Hello and welcome to the history page. This week we will take up the
final leg of our war chronicle with the permanent arrival of National
forces in Ibiza and Formentera. As recounted last week, the definitive
capture of the Pitiuses occurred on 20th September, 1936 when
a mixed bag of anti-republican companies sailed unimpeded into Ibiza
harbour on the civilian vessel, Ciudad de Palma. The expedition
was comprised predominately of Falangists but also included the
notorious Italian death squad (known locally as Dragons of Death), a
fascist platoon sent to Majorca by Mussolini himself and headed up by
the nefarious Count Rossi, already regarded as one of the most violent
players in the Mediterranean theatre of war.
Military Rule: The New State
Due
to the absolute vacuum of power on both Pitiusae, the reestablishment of
law and order by National forces took place quickly and effectively on
the smouldering ashes of Republican rule. The first Military Commandant
assigned to Ibiza was Antoni Montis, whose troops, together with the
Italian and Falangist squads, would play a leading role in the initial
and bloodiest wave of anti-Republican repression. Montis�s first move
was to restore the islands� six former rightwing mayors to their
respective Town Halls (five in Ibiza and one in Formentera). In
accordance with Franco�s concept of the New State, each mayor was
directly incumbent to the provincial governor in Majorca, while the
municipality itself was exalted as the fundamental unit of polity. As
such the Town Halls perpetrated acts of repression as dictated by the
military authorities, organized a selective network of social aid, and
were the principal broadcasters of propaganda for the nascent regime. As
part of their programme, several monuments and public works such as
roads and promenades were built, one of the most outstanding being the
Paseo de s�Alamera in Santa Eul�lia, originally inaugurated in
1937 as the Paseo del General�simo in honour of Franco�s visit to
Ibiza in 1935 when he was the Military Commandant of the Balearic
Islands.
It
was the Army, however, that formed the central axis of power around
which all other governmental organisms revolved. By sheer dint of having
staged the military coup that overthrew the Second Republic, the Army
felt itself entitled to assume a primary role in the running of
government, a danger (as readers will remember) that Aza�a, in his day,
tried to prevent by curtailing the extraordinary immunities and
privileges enjoyed by the Spanish military. With Aza�a�s destitution,
the Army re-emerged from its lessened status with a vengeance, claiming
the right to enforce, at its random discretion, the rulings issued by
the civilian branch of government it had set up.
In
Ibiza this liberty degenerated into libertinism, for Commandant Montis
had to be removed from power within the space of a month. Apparently,
his iron-handed ways shocked even the most conservative elements of
Ibicenco society for which reason he was replaced on 13th
October by the Commandant of Infantry, Gonzalo Arnica Ferrer � who was
in turn replaced six months later by Lieutenant Colonel Joan Coll i
Fuster, who managed to remain in his post until June of 1938, when he
has superseded by Lieutenant Colonel Mateu Llobera i Balaguer.
Falangists Move into Starring Role
The
Falange stole the political show in Spain from the earliest moments of
the Civil War, rising from electoral oblivion to become, in essence, the
only official party in Franco�s Spain. In Ibiza and Formentera, for
example, prior to the outbreak of war, the Falangists were hardly more
than a tiny club, comprised by some twenty-five active members between
the two islands. In an effort to unify the disjointed fragments of his
political following, Franco decreed a merger in 1937 between the
Traditionalistas (Carlist monarchists) and the Falangists, thus
creating an entity that would later be renamed Movimiento National.
So powerful was the influence of this new party that the leader of each
of its municipal chapters automatically became the mayor of the
corresponding Town Hall, thus ensuring the strictest adherence to party
policy.
In
Ibiza, the politically conservative oligarchy quickly banded with the
new power structure in order to maintain their say in island affairs.
Consequently, the Falangist-Traditionalist party (known as FET-JONS)
encompassed a relatively wide range of rightist ideologies, the crux of
which was adherence to Franco�s uprising and the desire to restore the
social climate that, in Ibiza, had been so satisfactory before the
proclamation of the Second Republic. Two of the more illustrious members
of this party in Ibiza were Bartomeu de Rosell� (whose avenue leads into
Isidoro Machabich in Ibiza Town) and C�sar Puget. Inevitably, however,
the party also became a catch-all for social climbers with little or no
political definition. In the frank words of Artur Parron:
�[It] became the refuge of many citizens who found
therein security, social prestige, access to jobs, or simply political
connections that enabled them to grow rich in the shadow of corruption
or gain entry to any type of public career. Hence, the island�s
bureaucracy was replete with Falangists and the Blue Shirt became a
daily symbol of power��
Closing
Before closing this week, I would like to include a few thoughts on the
impact this series may be having on some of the local Ibicencos who read
this page. Although there are few people still alive in Ibiza who
personally lived through the Civil War, most islanders over the age of,
say, thirty have been weaned on stories of the war and are quite
sensitive to the subject begin discussed by foreigners whom, they claim,
invariably lump all those who supported Franco into the same camp as
German Nazis and Italian Fascists. Antonio Ribas Bamberger, our
much-loved webmaster at Ibiza History Culture, raised this subject with me recently,
asking me politely but pointedly what made me think I possessed the
proper understanding to buy up the rights and wrongs of Spanish
government and society in general (and Ibicenco government and society
in particular). Quite correctly he observed that I could only view these
events from an outsider�s limited point of view. His point is well-taken
and I would therefore like to apologize for any misconstructions I may
have committed in the name of �political correctness� as defined by
today�s standards.
I am
pressing to finish this series by Christmas but, time permitting, would
very much like to include some of the interesting personal stories told
to me about the war by my Ibicenco friends, as many of these stories
highlight the valour and integrity of the staunchly conservative
Ibicenco populace in the face of marauding anarchists and so-called
Republicans. In the meantime, join us next week when we will carry on
with the political evolution of the Falangist party as it confronted the
Axis defeat of Germany and Italy in World War II. Until then, |