports.o f course, ~ e r m a n ~nd Italy denied that the mysterious"pirate submarines" were from their fleets. In fact, at thesuggestion of th e British, the G erm ans and the Italians joinedin the international patrol whi ch hu nted these "pirates." Tothe surprise of nobody, this international patrol never foun da single pirate.In vain, day afte r day, the bleeding Republic appealed tothe statesmen of the w orld fo r simple, elementa ry justice-for the mere right to purchase, for gold, arms with w hich todefend itself. The Republic chose as its earliest battle cry:"Make Madrid the Tomb of Fascism " But the statesmenof Europe, at that time, were individuals named Charnber-lain, Daladier, Blum, Ho are, Laval, Halifax.Madrid, which was to have been and could have been th etomb of world fascism, became instead its womb. A newbattle cr y rang ou t in Spain, a cry first uttered b y DoloresIbarruri, who became kno wn to th e worl d as La Pasionaria.


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4 F L NGE"Far better to die fighting on y our feet than t o live on yo urknees cried La Pasionaria.T h e Spanish Republic, battered and betrayed, died fight-ing on her feet in Ap ril 1939. By September 1939 the Naziswere ready fo r the second round of their campaign for theworld. Germ any launched the march o n Poland, the Low -lands, France.

Neither the sudden loss of Goded, Fanjul, and otherSpanish military leaders, nor the unexpected toughness ofthe Republic, which refused t o yield, seriously delayed theplans drawn up by von Faupel. Th e creation of the FalangeExterior-the Spanish-speaking division of th e Auslands Or -ganization of the German Nazi Party-was not delayed fo rmore than ten minutes by the master mind of Hitle r7s am-paign f or the Iberian Peninsula and Latin America.T he Falange Exterior got under wa y just in time to makethe best use of a sudden gift from the Loyalists-the gift of acomm odity every Fascist movement needs. T he Spanish Re-public, acting through a legal tribunal in Alicante on No-vember 18, 1936, gave the Falange a genuine, full-blownmartyr. T h e Republic was kind and generous; rather thanan obscure procurer like Horst Wessel, they gave theFalange a martyr of real prominence when they co ndemn edto a traitor's death Jose Antonio P rimo de Rivera y Saez deHeredia, the founder of the Falange Espafiola. YoungPrimo, who had been arrested for treason in May, sufferedthe personal misfortune of being tried after his country menhad already learned that the only c ure f or fascism is a hail ofbullets . H e went t o his grave unmourned by the Germans,who had begun to suspect him of feeling too big for hisbreeches. In death, however, the y gave him the homage hehad long wanted.W ith Marty r de Rivera and Leader Franco on its s tand-ards, th e Falange E xterior was aggressively entered into th eexport business, concentrating primarily on Latin Americaand the Philippines. A universally believed rum or- orig inat -

er uslands Falange Is Borning in the Continental gossip mills-had th e wor ld believethat Serrano Suner, Franco's brother-in-law, was in chargeof th e ex port division of the Falange.legend sprang up to th e effect that Suner was ferventlypro-Nazi and that Franco, who hated the Nazis, had madepoor Suner chief of the Falange in order to keep him fromdoing a ny real harm. Th is fantastic story is still believed inmany quarters. In Berlin and Madrid, however, people knewbetter. T he y knew that th e Nazis would never place the di-rection of the Falange Exterior in the hands of a Suner onthe grounds of sheer efficiency alone.T h e Falange Exterior was placed in charge of a group ofanonymous Germ an-trained Spaniards acting directly un derthe orders of von Faupel. The ruling body of this exportdivision was the N ational Delegation of the Exterior Serv-ice, of w hich th e Secretary Gen eral of the Falange Espaiiola,Raimundo Fernandez Cuesta, was a member. Jose delCastano, a veteran Falange leader, was the nominal head ofthis National Delegation.

