Film Review- 30 Years of Darkness ( 30 años de oscuridad ) (2012)

30 Years of Darkness ( 30 años de oscuridad )
Director: Manuel H. Martín 2012

Rarely do you find a documentary that is as engaging as 30 Years of Darkness which examines those men, I think all men, whom after the end of the war on April 1, 1939 some of these 'Moles" went in hiding for up to 32 years! The film uses a mixture of interviews with historians, family interviews, and illustrations in the style of graphic novels-which really works for this.

The main focus of the documentary is Manuel Cortes the former socialist Mayor of Mijas in Malaga Provence. After fleeing Mijas as Nationalist forces neared he joined the Republican Army.

After the war he was put in a camp with the other prisoners who were eventually released.

Manuel went home but there had been killings of other ex-mayors and it was decided that he would hide until it was safe to come out. First, he lived behind the wall in his father’s house, then for the first time in years he left the house dressed as an old women to walk to a new house his wife purchased were he lived under the stairs. Apart from the many sad aspects of this Manuel could only watch as his daughter grew up. Eventually she was let in the secret. Manuel and his wife and other "Moles" and their families were able to have children. Fabricated an extensive web of deceit to make it work. Finally there is one more move to a larger house-but he was still unable to attend his father’s funeral, daughter’s wedding, and grand daughter’s funeral.

In 1969, the Spanish dictatorship announced a general amnesty for all “crimes” and actions before April 1st, 1939.  After some hard conversations with his wife it was decided that it was time to leave-after 30 years in hiding he walked out of the house without a chance he would be arrested or worse. The film has some wonderful family film of the time that shows Manuel and his wife Juliana ad their children and grand children. Very remarkable and moving to watch. Manuel lived until 1991!

Other ”Moles” are covered though not in such depth-Juan Hidalgo who went almost totally blind because of the decades he spent in hiding. Manuel Piosa who hid in the floor of a barn under straw and dung for three decades! In Segovia Santurnino de Lucas hid for 34 years! No one will ever know how many Moles there were. Many may have been shot the instant they were found, or died in their hiding places, killed themselves, escaped to another country, or who did survive.

The film is remarkable as it does an excellent job of showing how the people who lived through the war turned on each other, proved how much a dedicated Francoista they were by acting as informants, and the desperation of those who knew if caught they at the least be in prison for a long time-of more likely shot on the spot or in prison as a number of them were when they were discovered.

Rush to watch this film.

Spying, a Family Business-or Nazis in the Family

I picked up a cover that caught my eye because of the bisect Huelva local. As I normally do when I receive a letter/post card I researched the sender and receiver. I looked up L. Clauss of Huelva and found this was a firm that was an agricultural product processor. Another source says that the company made a fortune supplying industrial supplies to the Rio Tinto mines in the province of Huelva. Ludwig is in the center of the photo and the man to his left looks like his son Adolf.

L. Clauss was founded by German immigrant to Spain Franz Ludwig Clauss Röder ( Leipzig , February 12, 1862 - Huelva , April 15, 1954). Good old Mr. Clauss was the honorary consul for Germany in Huelva 1915-1945. Yep, consul. He moved to Huelva in the 1890s, met and fell in love with a María Kindt Merino a Mexican in Spain. They would have four children-two boys Ludwig and Adolf, and two girls-Rafaela and Araceli. With another German he founded the L. Clauss company. Son Adolf below.

Ok, to say they were sympathetic to Germany-Nazis is an understatement. Franz and María’s two sons Ludwig and Adolf were German intelligence agents in Spain during the war.

In 1947 the Allies requested Ludwig along with 104 other Nazi agents be turned over to them because of his activities. Of course good old Franco refused to do so.

Ludwig wasn’t the star of the German intelligence service (the Abwehr), no the star in the family was brother Adolf who was the head of German intelligence in all of Andalusia at first then Madrid after the war. During the Guerra Civil he was a member of Adolf Hitler's "volunteer" Condor Legion. During the Second Word War he organized sabotage and spying operations against Allied shipping in the straits of Gibraltar. by often pretending to watch butterflies off the coast of the "Rock". He also bought off various Spaniards. I haven't been able to find out what happened to the company or to Adolf after the war, but you can see him above in old age.

Ah, but Adolf was the patsy of one of the most important intelligence operations in history, Operation Mincemeat. Operation Mincemeat was designed by the British to cover the Allies intention of invading Sicily. Instead, the operation led the Germans to think that the Allies were going to invade Sardinia and Greece. OK, pretty standard right? Well, the big part of the deception was the depositing of a real cadaver in the ocean to make it appear to be a British officer. In real life the cadaver was Glyndwr Michael, a “tramp” who died by eating rat poison who had no family. Below is the fake I.D card planted on Mr. Michael.

