In the
history of Spain, the White Terror was the series of assassinations realized by the
Nationalist faction during the
Spanish Civil War (1936–1939), and during the first nine years of the régime of General
Francisco Franco.[1] Thousands of victims are buried in hundreds of unmarked common graves (over 2,000),[2] more than 600 in Andalusia alone.[3] The largest of these is the common grave at San Rafael cemetery on the outskirts of
Málaga (with perhaps more than 4,000 bodies).[4] The
Association for the Recovery of Historical Memory (Asociación para la Recuperación de la Memoria Historica or ARMH)[5] says that the number of
disappeared is over 35,000.[6]
Concrete figures do not exist, as many supporters and sympathizers of the Republic fled Spain after losing the Civil War. Furthermore, the Francoist government destroyed thousands of documents relating to the White Terror[7][8][9] and tried to hide the executions of the Republicans.[10][11][12] Gabriel Jackson states that:[13]
Prisons records and the death registers are misleading, since it is known that certificates of release were regularly signed by or for men who were then taken out and shot, and that certificates alleging heart attacks or apoplexy were made out for corpses left on the open road. Execution techniques deliberately disfigured the corpses so as to make them unrecognizable. Officials of the time have testified that families were afraid to report missing male members, and did not come to identify the bodies of the dead.
Scholarly estimates of the White Terror's death toll
Deaths from the White Terror in individual regions and provinces
There are, however, concrete regional and partial figures as compared to the figures to the amount killed in Spain overall.
For example, in the
province of Córdoba the victims of the White Terror number 9,579[25] (the historian Francisco Moreno Gómez has increased the number to 11,581).[26][27]
On the other hand, the victims of the Red Terror in the same province come to 2,060.[19] According to the historian Francisco Espinosa, the victims of the Nationalists in only five Spanish provinces (Seville, Cádiz, Huelva, a part of Badajoz and a part of Cordoba) out of fifty were 25,000.[28] The historian
Paul Preston says that the number of victims judicially executed in 36 out 50 Spanish provinces were 92,462 (many other victims were executed without a trial).[29] They died either as a result of the Nationalist repression during the war or as a result of the Francoist State's repression after the war.[30]
Other provincial number breakdowns are as follows:
Deaths from the White Terror in individual cities and comarcas
There are also various studies with concrete figures of the deaths caused by the White Terror in specific municipalities, comarcas or metropolitan areas. Local/comarcal figures can be inconsistent with the provincial/regional ones because they tend to be more accurate and complete.
^Incomplete data. Only the cities of
Ferrol,
A Coruña and
Santiago de Compostela were studied in depth, and even in those the number is probably higher. (p. 745)
^Only counting those killed in judicial or extra-judicial executions between 1936 and 1939. Deadly repression continued after the end of the war. Incomplete data.
^Only counting those killed in judicial or extra-judicial executions between 1936 and 1939. Deadly repression continued after the end of the war. Incomplete data.
^Silva, Emilio. Las fosas de Franco. Crónica de un desagravio. Ediciones Temas de Hoy. 2006. Madrid. p. 110
^Preston, P. (2006). The Spanish Civil War. Reaction, revolution & revenge. London: Harper Perennial. p.316
^Espinosa Maestre, F. (2006). La justicia de Queipo. Barcelona: Editorial Crítica. p.4
^Espinosa Maestre, F. (2006). Contra el olvido. Historia y memoria de la guerra civil. Barcelona: Editorial Crítica. p.131
^Preston, P. (2006). The Spanish Civil War. Reaction, revolution & revenge. London: Harper Perennial. pp.315-316
^
abFontana, J. (Ed.). (1986). España bajo el franquismo: coloquio celebrado en la universidad de Valencia, noviembre de 1984. Universidad; Crítica: Departamento de Historia Contemporánea. p.22
^Espinosa Maestre, F. (2006). La justicia de Queipo. Barcelona: Editorial Crítica. pp.172-173
^
abMoa, Pio (2007). Mity wojny domowej. Hiszpania 1936-1939. Fronda. p. 507.
ISBN978-83-603-3561-1.