In G erma n hands from th e start, the Falange Exterior wasat once more successful in many ways than the SpanishFalange had ever been. Th e Spanish elite of the N ew W or ldand the Philippines flocked to its banners at once; moneypoured into its many fore ign coffers; and th e members ofthe various exterior branches were able to strut about intheir uniforms without facing the certain mayhem whichwould have befallen a Falangista strutting aroun d Spain inthe organization's blue shirt before the G ermans arrived inforce.By October 1938 the Falange Exterior had spread overthe world. It had functioning branches in over twenty for-eign countries. It boasted of upwards of a million fanaticalmembers outside of Spain-more than twen ty times thenumber of Falangistas in Spain itself in 1936. It did so wellthat the National Delegation of the Exterior Service pub-lished a 56-page handbook, filled to th e brim with interest-ing photographs and facts. T his book, printed in S antander


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26 F A L A N G Ein 1938, was immediately suppressed by the flabbergastedNazis-but not until a fe w copies had already been sent toLatin America via the Portuguese diplomatic pouches.

This rare little book, La Falange Exterior, is at once asource of information and an explanation of von Faupel'sreluctance to entrust Spanish Falangistas with posts of greatresponsibility. According to the German, they boast toomuch in the wrong places.

O n page 24 of La Falange Exterior, fo r example, there is alist of official publications of the Falange in various foreigncities. Notice that tiny United States-owned Puerto Ricois credited with two official Falange organs. Not ice, too,that Manila is included on this list:

ARRIBAARRIBAARRIBA ESPANAARRIBA ESPANAARRIBA ESPANAARRIBA ESPANAARRIBA ESPANAAMANECERAMANECERAVANCECARA L SOLESPANAG U I O NNUEVA ESPANAUNIDADYUGOJERARQUIA

Buenos AiresSullana (Peru)HavanaLa PazParana (Argentina)PanamaSan Jose, Costa RicaCiudad Trujillo, Domini-

can RepublicGuatemalaSan Juan, Puerto RicoPonce, Puerto RicoColonSan SalvadorGuayaquilLimaManilaBogota (Columbia)

On page 2 5 of the book the Nazis did not quite succeedin suppressing, the chiefs of the Falange Exterior boast tha tbetween August I, 1937, and October 30, 1938, they dis-

Der Auslands Falange Is Born 7tributed t o members, private parties, foreign sympathizers,libraries and universities in Europe, the Americas, Asia,Africa and Australia some 954,000 pieces of Falange propa-ganda. Thi s included some 17,000 pieces printed in Englishand distributed in the United States.

Page 3 3 is captioned, Decalogue fo r the ComradesAbroad. Th e Decalogue runs:

I . Feel the Motherland at all hours. Above time and dis-tances, above classes and interests.2. Defend without compromise the union of all Spaniardsall over the world, under the traditional and revolutionarysymbol of the yoke and arrows.3 Obey the Caudillo [Franco], leader of our people in warand peace.4. Maintain the brotherhood of the Falange and behavealways as National-Syndicalists with justice, sacrifice, anddiscipline.5. Fight with faith, for the triumph of Hispanidad.6. Give all acts the decorous morality and austerity expected

of Spaniards and Falangistas.7 Love the country in which you live. Respect its laws andflag and contribute a generous effort to its growth, uniting ina communion of joy and sorrow with the peoples with whomyou share work and daily bread.8. Overcome, by the idea of Spain and Falange, any regional,local or personal differences.9. Feel the eternal presence and the voice of blood of thosewho fell to make Spain, to maintain her and to raise her acrosshistory.10. Pay perpetual homage to the memory of Jose Antonio.This decalogue remains synthesized in the permanent and

vigorous cry: rriba EspaZa "Upwards of a million Spaniards in Latin America take thisseriously. If point 7 seems familiar, it should. It is quite

similar to the language used in the oath of t he German-American Bund, and is inserted merely as window dressingfor point 5 Twentieth-century Hispanidad is one of the


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2 FAL AN GEman y brain children of Wilhelm v on Faupel: in essence,it is

prope rly mystic creed devoted to proving that all that wasonce Spanish shall revert to the empire again.

T h e basic creed of the Falange Exterior is further ex-pounded in some curious paragraphs on pages 10, I and I 2of La Falange Exterior:

The Nationalist-Syndicalist doctrine cannot accept classifi-cations into classes among Spaniards, nor can it allow theirspiritual separation from the Motherland. That is why it had tocreate organs of unity and and cohesion for expatriated Span-iards, called to collaborate n different spheres with the actionso our diplomatic and Consular agents These organswere to be the Exterior Falanges, since our movementwas bound to reach across the sea and frontiers.From this it must not be inferred, however, that the

Falange leaders of the various countries take their ordersfrom th e Spanish legations. O n the contrary. General vonFaupel arranged for the Territorial Chiefs of the FalangeExterior t o have the highest Spanish power in the co untriesto wh ich they are assigned.