The “officer” then had papers placed on him to trick the Germans. Which of course it did. Poor Mr. Michael’s body washed up on the Spanish coast and the papers, at least copies taken by German sympathizers, were delivered to guess whom in Madrid-yes, Adolf.

The account of the operation was detailed in the non-fiction book The Man Who Never Was (1953) by Ewen Montagu. Of which a movie was later based-having watched the movie and read the book when I was much younger-I found it to be fascinating. Father Clauss' tombstone is below.

So there ya have it, you never know what you are going to find.

The Pre-War War-or When Irony Ruled

There had been rumblings of revolt and upheaval in Spain since the turn of the 20th Century-as the twin forces of modernization and worker/farmer/miner’s desire and demands for fairer and much improved pay and working conditions that the intransient old guard of industrialist/latifundia/mine owners pushed back on. All of which came to a head in 1934 when the miners of Asturias went on strike.

Located in the far north of Spain and adjacent to the Basques, Asturias had a history of labor “agitation”, anarchism, and action. Just two years before full-fledged civil war broke out there were similarities between 1934 and 1936. The miners went on strike against the entry of the Spanish Confederation of the Autonomous Right (CEDA) into the Spanish government in October.
On October 4th the miners went on strike and begun to occupy several towns while attacking Civil and Assault Guards. On October 6th the miners occupied the provincial capital Oviedo. In the towns and in Oviedo the strikers formed revolutionary committees to govern the occupied areas.
In spite of efforts by the leaders of the strike/revolt-moderate socialists such as Ramón González Peña and Balamino Tomas violence did occur when priests, businessmen and civil guards were executed and churches and convents in Oviedo were destroyed.

The irony of all of this is the same miners would become staunch and steadfast in their support of the Republic and democracy. Even more irony is the forces used to squash the revolt were colonial Moroccan AKA “Moors” from the Army of Africa and Spanish Legionaries led by Generals Franco and Goded both would later led these same troops against the same Republic. During the war the miners would become legends for their ability to utilize dynamite as an anti-personal weapon. Even more irony is that Moorish troops helped to reconquer Asturias, the one part of Spain that was never conquered by the Moors.

No shock here, but the Spanish military crushed the revolution by the 19th of October. With the ending of the revolution, the reprisals came hard and fast-about 3,000 miners died and about 30,000 to 40,000 were taken prisoner. Some 200 were executed after the end of the conflict. Many, many others lost their jobs and their constitutional guarantees. On the government side-about 260 military personal lost their lives as did about 33 priests. In what prove to be a disturbing taste of what was to come in two years’ time-colonial troops raped, pillaged, and looted their way across Asturias.

For an overall and very well-done and comprehensive look at the lead up to the Civil War I think you can’t find a more accessible book in English than Paul Preston’s Coming of the Spanish Civil War
In keeping with the purpose of this blog-what does this have to do with Asturias and postal history? A seller I have bought from before offered three postcards that pictured the aftermath of the uprising. When I received them I determined I don't believe they are post cards as the reverse doesn't have the usual address lines, place for a stamp and for writing. So perhaps they are souvenir photo cards? What I do know is there are at least three series because the same seller has listed a few from Series II and Series III. I picked up three from Series I. The title of the first series is "Oviedo-City of Martyrs October 5-14, 1934."The one below is #5 of Series I and shows the aftermath of the damage from the fighting at the entrance to Calle de Fruela in Oviedo.

The card (#7) below shows the damage to the Audencia in Oviedo. 

The final card of the lot is #13-that shows the destruction of the Secondary Teaching School in Oviedo.

Since there are at least three series and I am not certain as to their postal purpose I probably will refrain from picking them up unless they are for a song.

International Federation of Resistance Fighters – (FIR)

Some time ago I came across a stamp from FIR that was issued to raise funds for former anti-fascist fighters of Greece and Spain. I have never seen it before, and thought I missed my opportunity to pick it up. But a recent late night perusal of the Bay turned up the same stamp and same copy from before. There is a little damage-but for the cost of small Starbucks coffee I made an offer the seller couldn’t refuse and it was mine.

The question for me was what is FIR? Founded in Vienna in 1951 the organization consists of veterans of various anti-Axis resistance fighters such as partisans.  Though it worked on issues of peace in the Cold War I haven’t found any Western Nations that issued any postage stamps to note the various General Assemblies. However, below are images of a number of stamps and postal stationary from various Eastern Block countries that did issue stamps to honor the association. Originally founded by the International Federation of Former Political Prisoners founded in Paris in 1947.

The FIR organized various conferences that addressed several issues including medical which examined the physical toll of the resistance as well as the physical affects on political prisoners. The main focus of the organization was to keep the memory of those non-military men and women who resisted the Fascists during the war.  This is done by assemblies, conferences, and published studies on various anti-Fascist campaigns during the war.

