The Spanish Holocaust by Paul Preston

Author:Paul Preston [Preston, Paul]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Non-Fiction, Military History, 20th Century, European History, 21st Century, Amazon.com, Retail, Spain, History
ISBN: 9780393064766
Amazon: 039306476X
Barnesnoble: 039306476X
Goodreads: 12520353
Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company
Published: 2007-01-01T15:00:00+00:00

The Public Order Delegation took over the activities, and absorbed many of the personnel, of the CPIP. Control of roads in and out of the capital was to be in the hands of the police, the Assault Guards and Rearguard Security Militias (MVR) and co-ordinated by Serrano Poncela’s Delegation. The Delegation had a representative in each police station and in each of the principal prisons. According to Carrillo, the only opposition to his centralization measures came from the anarchists. Indeed, the closure of Felipe Sandoval’s checa in the Cine Europa was resisted and eventually required the intervention of the Assault Guards. Carrillo’s measures constituted the institutionalization of the repression under the Public Order Delegation in the DGS. Despite the presence of two CNT–FAI members and the fact that many ex-members of the component groups of the CPIP now became policemen, the Delegation was dominated by the Communists. They were thus able to push forward the reconstruction of the Republican state which had been a crucial necessity since the military coup had shattered the apparatus of government.69

Within Serrano Poncela’s Delegation, there were three sub-sections. The first dealt with investigation, interrogations and petitions for release. This was headed by Manuel Rascón Ramírez of the CNT. After interrogations had been carried out, this section made recommendations to the Delegation and final decisions were taken by Carrillo. This function was entirely compatible with the decisions taken at the meeting between JSU and CNT members on the evening of 7 November. The second sub-section, headed by Serrano Poncela himself, dealt with prisons, prisoners and prison transfers. According to Rascón, it used the Dawn Squad and small tribunals of militiamen set up in each prison to go through the file-cards of the prisoners. One such group in Porlier prison was run by Felipe Sandoval. The third sub-section dealt with the personnel of the police and other more or less official armed groups in the rearguard. Headed by another close JSU collaborator of Cazorla, Santiago Álvarez Santiago, it evaluated the reliability of existing policemen and also decided which members of the old checas could be incorporated into the police. For all these jobs, the Public Order Delegation could draw on the files and personnel of the technical section of the DGS.70

The procedures that would be applied to prisoners between 18 November and 6 December were established on 10 November at a meeting of the Public Order Delegation. Serrano Poncela laid down three categories: army officers with the rank of captain and above; Falangists; other rightists. This was roughly similar to what had been agreed at the meeting on 7 November between members of the CNT–FAI and representatives of the JSU, one of whom had almost certainly been Serrano Poncela himself. To supervise the process, Rascón Ramírez of the CNT and Torrecilla Guijarro of the PCE were in charge of appointing those who would in turn select the prisoners to be executed. Rascón and Torrecilla named a ‘responsible’ and a deputy for each prison who in turn set up a number of three-man tribunals to select the prisoners.

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