^Maestre, F. E., Casanova, J., Mir, C., & Gómez, F. M. (2004). Morir, matar, sobrevivir: La violencia en la dictadura de Franco. Grupo Planeta (GBS). p.8
^Márquez, J. M. G. (2012). Las víctimas de la represión militar en la provincia de Sevilla (1936-1963). Asociación Andaluza Memoria Histórica y Justicia.
^
abcdefghijklmnopqrstuPreston, P. (2011). El holocausto español: odio y exterminio en la Guerra Civil y después. Debate.
^
abcEspinosa, Francisco. La columna de la muerte. El avance del ejército franquista de Sevilla a Badajoz. Editorial Crítica. Barcelona. 2002. p.433
^Espinosa Maestre, F.; García Márquez, J. Mª; Gil Vico, P; y Ledesma, J. L. (2010). Violencia Roja y Azul. España, 1936-1950. Crítica, Barcelona. p.77.
^
abPalacios, J. C. (1995). La represión en la provincia de Cáceres durante la Guerra Civil (1936-1939). Universidad de Extremadura, Servicio de Publicaciones.
^Suárez Martínez, X. M. (2005).
A represión franquista na provincia de A Coruña in A represión franquista en Galicia. Actas dos traballos presentados ao I Congreso da Memoria, Narón, 4 a 7 de decembro de 2003. Edicións Embora. pp. 733-750
^de Juana López, Jesús (2006). Lo que han hecho en Galicia: Violencia política, represión y exilio, 1936-1939.
Barcelona: Editorial Crítica. Pages 160-164.
^Pereira, D. (2004). A represión franquista na provincia de Pontevedra (1936-1950). Unión libre: cadernos de vida e culturas, (9), 33-45.
^Ruiz Vilas, M. J., Esparza Zabalegi, J. M., & Berrio Zaratiegi, J. C. (2008). Navarra 1936. De la esperanza al terror. Altaffaylla,
Tafalla.
^Maestre, F. E., Casanova, J., Mir, C., & Gómez, F. M. (2004). Morir, matar, sobrevivir: La violencia en la dictadura de Franco (Vol. 102). Grupo Planeta (GBS). Pages 21.
In the
history of Spain, the White Terror was the series of assassinations realized by the
Nationalist faction during the
Spanish Civil War (1936–1939), and during the first nine years of the régime of General
Francisco Franco.[1] Thousands of victims are buried in hundreds of unmarked common graves (over 2,000),[2] more than 600 in Andalusia alone.[3] The largest of these is the common grave at San Rafael cemetery on the outskirts of
Málaga (with perhaps more than 4,000 bodies).[4] The
Association for the Recovery of Historical Memory (Asociación para la Recuperación de la Memoria Historica or ARMH)[5] says that the number of
disappeared is over 35,000.[6]
Concrete figures do not exist, as many supporters and sympathizers of the Republic fled Spain after losing the Civil War. Furthermore, the Francoist government destroyed thousands of documents relating to the White Terror[7][8][9] and tried to hide the executions of the Republicans.[10][11][12] Gabriel Jackson states that:[13]
Prisons records and the death registers are misleading, since it is known that certificates of release were regularly signed by or for men who were then taken out and shot, and that certificates alleging heart attacks or apoplexy were made out for corpses left on the open road. Execution techniques deliberately disfigured the corpses so as to make them unrecognizable. Officials of the time have testified that families were afraid to report missing male members, and did not come to identify the bodies of the dead.
Scholarly estimates of the White Terror's death toll
Deaths from the White Terror in individual regions and provinces
There are, however, concrete regional and partial figures as compared to the figures to the amount killed in Spain overall.
For example, in the
province of Córdoba the victims of the White Terror number 9,579[25] (the historian Francisco Moreno Gómez has increased the number to 11,581).[26][27]
On the other hand, the victims of the Red Terror in the same province come to 2,060.[19] According to the historian Francisco Espinosa, the victims of the Nationalists in only five Spanish provinces (Seville, Cádiz, Huelva, a part of Badajoz and a part of Cordoba) out of fifty were 25,000.[28] The historian
Paul Preston says that the number of victims judicially executed in 36 out 50 Spanish provinces were 92,462 (many other victims were executed without a trial).[29] They died either as a result of the Nationalist repression during the war or as a result of the Francoist State's repression after the war.[30]
Other provincial number breakdowns are as follows:
Deaths from the White Terror in individual cities and comarcas
There are also various studies with concrete figures of the deaths caused by the White Terror in specific municipalities, comarcas or metropolitan areas. Local/comarcal figures can be inconsistent with the provincial/regional ones because they tend to be more accurate and complete.
