The Return from the USSR to Franco’s Spain in the Cold War

This book tells the story of how and why Spaniards who had been catapulted to the USSR by the Spanish Civil War (1936-1939) and the Second World War came home. It examines the repatriation, mainly during the Cold War, of Spaniards in the USSR--nearly three thousand children evacuated there during the Spanish Civil War (and their caretakers), communists in exile, Republican aviators and sailors, and prisoners of war who had been soldiers and officers in the 'Blue Division' (the 250th Infantry Division of the Nazi Wehrmacht) that fought against the USSR. In the post-war years, as the Cold War escalated, the repatriation of this politically, socially, and culturally diverse contingent of Spaniards mattered not just in Spain and the Soviet Union, but to people around the world. Yet there were formidable obstacles to repatriation, among them that Spain and the Soviet Union did not have diplomatic relations. For the first time, Glennys Young reveals the behind-the-scenes negotiations between Spain and the Soviet Union that allowed thousands of Spaniards to set foot on Spanish soil during the first full decade of the Cold War. Using archival records from various countries, and incorporating interviews with the child evacuees, the book demonstrates the unrecognized political, social, cultural, and personal consequences of the repatriation of Spanish nationals, chiefly from 1954-1960, and the return of some of them to the Soviet Union during that period or shortly thereafter. It examines what repatriation as a political, social, psychological, and physical process meant for Spain during the Franco era, for the Soviet Union before and after Stalin's death, and for the Cold War. It also places the repatriation of Spaniards from the Soviet Union in comparison to the return of Italian, German, and Japanese prisoners of war and civilians. The narrative moves beyond state institutions to examine how individuals implemented, shaped, and circumvented state policy. In making repatriation possible, personal connections were vital, even between individuals and officials of hostile countries and opposing allegiances. In so doing, the book offers a unique and valuable perspective on Cold War history: Soviet and Spanish politics and society influenced each other in unrecognized and unanticipated ways, even though the two countries did not have diplomatic relations.