As a result of an increase in neo-fascism in the Federal Republic of Germany in the late 1950s the organization ran intelligence operations against these groups as well as worked with other organizations to increase awareness of this issue.

The organization is still alive and well and consists of organizations in more than 25 European countries and Israel. In 2004, the FIR adopted the name “International Federation of Resistance Fighters – Association of Anti-fascists” (FIR).

I haven’t able to locate any information on the label-they organization maintains a website but it didn’t provide any information. Nor did a Google search. Let us examine the label itself. It is rectangle and magenta. With a border on all four sides with French at the top and German along the bottom, that states “Solidarity with the Former Greek and Spanish Fighters” The left corner as “ST. 30”, not sure what currency that is. The center is a Kathe Kollwotz piece from 1932 call “Solidarity” with the name of the FIR in French and German. It is on the way from the seller so I don’t know the perf. I will look to upgrade when I can, if I ever find another one.

Peace Pledge Union

In the wake of the immense bloodshed of the First World War a number of fairly well meaning people formed various peace organizations. One of these, the Peace Pledge Union, was founded in Britain in 1934 through the initiative of Dick Sheppard, canon of St Paul's Cathedral. Several famous Brits were involved including Aldous Huxley, Bertrand Russell and Siegfried Sassoon.

During the Civil War, the organization sponsored 64 Basque refugee children and placed them in the The Oaks on School Road in Langham in the Midlands between 1937 and 1939. There is an organization called BasqueChildren.org here is a directory of Colonies that housed Basque children.

“The most striking thing to a visitor or a newcomer to Basque House is the friendliness of the children here. Every visitor is welcomed with smiles and waves of the hand, and the parting guest has a royal send-off, with “Goodbye, goodbye” from all sides. With complete unselfconsciousness the children accept strangers and, with a natural charm which far exceeds any art, make them welcome. They are almost unfailingly cheerful and always ready to help with any work to be done. Some of them indeed are so zealous that we have to take care that they get a fair share of all the pleasures going, otherwise they would spend too much time helping with the cooking, washing and cleaning.”

Bella Hooper, “Under the Oak Tree”, Peace News, 28th August 1937

“Five miles out of Colchester on the Ipswich Road a fine old oak in the middle of a grass triangle marks a turning on the left leading to the hamlet of Langham. This local landmark is known as the Langham Oak. Following the turning (and bearing first right then left) for about half a mile, the traveller comes on a solidly built, comfortable-looking house of grey stone standing in finely-kept grounds and called “The Adelphi Centre.”

Here Middleton Murry’s community for the study and practice of the new Socialism has been in action for a year. Now the whole house is being surrendered to the family of 29 Basque girls and 24 Basque boys for which the P.P.U. has recently made itself responsible. Before it became the Adelphi Centre (“The Adelphi” is the monthly magazine, now well-known to pacifists, which Murry started in 1924) the name of that house was – and in the locality still is – “The Oaks”. As you approach it you realise why: for in front of the house and overshadowing the road is one of the most majestic oak trees I have ever seen.

So it seems strangely fitting that these little Basques, whose own ancient oak was one of the few things left standing in Guernica, should have come to Langham; and that the house which is to be their temporary home should link in its name the Basque and the English tree."

Dorothy Plowman, “Under the Oak Tree”, Peace News, 12th June 1937

The organization still exists and is most notable now days for the White Poppy Appeal Campaign which started in 1933 to honor all victims of wars. According to Wiki they sold a record 110,000 poppies in 2015.

In 1939 the Peace Pledge Union issued one awareness-raising label. The stamp has a 10 perf and is emerald green on white with the legend “In England Still” with a picture of a cute smiling Basque child framed by acorns. Acorns symbolizing not only the house they lived in but the ancient Gernikako Arbola. Which symbolizes the freedom and freedoms of the Basque people. The Gernikako Arbola died in 2004 at the ripe age of 146 years. Below the child is a request for donations to be sent to the Basque House in Langham near Colchester.

I picked this up recently and I haven’t seen one before and it was a decent price. I really like these non-Spanish stamps because it gives a global perspective to contemporary global politics of the conflict.

United American Spanish Aid Committee

I have to say that this is organization has been very challenging in finding information on the web. I assume like other organization it was a popular front Communist group with ties to C.P.U.S.A which appealed to non-communist too. As late as 1940 the organization was fighting against the now victorious Franco.

The United American Spanish Aid Committee issued one fund raising stamp in 1937 and this stamp is the final one picked up from the same seller on the Bay. This perf 12, violet blue on beige stamp had a value of 25c, was issued in booklets of panes with 8 stamps. Though a little less polished then the other two stamps it more than makes up in graphics. Which are a couple with a baby and an older adult surrounded by barbed wire. The one I picked up was one from along the bottom of the pane.

The same seller had one more U.S issued label-a block of 4 from the Rescue Spanish Refugees committee. A little too rich for my blood so no win. It was a beauty.