^Incomplete data. Only the cities of
Ferrol,
A Coruña and
Santiago de Compostela were studied in depth, and even in those the number is probably higher. (p. 745)
^Only counting those killed in judicial or extra-judicial executions between 1936 and 1939. Deadly repression continued after the end of the war. Incomplete data.
^Only counting those killed in judicial or extra-judicial executions between 1936 and 1939. Deadly repression continued after the end of the war. Incomplete data.
^Silva, Emilio. Las fosas de Franco. Crónica de un desagravio. Ediciones Temas de Hoy. 2006. Madrid. p. 110
^Preston, P. (2006). The Spanish Civil War. Reaction, revolution & revenge. London: Harper Perennial. p.316
^Espinosa Maestre, F. (2006). La justicia de Queipo. Barcelona: Editorial Crítica. p.4
^Espinosa Maestre, F. (2006). Contra el olvido. Historia y memoria de la guerra civil. Barcelona: Editorial Crítica. p.131
^Preston, P. (2006). The Spanish Civil War. Reaction, revolution & revenge. London: Harper Perennial. pp.315-316
^
abFontana, J. (Ed.). (1986). España bajo el franquismo: coloquio celebrado en la universidad de Valencia, noviembre de 1984. Universidad; Crítica: Departamento de Historia Contemporánea. p.22
^Espinosa Maestre, F. (2006). La justicia de Queipo. Barcelona: Editorial Crítica. pp.172-173
^
abMoa, Pio (2007). Mity wojny domowej. Hiszpania 1936-1939. Fronda. p. 507.
ISBN978-83-603-3561-1.
^Maestre, F. E., Casanova, J., Mir, C., & Gómez, F. M. (2004). Morir, matar, sobrevivir: La violencia en la dictadura de Franco. Grupo Planeta (GBS). p.8
^Márquez, J. M. G. (2012). Las víctimas de la represión militar en la provincia de Sevilla (1936-1963). Asociación Andaluza Memoria Histórica y Justicia.
^
abcdefghijklmnopqrstuPreston, P. (2011). El holocausto español: odio y exterminio en la Guerra Civil y después. Debate.
^
abcEspinosa, Francisco. La columna de la muerte. El avance del ejército franquista de Sevilla a Badajoz. Editorial Crítica. Barcelona. 2002. p.433
^Espinosa Maestre, F.; García Márquez, J. Mª; Gil Vico, P; y Ledesma, J. L. (2010). Violencia Roja y Azul. España, 1936-1950. Crítica, Barcelona. p.77.
^
abPalacios, J. C. (1995). La represión en la provincia de Cáceres durante la Guerra Civil (1936-1939). Universidad de Extremadura, Servicio de Publicaciones.
^Suárez Martínez, X. M. (2005).
A represión franquista na provincia de A Coruña in A represión franquista en Galicia. Actas dos traballos presentados ao I Congreso da Memoria, Narón, 4 a 7 de decembro de 2003. Edicións Embora. pp. 733-750
^de Juana López, Jesús (2006). Lo que han hecho en Galicia: Violencia política, represión y exilio, 1936-1939.
Barcelona: Editorial Crítica. Pages 160-164.
^Pereira, D. (2004). A represión franquista na provincia de Pontevedra (1936-1950). Unión libre: cadernos de vida e culturas, (9), 33-45.
^Ruiz Vilas, M. J., Esparza Zabalegi, J. M., & Berrio Zaratiegi, J. C. (2008). Navarra 1936. De la esperanza al terror. Altaffaylla,
Tafalla.
^Maestre, F. E., Casanova, J., Mir, C., & Gómez, F. M. (2004). Morir, matar, sobrevivir: La violencia en la dictadura de Franco (Vol. 102). Grupo Planeta (GBS). Pages 21.