Sometimes old-line Spanish diplomats balked at takingorders from the Berlin- and Hamburg-trained youngFalange chiefs. Sometimes, when diplomats in the NewWorld refused to take orders from Falange leaders, angryletters traveled across the ocean via trusted couriers. Andgenerally, aft er an exchange of these letters, a cou ntry founditself going through a change of Spanish ministers.

Letters like the ones that passed between Luis RoldanMoreno, provincial secretary of the Falange in Colombia,and Anto nio Valverde, its chief, are a case in point. I t isnecessary only t o cite Valverde7s lette r of September 13,1939-Thi s letter, written in San Sebastian on the letterhead ofthe National Delegation of the Exterior Service of theFalange, said, among other things:

The italics re mine

Der Auslands Falange Is Born 9I have learned of the incident which occurred with theMinister. I suppose that the reply that the National Secretaryof this Service sent in Official Letter Number 84 of the 5th hasalready reached you. T o this I want to add and under-score the following: The Provisional Chief, which you areprotempore in my absence, represents in the political aspect theNational Chief of the Movement, who is El Caudillo [Franco].Consequently, your office cannot under any circumstances

admit interferences alien to its function and in its charge, re-gardless of what their source is, unless orders to the contra ryare received from the only superior authority-which in thiscase is the National Delegation of the Falange Exterior.The ideal thing would be to have the diplomatic representa-tives realize that Falange is Spain and that it is their duty tosupport and protect her in the Exterior and to strengthen theactivities of the [Falange] authorities in the Exterior, con-tributing in a discreet form bu t without vacillations to establishthe true unity within the heart of the Falange. But if somediplomat, ignoring the doctrine of the organization of theFalange that is Spain, and unacquainted with its function, triesto boycott or interfere with its responsible authorities inthat case the [Falange] Provincial Chief cannot under any cir-cumstances limp along or much less submit to the arbitrarinessor maneuvers of said diplomat.As there are many complaints received from all parts becauseof the lamentable actions of certain diplomats, measures arebeing prepared by the high authorities directed toward cor-recting these actions. Falange is SpainSuch quarrels, however, were merely the expressions of

the growing pains of any monster. The diplomats weresoon made completely subservient to the Falange or re-placed by Falangistas chosen personally by von Faupel. By1940, the Falange Exterior was so well intrenched thatB e r n was p r e p o give it th e acid test of genuine serviceto the Axis. Gestapo Chief Heinrich Himmler made a spe-cial trip to Madrid in the summer of that year f or a personalsurvey of the Falange situation.

After Himm ler departed, von Faupel created a new bodyin Madrid, th e Council of Hispanidad. Th is was presented


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30 F L N G Eto th e Falange as a revival of the Council of th e Indies,created by the Spanish Throne during the sixteenth cen-tury as the supreme body charged with directing the des-tinies of Spain s colonies in the Americas.

The Council of Hispanidad was officially formed by adecree of the Spanish State on November 7 1940. Thedecree declared:

ARTICLE: With the aim which it has of helping to fulfillthe obligations it has of watching over the well being and inter-est of our spirit in the Spanish World, an advisory organiza-tion is created, under the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, whichwill be called the Council of Hispanidad, and will be the direc-tor of that policy destined to assure the continuation and effi-ciency of the ideas and works of the Spanish genius.ARTICLE1: The responsibility of all the activities that tendto unification of the culture and economic interests and powerrelated to the Spanish World, shall be the responsibility of thisCouncil.ARTICLE11: The Minister of Foreign Affairs will supervisethe Council, make its rules, and name its members. In the courseof a month, the Council will elaborate the organic rules thatwill precede its functioning.ARTICLEV: The Minister of Foreign Affairs is authorizedto suppress, fuse, and modify and in general regulate the asso-ciations, organisms, and other entities of the Spanish publicinterest that have as a sole and principal aim the fomenting andthe cultivation of relations between Spain and the nations ofAmerica and the Philippines.

