The rescue of Jewish refugees by Spain during the Holocaust of World War II

Abstract

Although at the beginning of World War II Spain was an ally of Germany it was one of the few countries in the world to make a direct effort to rescue and grant protection to Jews who were doomed to the Nazi Death Camps.

In 1492 the Spanish Jews, known as the Sephardim, were expelled from Spain by Ferdinand and Isabella who wanted to purge the country of all the non-Catholic element, Even those Jews who had converted to the Christian religion were later persecuted and deported by the Spanish Inquisition and the Jews were not officially welcomed back into Spain until 1924, when the Spanish Government granted Spanish nationality to all Sephardic Jews.

From 1940 until the end of the war thousands of Jews escaped from Nazi-occupied Europe into Spain, where they were permitted by the Spanish Government to remain, although they were cared for by the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee and other interested individuals, among them the American Ambassador, Carlton J. H. Hayes. American influence was more directed to the Allied war effort and in securing embargos against Germany, especially in the case of the wolfram ore that Germany required and that Spain had in abundance. Once the embargo had been acquired Spain was considered "friendly" to the Allies, although remaining neutral, and Hayes was able to direct his attention to the problem of exerting influence on the Spanish for the refugees who entered Spain. The Franco Government itself was the entity most instrumental in aiding Jewish refugees. It directly intervened in several European countries, granting protection and asylum to thousands of Sephardic Jews who would have otherwise been deported to the Nazi death camps. General Franco himself ordered that protection for members of the Sephardic group be secured, for reasons that are at times speculative and are no doubt an assertion of his own authority in defiance of his former German ally, who had aided his victory during the Spanish Civil War. Since World War II additional legislation has been enacted in Spain creating an atmosphere conducive to Jewish emigration and a general attitude of tolleration for this minority group. Some of the help given Jews in Spain has been done for oportunistic reasons, such as creating a favorable impression on the United States and its large Jewish minority, but the situation for Jews in modern Spain has continued to progress. During World War II the Jews were persecuted by the Axis powers and although their lives were in jeopardy they were not granted priorities by the Allies, even after six million had been lost. Thanks to Spain, thousands were alive after the war, although of the six million this was but a fraction; but one nation did care about Jewish suffering.