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Throughout World War II, Spanish diplomats of the Franco government extended their protection to Eastern European Jews, especially in Hungary. Jews claiming Spanish ancestry were provided with Spanish documentation without being required to prove their case and either left for Spain or survived the war with the help of their new legal status in ...
The Spanish question (Spanish: Cuestión Española) was the set of geopolitical and diplomatic circumstances that marked the relationship between Spain and the United Nations between 1945 and 1955, centred on the UN's refusal to admit Spain to the organization due to Francoist Spain's sympathy for the Axis powers, defeated in World War II.
Besides that the workers' solidarity with Spain was immediate; workers and unions made donations to the Spanish ambassador. The Cárdenas government, unlike the other countries, did not sign the International Non-Intervention Committee, and therefore, it was the only country that officially gave aid in the Spanish Civil War.
With the end of World War II, Spain suffered from the economic consequences of its isolation from the international community. Spain was blocked from joining the United Nations, primarily by the large Communist element in France. By contrast the American officials in 1946 "praised the favorable 'transformation' that was occurring in US ...
Additionally, over 100,000 Spanish civilian workers were sent to Germany to help maintain industrial production to free up able bodied German men for military service. Despite strong pro-Axis leanings, Spain managed to end World War II as one of only five (non micro-state) European countries to avoid entering the war.
In the opening weeks of 1941, unsuccessful efforts were made by the ambassadors in Berlin and Rome to encourage the Spanish government to change its stance. Franco answered negatively to another request from Hitler to join the war that was received on 6 February citing the precarious state of Spain's economy and army.
With the onset of the Great Depression, the government tried to assist rural Spain by instituting an eight-hour day and redistributing land tenure to farm workers. [ 35 ] [ 36 ] The rural workers lived in some of the worst poverty in Europe at the time and the government tried to increase their wages and improve working conditions.
Concerns about the international situation, Spain's possible entry into World War II, and threats of invasion led him to undo some of these reductions. In November 1942, with the Allied landings in North Africa and the German occupation of France bringing hostilities closer than ever to Spain's border, Franco ordered a partial mobilization ...