If this decree had about it the distinct odor of the sombertracts the Nazis had earlier issued about the blood-ties be-tween the Third Reich and the Germans abroad in placeslike the Sudeten ter rito ry of Czechoslovakia, the coinci-dence was far fro m accidental. T he preamble to the decreeestablishing the Council of Hispanidad included a few sen-tences which bring to mind Hitler s oft-repeated disclaimersof designs on any territory outside of Germany. Said thepreamble:

Der uslands Falange Is BornSpain is not moved by the desire for lands or riches. She asksnothing nor does she reclaim anything, only wishing to returnto Hispanidad the unitarian conscience, being present in Amer-ica with the intelligence, the love, the virtues that always pre-ceeded her work of expansion in the world as was ordered bythe Catholic Queen in her day.The Council of Hispanidad became merely another

weapon in the arsenal of the Falange Exterior.O n the surface, von Faupel had-in the Falange Ex-

terior-delivered to the Th ird Reich a remarkable network,extending from Havana to Buenos Aires, from Lima toManila. This network, according to its creator, was capableof concerted espionage, political diversion, arms smuggling,and anything that any other Fifth Column in history hadaccomplished.

It remained only for th e ehrmacht to give von Faupel sinstrument the tests which would determine whether theAuslands Falange had been wort h all the trouble its organi-zation had entailed. T he answer was soon provided by anumber of Falangistas-among them one Jose del Castano.


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C H A P T E R T W O :

Falange Es Espfia or W h a t Real ly Happenedin Manila?

IN AUGUST 938 a lead editorial appeared in all seventeenof the Falange Exterior publications, from Y u g o in Manilato Arriba in Buenos Aires. It was called Falange es Espafia, and appeared under the byline of Jose del Castano.This editorial addressed itself in gentle terms to thoseSpaniards abroad who had not y et joined the Falange, andwent on to say:

Th e Falange Exterior has been constituted precisely to estab-lish the bond with our compatriots who live away from ourfrontiers while we in Spain are fighting to win the war againstInternation al Marxism and the creation of a new state based onthe twenty-seven points that constitute our DoctrineU p to this point the editorial was merely explanatory,although it must be remembered that at least three of thepoints of the doctrine to which del Castano referred hadto do with the restoration of Spain's old empire-a resto-ration that could only be done a t the expense of other na-tions, including the United States.Howe ver, after modestly stating that death f or theFalangista is no m ore than the strict fulfillment of th e great-est and most honorab le of his duties, del Castano go t tothe real point of his editorial. It was a veiled threat t o those

Spaniards who had not yet joined the Falange Exterior.Th e Spaniards who live away from the Motherland [hewar ned ], should not wait to join for the moment whenthe war has ended because when those happy days arrivewe will have the right to refuse to adm it those who in the day sof unc ertainty and sacrifices looked upon us with skepticismand d oubted us.

3

W h a t Really Ha ppened in ManilaThi s editorial, signed by the chief of the N ational Dele-gation of the Falange Exterior, became a weapon in thehands of agents all over the world. They used it to forceemplo yees of Spanish business houses-young clerks,drivers, and secretaries who were in ma ny cases anti-Fascistat heart-to join the local bran ch of the Falange Exte riorwithout further delay. It was not so much what the article

said-it was the name of the man who wro te it. Th e namebears repetition. It was-Jose del Castano.In November 1940 Arriba, official organ of the Falangein Madrid, described certain diplomatic appointments inthese words: Tw o good comrades are going to take theirplaces as warriors in lands where our flag flew until re-cently.T h e Arriba story went on to say that Genaro Riestrahad been appointed Consul General to Cuba, and th at Josedel Castano had been made Consul General to the Philip-pines.A t that time the official papers in Spain had been engagedin the anti-American campaign which has been cond uctedsix days a week since April 939; most Spanish papers arenot published on M ondays. T he M adrid newspaper Infor-waciones, devoting a full page to the subject of the difficultand glorious hour of our expansion, flatly stated:Let us not forget the Philippines. Japan will impose a neworder. Yankee domination can never cast out from the Archi-pelago what ou r forefath ers sowed to last forever.Manila was a particular target of heavy Falange fire.Scarcely a week went by but one of the Falange papers inSpain would print a blast a t the ew-Washington-Masonicadministration' of the Catholic Philippines7'-an attackwhich would generally be reprinted in hos t of the manyFalange organs abroad.In this manner an article like the M adrid Arriba s Ma-nila, Outpost of Hispanidad, found its wa y into the De-


22/78

FALANGEcember 5, 1939, issue of Avance official organ of theFalange Exterior in San Juan, Puerto Rico. This articledealt with the visit to Madrid of Father Silvestre Sancho,Recto r of the University of Santo Tom is of Manila.

