Hijacked Heimats: national appropriations of local and regional identities in Germany and Spain, 1930–1945

Abstract

This article analyses instances in which ultra-nationalism and local and regional identity politics proved compatible, and even mutually constitutive. Focusing on Germany and Spain under Hitler and Franco, the authors suggest that both regimes imagined the nation as a space composed of distinctive regional parts. They uncover a particular ideological affinity between fascist or quasi-fascist views of the state and the notion of regional diversity, which was invoked to combat the perceived dangers of state-building in the Napoleonic mode: liberalism, progressivism and bureaucratisation. While political separatism was repressed, regionalism was often cultivated to introduce an element of populism, grass-roots activism, social rootedness and ideological dynamism into the political process that seemed desirable to both regimes. In the German case, it also served as a pragmatic and hence manageable alternative to volkish ideologues, whose spiritualist and egalitarian inclinations brought them increasingly into conflict with the party line.

Keywords:

• comparative facism
• regionalism
• National socialism
• Francoism
• Gaue

Notes

 1. Classical models are Rostow, The Stages of Economic Growth; and Deutsch, Nationalism and Social Communication. See also Abrams, Historical Sociology; and the critiques by Attir et al. , eds, Directions of Change; and Gilman, Mandarins of the Future.

 2. Eley and Suny, eds, Becoming National.

 3. Useful overviews over a growing literature on post-colonial challenges to Western ideas of modernity are Mitchell, ed., Questions of Modernity; and Appadurai, Modernity at Large. For the postmodern challenge, see Lyotard, The Postmodern Condition; Welsch, ed., Wege aus der Moderne. For a more pessimistic view of the nation-state, see Scott, Seeing Like a State.

 4. Payne, A History of Fascism; Griffin, The Nature of Fascism; Paxton, The Anatomy of Fascism.

 5. Kershaw, The Nazi Dictatorship, especially ch. 4, 69–92. The classical argument in Linz, Totalitarian and Authoritarian Regimes.

 6. De Grand, Fascist Italy and Nazi Germany; Bessel, Fascist Italy and Nazi Germany; Griffin, ed., International Fascism; Griffin, The Nature of Fascism; Griffin, Modernism and Fascism; Griffin et al. , eds., Fascism Past and Present, West and East.

 7. Payne, Fascism in Spain, 1923–1977; Saz, España contra España.

 8. David Laven, “Italy,” in Baycroft and Hewitson, eds., What Is a Nation?, 255–71.

 9. Umbach, ed., German Federalism, esp. 1–14.

10. See the critical views on the memory of Francoism cultivated by Catalan and Basque nationalists after 1975 by , “El robo de la memoria”, as well as by Aguilar, “The Memory of the Civil War in the Transition to Democracy”; Núñez, “Die Diktatur vergessen, um die Nation zu retten.”

11. Applegate, A Nation of Provincials; Confino, The Nation as a Local Metaphor.

12. Macías Picavea, El problema nacional; Suárez Cortina, Casonas, hidalgos y linajes.

13. Umbach and Hüppauf, eds., Vernacular Modernism, esp. 1–23 and 114–40; Haupt and Tacke, “Die Kultur des Nationalen.”

14. See Núñez, “The Region as Essence of the Fatherland”; Archilés and Martí, “La construcció de la regió com a mecanisme nacionalitzador i la tesi de la dèbil nacionalització espanyola.”

15. Audoin-Rouzeau, Men at War, 1914–1918; Baker, “Describing Images of the National Self.” On schooling, see Chanet, L'École républicaine et les petites patries, and , Ils apprennaient la France, l'exaltation des régions dans le discours patriotique.

16. Compare Confino, The Nation as a Local Metaphor, Verhey, The Spirit of 1914; Ziemann, Front und Heimat; Reimann, Der große Krieg der Sprachen.

17. Elliott, “A Europe of Composite Monarchies”; Ferná ndez-Albadalejo, “Dinastía y comunidad política. El momento de la patria,” in Los Borbones, 485–532.

18. Whaley, “Federal Habits: The Holy Roman Empire and the Continuity of German Federalism,” in Umbach, German Federalism, 15–41; Schmidt, Der Dreissigjährige Krieg, esp. 7–8 and 94–8; and Dipper, Deutsche Geschichte 1648–1789, esp. 252–62.

