Living with Franco- Tamara Boyle

During the 1940’s, 50’s and 60’s , the world was suffering from the aftermath of WWII and the Cold War. While Spain had not directly been a part of WWII and was not experiencing the Cold War, it was not exempt from this suffering(Cierva pg 10). In 1936 Spain had its Civil War, and Franco, a dictator, came to power. Franco took away many of the peoples rights, enforced strict laws and punishments, and caused great confliction between Spain’s people from 1936 until his death in 1975.



Interview 1:

Juan Ignacio Arzak, My uncle;
During the times of Franco, my Uncle served in the Military, but also attended school and lived his childhood. He was born in ‘56 and dealt with almost 20 years under Franco’s rule.

(Not exact words as had to be translated from Spanish to English)

About how old were you when you began to develop your opinions on Franco? Was there a big event that shaped them?
-When I was in school, about 5 or 6 years old (1961 and 1962) the teachers tried to force us to go to Mass (National Catholicism), and taught us the "political doctrine" of the party of the dictator Franco(the only legal party was the "national movement", all the rest were illegal and went to jail if the police discovered you were apart of it) that to me and my classmates seemed bizarre, and we went on strike against the religion and political education classes. We never let the priest or teachers talk, and we stomped in the classes with our feet just to make noise. By the time I was 7 or 8 they stopped offering these classes, and now we never went to mass on Sundays instead we skipped it. They also took down the portraits of Franco and Jose Antonio (the leader of the “falange group” who was also a Fascist) and only left crosses, which eventually were taken down when we got to a democracy in 1978.
As a kid, at what age did you start to realize the impacts Franco had on your Family?
- Starting really young, with 5 or 6 years old I realized that no one spoke of the war against the Republic in 1936. Everyone was really scared to talk about politics and about what happened in Spain. The police and civil guard arrested young students and workers and they tortured them and killed them without mercy, and almost no one protested. It was a true embarrassment.
How exactly did Franco’s government affect your family?
-My father and his sisters had to be sent off with their family during the war against the Republic to live in London, now that the Nazis were bombing the cities in the Basque country and many kids died. They bombed Guernica and killed all of the population, which was the reason for Picasso’s famous painting titled “Guernica”.

In school did they teach you about Franco or not?
- They tried to , but we didn’t let them. (Chuckles)
What did you think about the fact that they had to teach you about religion in school?
- We were all against, and really the priest stopped coming because all of the students stopped attending.
When you discovered that you had to serve in the Military for two years, how did you feel?
-At that time it was required. I served in the military in 1979 and only served for one year. Many of my friends got out of doing it by pretending they were crazy. I didn’t want to do it, but I also didn’t want to get off for being crazy, so I did it.
During that year, did your opinions on Franco Change at all?
-I had always been against the franquisimo and against Franco, me and all my friends always had been against him.
What exactly did you have to do when you were in the Military?
-They showed us how to use arms of automatic guns and we did Military routines. That’s about all we did.
What are some of your strongest memories about your times in the Military?
- There isn’t one that is the best. But for the most part me and my friends just had a good time. We drank a lot and began to smoke everything.
What would happen to someone who protested against Franco and was serving in the Military?
-Same as everyone else, they took you to jail.
How many people that were serving time in the Military do you think actually wanted to be there?
-Someone here or there wanted to but the majority did not.
What do you think you would have done differently with life if you hadn’t of had to serve in the Military?
-I probably would have finished my studies in economies and studied something else also.
As a kid what did you want to be as an Adult? Did Franco destroy that possibility or not?
- Well I wanted to be a pilot or astronaut, but since I didn’t live in the USA or USSR, I couldn’t be astronaut, and to be a pilot I had to enter the army full time. So I did economics, and Franco no longer had any affect in my life.
Are you happy about your experience in the Military? Or do you wish it had never happened?
-It really was just a waste of time, it didn’t bring me any good.
When Franco died, how did you feel? Do you remember the exact day?
-He died November 20th 1975, that day was a day full of celebrations all over, everyone cheered for the end of the Franquismo.
Did you at any point almost get sent to jail?
-I actually was pretty lucky. The police only caught me once, I was 19, at a student protest against the dictatorship. They took me to the General Security Directorate Madrid, in the “Puerta del Sol” and they took my fingerprints and got my information but they didn’t take me to trial. Other friends didn’t have as much luck, and they had trials, staying many years in jail where the Audencia Nacional put them on trial.
My friend Rafa Serrano, who is also good friends with your mother, was at the Mental Asylum of Leganes for two years for pretending to be crazy in order to not go to the Military. But then my friend Alfonso Romano went the acting crazy route, but they didn’t let him get out of his Military Duties. Other friends of mine went to Jail for advertising illegal political parties, normally that of the Left. And others for union activity in businesses, and trade unions which were also banned. Many theater plays were also prohibited, and when they were showing, the police came and kicked us out brutaly of the event, and arrested the actors and musicians. The Police entered the Universities and kicked us out of assemblies, and took some to the bus stops where sometimes they asked us for our DNI, National document of Identity.
All of this made us have to go undercover, protest in ways that nobody knew what we were doing, not even our family, and we always were scared that they police were following us. We would have meetings in bars and in parks. We printed pamphlets and magazines with “manibela” offset machines. We had to lead a life of Secrecy
(Iñaki Arzak taking off his military clothes for the last time)