In the Orient [run s the sto ry] is our love the Philippines.Three thousand islands. Enormous riches. The NorthAmericans went there as International Brigades, to separate usSpaniards and Filipinos. They have not yet left the islands.Th ey are the ones who rule.But in th e Philippines three cen turies of Spanish civilizationhave remained forever n this University of Santo To mi s,nailed as an advanced bulwark in the Orient, a worry to theworld today s Father Silvestre Sancho, with the facultyof teach ers, giving daily batt le in defense of Castillian andCatholicism. Perpetually fighting, without dismay, and with-out rest for Spain.The flowery article then goes on to tell how FatherSancho arrived in Madrid as a recruiter to find a pro-

fessor fo r the chair of Hispanidad at the university, thefirst in the world. Also, that the rector wanted to set upthe machinery fo r the exchange of students and professors.The article wound up with a characteristic mystical quo-tation by Falange leader Rafael Sanchez Mazas about timeshaving changed so that now Spaniards looked at a newhorizon. And the horizon, concluded the Arriba author,is the Empire.Shortly after Arriba revealed this new horizon, RectorSancho appointed a new honorary rector of Santo Tomis,the oldest university in the American world. T h e new rec-tor's name was Generalissimo Francisco Franco, and in theverbiage that went with the honor Sancho got in a fewrousing licks about the approaching glorious day w hen t heGeneralissimo would rule over a revived Spanish Empirewhich would embrace Manila.Franco7s appointment as Ho nor ary Re ctor of S antoTomis failed to stir a ripple in official Washington, whereeditorials about the Philippines in the Spanish press were

What Really Happened in Maniladismissed as mere pep talks designed fo r home consum ption.Th ere for e, the appointm ent of Jose del Castano, chief ofthe National Delegation of the Falange Exterior, t o the postof Spain's Consul General to Manila raised no eyebrowsamong the members of the State Department. Apparentlyit was never even questioned by Washington.The day after del Castano was appointed to the diplo-matic post, he was called to a conference in Madrid withGeneral von Faupel and some azi officials he had nevermet before. When the conference ended, von Faupel ap-pointed Del Castano regional chief of the Falange Exteriorfor the Philippines. This app ointment was duly reported inthe Madrid press.Big things were lurking under the surface in Madrid. T h ereports from von Faupel's agents on the reception of theinitial propaganda splurges of the Council of Hispanidadhad given the General some new ideas. T o accelerate thedrive on th e Philippines and the Americas, von Faupel nowopened a new institution-La Casa de America-in Madrid,and decided to send the most trustworthy and the ablestFalange leaders abroad to where they could do the Axiscause the most good. The Axis, at this time, was concen-trating Falangist efforts on Cuba and the Philippines-hence the new assignments of such important figures asRiestra and del Castano.

Jose del Castano had long been intimate with the prob-lems of the Falange Exterior in the Philippines. As the headof the National Delegation of the Auslands Falange, delCastano had been directly responsible for the Manila Fa-lange from its very inception. While Madrid remained inthe hands of the Republic, del Castano had made his head-quarters in Burgos and later in Salamanca. T o these head-quarters, the Falangist chiefs of the Philippines made theirreports. Fro m them, they received their orders.Duri ng the Spanish W ar , not all of del Castano's lettersreached him. One highly important letter, mailed to himby Martin Pou, then a leader of the Philippine Falange,


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6 F L NGEon January 20 , 1938, fell into the hand s of a Republicancounter-espionage officer while it was en r ou te t o Salamanca.

It was an amazing letter. Although it is devoted exclu-sively to an internal quarrel in the Fascist ranks in Manila,it inadvertently described the whole Falange organizationof the Philippines in the process of making its point. Pouset out to prove to del Castano that Enrique Zobel andAndres Soriano-his chief enemies-had taken completecontrol of the Falange and the Fascist movement in thePhilippines.

Zobel and Soriano were no small-time agitators. Theywere two of the wealthiest Spanish businessmen in Manila.Zobel, wh o held the post of consul of th e Franc o regime,claimed to be Franco's personal representative in Manila.His nephew, Soriano, owned Manila's largest brewery andheld the Philippine agency for a giant American tobaccocompany.

Early in the course of the Spanish Wa r, these two hadtaken over the Franco movement in the Philippines. WhenPou arrived on the scene and started giving orders, he raninto difficulties almost at once. Zobel, acco rding to his letter,had then arranged for Pou to be recalled to Spain. Pouobjected to this order.

I went to his [Zobel's] house [Pou wrote] , and he showedme Mugiro's order asking me to indicate the date of departure,although it was irregular-I would have to get this data fromthe [Falange] authorities. I told him not t o be an imbecile,and as he insisted, I offered to th row him ou t of the window-a thing which made for a notable difference in his attitude andvery frightened of his own skin. He proposed that I take thisto the chief of the Falange in the Headquarters and thaton the other hand he would not show anyone the order thatIhad to leave.He began to give circulars to the consular agents of Ger-many, Portugal, Italy and Japan to gain th e attention of theSpaniards whom he had seen in my company and generallytreating me more or less like a monster.

W h a t Really appened n anila 7Note this reference to the Axis diplomats. Th e Falange

was and is so subservient to the Axis authorities that, inorder to destroy a Falangista, it was considered necessaryto denounce him before the German, Italian, and Japaneseauthorities. Pou continued:

I did not do anything more than to cite him before the Mili-tary Tribunal, following which I notified you so that youcould check his telegrams from the 24, 25, and 26 In Ae in-terim the [Spanish] Colony has come to my side and againsthim. The parade of the Spaniards to my home was constantand continuous, offering themselves to me for any job and re-questing instructions from me. Having sent my telegram, I didnot want to do anything more. After many [telegrams] hadgone to Salamanca [then seat of the Franco regime], Zobelbecame scared and began to say that he had not asked for mydeportation, that he was not an enemy of the Falange, that herecognized me as a great patriot.The official Spanish Chamber of Commerce drafted a peti-tion for the expulsion of Zobel the petition won by agreat majority. Thereafter, Zobel began to phone Spaniardstelling them that he represented Franco and that to go againsthim meant going against the Caudillo.

After complaining that Soriano, on his trips to Salamanca,acted differently than he did in Manila, Pou suggested thatthe ne w Falangist chief should come from Spain. H e

should be a man of arms, and he should reside in the con-sulate.

Then, to drive home his point, Pou listed the heads ofthe Falange and the Franco offices in the Philippines, andnext to each name showed the ties between the officers andthe two Spaniards who opposed Pou. According to Pou,Garcia Alonzo and a man named Lizarraga were associatesof Zobel and Soriano. Pou's own description of the FalangeExterior organization in Manila reads:

Chief: La Vara (employee of Garcia Alonzo)Administrator: Fernandez (employee of Lizarraga)


24/78

8 F A L A N G EPress Propaganda: Martinez Gil (employee of Soriano)Information: Castelvi (Soriano's secretary)Secretary: Beaumont (employee of Soriano)These were the official Falange Exterior officers. Pouwent on t o describe the other F ranco officials as:Repre sentative of the Spanish State: Soriano , and in his ab-

sence, Antonio Roxas, his cousin.Consul: Zobel (uncle of Soriano and of Roxas)President of Chamber: ZobelPresident of School Board: ZobelSecretary of School: Beaumont (employee of Soriano andvice-chancellor of consu late)Secretary of Casino: Castelvi (Soriano's secretary)Even though this particular letter never reached delCastano, he already knew that, in the Philippines, the Fa-lange Exterior had made tremendous strides. As the quarrelbetween Pou and the Soriano crowd continued, del Cas-tan0 solved it by removing Pou. Neithe r Wilhelm v on Fau-pel nor Josk del Castano cared to antagonize the wealthiestSpaniards in Manila.Th e Manila to which Josk del Castano sailed in th e win-ter of 1940 was in many ways more fervently Falangistthan Madrid itself. In Madrid, as the new Consul Generalwould have been the first to admit, popularity had neverbeen one of the Falange's characteristics prior t o the gloriousvictor y of t he Nazis, the Italians, and th e Caudillo.T o the utter amazement of th e new Regional Chief, thefive branches of the Philippines Falange Exterior put on a

show fo r him that could no t have been duplicated for sheernumbers in Madrid in 1936. The affair took place in De-cember 1940 at a Manila stadium-secured at a nominalrental from the Spanish businessman who owned it.First, to start the festivities, the five- and six-year-oldyoungsters in uniform lined up in military formation andstarted to march across the field to the music of a brass