Interview 2;
Belen Gavela;
Belen was a Student protester who was sent to jail and ended up leaving Spain to study in France. Her experience gives us a great view of how insane Franco’s ruling was.

Her Story;

1971-72 Was my first year of university, in sciences (to go for physics). I was elected the representative of the class.
They were agitated times, the "Juicio de Burgos" had taken place, the university was very active on antifranquist activities. From the academic representation one passed automatically to general leadership.
I was organizing and leading often assemblies (which lasted the time that the police took to decide to enter), surprise demonstrations in the center of Madrid, etc.


All along this time, I met people of different political orientations, and at some point in the middle of the year I entered the Spanish communist party, which was very active (indeed the only really very active one) in the fight against Franco and advocated for a transition to a democratic Spain.

The students, towards the end of that academic year, decided in general assemblies not to do the final exams as protest for the political situation.
At that point, signaled out by a professor as one of the leaders of the student's movement, who specially hated another student and I because we did not fit his idea and claim that "los rojos son malos estudiantes" (red supporters are bad students) (and also I suppose because of the information that the police was continually gathering), the political police came to look for me at my home in the middle of one night

I was taken to police headquarters in Plaza del Sol, which is in the center of Madrid, to the underground sector in an isolated cell.. or not so isolated, as the guardians themselves wanted to be kind to such a young 17 year old girl and gave some comfort. These common-place policeman must have recognized somehow that it did not make any sense such security measures for such a young girl, etc.

The interrogations were hard. I was basically not allowed to sleep. It was harsh, they only gave me a cover (no bed or mattress, just a cover); also I can still smell the stink of the "food" they gave on a wooden bowl which came accompanied by a wooden spoon.

Their plan was to pass me directly to jail (Carabanchel). Many times students would bring food for me to the headquarters, and asked it be delivered to me.

The university went into complete stop because of my arrest and that of a leader of the upper courses. There are too many horrors of the three days under custody, but instead of taking me to jail as planned, in view of the situation on campus they let me free...
I was allowed to pass the first year exams in September accompanied by the police , but after that they forbade me forever to study in any university in Spain or set foot on any campus without being accompanied by the police.
And they retired my passport so that I could not leave the country.
They also put an enormous fine equivalent to many months of jail, but this was opposed by lawyers and entered a never completed process, which was needed because as a young student, I did not have much money.


I could never go back to school in university, but I kept studying expecting that somehow things would ease up.
During the second year at some point things went a tiny bit softer and, although I was not allowed to go freely on campus, they allowed me to go to pass special exams after the end of term, with previous police permission and of course they had to accompany me.

I must say that the second year and the next years I benefited from an amazing exercise of solidarity: the students of my class, day after day through the years, would by turns and almost daily, give me copies of their notes and exercises taken in class, so that I could study on my own and prepare for my personalized exams. 2-3 times/week I would make an evening appointment with one or the other of the students and receive those notes.
In this way I managed to not loose any of the 5 years that last the physics studies in fact, in 1976.

During my last university year I applied for and got a fellowship of the French government to do the doctorate-courses in Paris.... but I still had no passport, which I had kept asking for and being denied.
By some miraculous coincidence, or some fluctuation of the system -I don't really know, towards the last summer of my university studies they finally gave me a passport... and by next fall I was in Paris starting a new period in my life, whose professional focus is particle physics research.
I got a permanent position in France (CNRS), was postdoc in USA, Cern, etc., had other positions and finally decided to take up a full professorship in Madrid, in the same university where I had studied (Universidad Autonoma de Madrid).



Interview 3;
Maria Elena Arzac, My mother.
Her view on Franco’s dynasty is that of a family member and child growing up under his rule. She was born in 57’ spending her childhood growing up with a leader she could never look up to.

How old were you when you began to realize the effects of Franco on your family? What happened?
-In my teens, it was when I began to watch the news about the student protests. My family had always been against him and we always talked about it at dinner.
What effects did he have on your family life?
My fathers Family lost everything that they had during the war, and Franco was the cause of the war. My fathers father had a successful taxi company that Franco took away, but im not sure why except that he hated the Basques, and the basques hated him. My uncles left Spain with their money in order to keep it, but my grandfather didn’t, and that was why they lost everything.
What was the reason they took everything away?
- Franco punished more the Basques and the Catalans because they weren’t conforming to his view of Spanish life. They were the groups of people most against his nationalistic views, and they were giving him the hardest time. My fathers family was Basque.
As a kid, what did you experience from Franco’s laws?
-I went to church every Sunday. It wasn’t something I questioned it was just something that everybody did without thinking. It wasn’t until I was 14 that I actually got to thinking about it and decided that it was stupid. My family was ok with it because they, especially my father, had no interest in the church.
Would you have chosen different life path do you think without Franco?
-Hypothetically yes. They didn’t want to let me go to the university, only my brother. They wanted to make me start working at 16/17. I started working at 18.
What were your parents work lives during Franco?
- My mother never worked when I was alive. Franco set the Catholic values for families, with the woman living the housewife life. Sometimes they worked for a while before getting married, but for the most part they stayed home doing the motherly duties, cleaning and cooking. Before the war, when the Republic was in control, it was more probable woman worked. They also had many more rights. They could marry whoever they wanted, they could believe whatever they wanted, and divorce whoever they wanted. My father was a car conditioner vender, and a salesman, selling industrial Machinery.
I see you spell your name “Arzac” differently than your brother, why is this?
- Franco prohibited the use of all the Basque language. In basque the letter C does not exist, so he changed my families last name to Arzak with a C. My brothers official name has a C but he writes it with a K because that is the way he believes it should be.
How did it affect your social life as a kid/teen growing up? Did it limit you in anyways?
- Politics were never spoke of, and that was why I didn’t know about it or have an opinion until I was 14. In the streets it was unspoken, unless it was in favor in Franco. Even when talking to my family we had to be very careful when talking politics because maybe a neighbor could hear or some outsider, and we would get reported.
Did you ever attend any Protests? How involved were you?
- Only towards the end, when Franco was dying and there was the transition from Franco to a democracy was when the protests really started. I was always scared but excited, there were police chasing after you on horses with guns. They shot rubber bullets and let out gas. In almost every protest at least some student died. The protesters would light cars on fire, to try to stop the police from going any further.
I noticed that you and your sister are both named Maria. But we call you by your middle name. Why is this?
Franco didn’t let anybody register any names that were not in the bible. If you wanted to name your child any name that isn’t referred to in the bible, you had to put Maria in front for girls, and Jose or Juan in front for boys. Also if the middle name you wanted to give your child was at all Basque or Catalan, he would not allow it and your child could not be registered with that name.
You’re brother told me about how you’re friends pretended to be mentally insane in order to escape the required military service. What did you think about this?
Our friend Rafa was always a ‘different’ person, so it wasn’t surprising that they accepted him. I think he may have had Bipolar disorder, and that may be why he acted different, and accepted that he was mentally insane. We visited him occasionally and would walk in the garden and talk.
Was security tight? Did you have to limit your conversation because he was pretending to be crazy?
- No we just walked alone around the garden. And sometimes we even escaped with him to go out and have a drink. It was always just something funny not anything we thought of as a serious issue. We never got caught and he always managed to get back safely.( She chuckles)
What happened to him after he was released?
He had a relatively normal life. As normal as a life that Rafa could have. After the two years he was let out as if nothing had happened. I didn’t even remember that had happened until you brought it up.
Men had to serve in the military, was there anything Females had to do?
In order to get our passport, we had to do “Social Services” What I did was work in the school library for free for a year. You had to do the “Canastilla” which is sewing the clothes for a first newborn baby. I honestly had no idea why I had to do it, I just knew that I had to. I sewed my “Canastilla” out of tissue paper. If you didn’t do another thing, like how I worked in the library, you had to make it out of cloth, for a real baby to wear. If you didn’t, you had to make the “Canastilla‘, and something else that I cant remember, but you had to do something else. Also in school, it was required that woman take a class to learn how to sew. I guess to prepare us for the “Canastilla”(she laughs).
How did you deal with Franco’s death in 1975?
- We celebrated with Champagne. There really were parties everywhere, in the streets in peoples houses. We went to our Neighborhood association where everyone was very politically opinionated, who were mostly socialist and communist, and my friends and family got together to celebrate the ending of the Dictatorship.