What Really H appened inManilaband. T h ey wore uniforms, these little fellows-blue shirtsand shorts and Sam Browne belts like the Exploradores(Boy Scouts). But they w ere not Exploradores, th ey wereJovenes Flechas (Y oung Arrow s) de Falange. Th e uniformswere, for the time being, somewhat alike. In the beginning,the Jovenes Flechas were taught how to march, how tosing Cara a1 Sol, the Falange hymn, and how to give thebrazo en alto (upraised arm) salute when they shouted"Franco Franco Franco " Later, they would learn howto shoot, like the older ones.Following the little fellows came the Secci6n Femeninade la Falange de Manila. This contingent was an uttersurprise to del Castano. It embraced everything fro m five-year-old preschool girls to nurses in their teens to matronsbuilt alon g the lines of assault tanks-all of them in im-maculate blue uniforms, marching behind the banners ofthe Falange and Imperial Spain, saluting smartly with theapproved stiff arm, carrying themselves like women it t ograce the beds and the kitchens of the new conquistadores.

The feminine section was followed by an older groupof Flechas-these ran from eight to about fourteen. T he yalso wore short pants, but they marched with the precisionof soldiers. Af ter t he Flechas retired, a large color guard-youths of fourteen to twenty-paraded smartly with theflags of Spain and the Falange. Th ey wore the Blue Shirts(Camisas Azules) of the Movimiento-the glorious amisaAzul of Jose Antonio, E l Apbstol.In a long letter he wrote to Madrid that night, del Castan0 admitted that th e sight of these smart youn g men w ayout there in th e Orie nt brought tears to his eyes. So thickwere the tears, he wrote, that he could scarcely see thetremendous Falange emblems sewn on the jerseys of thetw o soccer teams that played a rousing game in his honorto bring the ceremonies at the Manila stadium t o a magnif-icent climax.During the first week that del Castano was in Manila,he had din ner with a certain Spaniard residing in the Philip-pines who might have been one of the glamorous figures


25/78

40 F L NGEof th e Spanish State. Thi s individual (his name is know nto t he American authorities) had amassed a huge fortune,primarily as agent in the Philippines for American manu-facturers. He was one of th e men o n whom von Faupel'sagents had originally tested the program of the Falange-and his reaction had been a bit too positive. Permit me,he had said, to finance the entire movimiento. W he n theNazis invaded Spain without this caballero's backing, hewas offended. But he was soon brought around t o the Ne wOrder, and he became a great patron of the PhilippineFalange.This man was typical of the wealthy Spaniards whoformed the core of the Franco crowd in the Philippines.Sons of wealthy Spanish planters and colonial traders, th eyhad, as boys or youths, emotionally o r physically foug ht t okeep the Archipelago within the Spanish Empire during theSpanish-American War. Trained from childhood to hatethe freedom of peoples, the freedom of religions, and thefreedom of education, they had within their own lifetimeseen all three freedoms develop in the Philippines. Th epeoples of the Philippines, chattels under the Spanish Em-pire, had had their lot improved under the Americans. Ithad been no Paradise, to be sure; but t he for m of the ges-ture had been one of democracy.And then, the Spaniards complained, without too greata struggle the Washington Idiots had signed a paper ac-tually giving the Filipino savages the righ t t o govern the irow n destinies.Under the monarchy, the One True Faith had madegreat headway am ong the savages. Now , with the separa-tion of Church and State-for which the Protestant MasonicBankers of Boston were responsible-paganism was againrife.In the days of the Empire, education was controlled bythe Church. It was a privilege, accorded to those worthyof it. Now, thanks to the American devils, secular educa-tion w as free and universal. And i t was education of Satan'sown design, with pagan Protestant teachers permitted to

Wh at Really Happene d in Manila 1expound upon heresies like birth control, the F rench Revo-lution, and the Ne w Deal of the Jew Roosevelt.Th e wealthy Spaniards who spoke and thought in theseterms did wha t they could to keep their wives, their chil-dren, and themselves from the contamination of this newsociety. They published their own newspapers, ran theirown private schools for their heirs , subsidized collegesmaintained whatever links they could with the Spanishmonarchy. When the monarchy rotted away of historicalgangrene in 193 the caballeros refused to believe that thecorpse was more than merely sleeping. Wh en th e Falangethrust its five arrows over the horizon, the rich Spaniardsin the Philippines saw in them the pointers to the type ofSpanish Empire their fathers had really known.In addition to being rich, these Spaniards were also real-istic men. By 1940 they k new th at Imperial Spain was par tof the same Axis as Imperial Japan. It was no secret thatJapan had a design or two on the Philippines herself, aswell as a f ew nationals here and there on the Archipelago.No thin g serious, of course, and nothing t o get excited about,but nevertheless a problem that was growing acute by thetime Don Jose reached Manila.Don Jose,'' they asked del Castano, is it really truethat the little brown Japanese monkeys will restore ourEmpire?Our Fascist brothers in Japan, the Consul Gen eralwould answer sternly, are united with us in the commonstruggle. When they strike, we must help them. When westrike, they will help us.Del Castano must have repeated this answer a hundredtimes during his first week in Manila, each time using theexact words he used when he had rehearsed the few sen-tences for General von Faupel and those strange Naziluminaries back in Madrid.The Consul General was very careful to say nothingwhich w ould m ake his set speech on Spain's Fascist brothersin Japan sound in the least bit false. When not discussingth e Japanese, del Castano spent mu ch of his time in the first


26/78

F L NGEweeks studying the scripts of the radio shows the Spanishgroups put on regularly, speaking at dinners, bolstering thespirits of the local Falange chiefs, and, in his spare moments,attending to his diplomatic duties.

These radio programs were amazing. At the time delCastano arrived in Manila, for example, the Ateneo de Ma-nila, one of the exclusive Spanish private schools, was doinga series on the ideal corporate state of Portugal s Salazar.Thi s was the familiar clerico-Fascist line of all good Axispropagandists in Catholic countries. Wit hin time, del Cas-tan0 was to hear programs contrasting the American pio-neers and the Spanish conquistadores so cleverly that thelisteners gained the impression that the pioneers who ex-plored with Boone were drunken desperadoes while thesoldiers who pillaged with Pizarro were hymn-singing ab-stainers.

As regional Falange chief and as Spanish Consul General,del Castano was in supreme command of all anti-AmericanSpanish activities, from radio programs to downright es-pionage. T he scope of del Castano s work as a propagandist,the seriousness of his results, can be gathered in th e openalarm expressed by tw o officers of th e Philippine MilitaryAcademy, Major Jose M Hernandez and Lieutenant Ri-cardo C. Galang, who, a few months before Pearl Harbor,prepared an emergency manual on counter-propaganda fortheir government Wh at Every Fil ip ino Should Knowabout Propaganda).

T w o bitter sections of the ir slim publication speak vol-umes about what the Falange accomplished on the propa-ganda front alone in the Philippines:

Transfer is a device by which the propagandist carries overthe authority, sanction, and prestige of something that werespect and revere to something he would have us accept. Forinstance, in our country, the people have a very high regardfor the Church because our people are essentially religious. Ifsome foreign power succeeds in getting the Church to sponsora movement, it is very likely that our people will be won over.W e should not be surprised if Generalissimo Franco of Spain

W h a t Really Happene d nManila 4finds a way to influence the Catholic Church to win over someinfluential Filipinos to a cause that would be inimical to thedemocratic ideals of our people. Filipinos must remember thateven from the pulpit, propaganda, aside from religious, may besold to our masses.There is another type of subtle propaganda being used in thePhilippines. It is the Spanish propaganda. Fellowships have beenoffered o Filipinos so that they may study in Spanish universi-ties courses in medicine and social science. Everybody knowsthat the most outstanding, the most famous, the mo

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