19. For the early modern period, Schmidt coined the phrase of the ‘Doppelstaatlichkeit des Reiches’ to describe this phenomenon. Schmidt, Geschichte des Alten Reiches. On the transition from early modern poly-centric government to modern federalism, see Umbach, Federalism and Enlightenment in Germany, 1740–1806; as well as Langewiesche and Schmidt, eds., Föderative Nation.

20. This also meant that in the period under consideration here, regionalist opposition to Spanish absolutism developed a more progressive dynamic than in Germany. This first became apparent in 1868, when Bourbon rule was temporarily overthrown. Although this revolution, initiated by the military, is perhaps better described as a coup d'état, it had a progressive agenda, including the introduction of universal male suffrage. In 1873, this was succeeded by a short-lived Republic, where federalist groups pressed for a fully fledged federalisation, variously based either on the historical regions or the municipalities. This gave rise to revolts such as that of the southern town of Cartagena. See Hennessy, The Federal Republic in Spain; and Chust, ed., Federalismo y cuestión federal en España. It is worth remembering that in Germany during these decades, regions like Hamburg tended to be bastions of a highly restricted property franchise, while universal suffrage was applied to the National Parliament.

21. See Aparicio, La tierra del martirio español; and Jacobson, “Law and Nationalism in Nineteenth-Century Europe.” A good overview in Clavero, El código y el fuero.

22. Sobrequés i Vidal, Història de la producció del dret català fins al decret de Nova Planta; Clavero, “Formación doctrinal contemporánea del Derecho catalán de sucesiones.”

23. Harrison, “An Espanya Catalana”; Núñez, Los nacionalismos en la España contemporánea (siglos XIX y XX).

24. Umbach, “A Tale of Second Cities.”

25. Hitler, Mein Kampf, 306–18.

26. This idea was developed by Hans Mommsen, for example in “Hitlers Stellung im nationalsozialistischen Herrschaftssystem”, in Hirschfeld and Kettenacker, eds., Der “Führerstaat”, 43–72. See also Klaus Hildebrand, “Monokratie oder Polykratie? Hitlers Herrschaft und das Dritte Reich,” ibid., 73–97. On the Spanish case, see Thomàs, La Falange de Franco.

27. See more extensively on this Núñez, ¡Fuera el invasor!, 177–327.

28. Jeremy Noakes, “Federalism in the Nazi State,” in Umbach, German Federalism, 113–45.

29. Important contributions towards a general debate about the function of regional power in the NS regime are: Möller et al. , eds, Nationalsozialismus in der Region; Rumschöttel and Ziegler, Staat und Gaue in der NS Zeit.

30. John et al. , eds., Die NS-Gaue, Editors' intoduction, 7–11, quote 9, translation MU.

31. Interview with Ramón Serrano Súñer, Destino, 97, January 8, 1939.

32. See e.g. Carlos Sanz y Díaz, “El Folk-lore español”, in id., Zig-Zag literario de las armas y las letras, 143–6; as well as the article written by a specialist in the Aragonese dialect, the erudite Vicente García de Diego, which opened the first issue of the new journal: “Tradición popular o folklore”, Revista de Tradiciones Populares I, nos 1–2 (June 1944): 1–29. See also Núñez, “La España regional en armas y el nacionalismo de guerra franquista, 1936–1939.”

33. Brasa, “España y la Legión”.

34. Del Burgo, (Comunión Tradicionalista. Ideario); Ugarte Tellería, La nueva Covadoga insurgente., 287–88 and 311–43.

35. De Riquer i Permanyer, L'últim Cambó (1936–1947); Ucelay-Da Cal, El imperialismo catalán.

36. On the origins of such concepts, see Jensen, Irrational Triumph. A first attempt to implement a nationalising policy, accompanied by constant tension with the Catholic Church, took place during the dictatorship of general Primo de Rivera, between 1923 and 1930. See Quiroga, Making Spaniards.

37. J. A. Primo de Rivera, “Patria: La gaita y la lira” [January 11, 1934], “Los vascos y España” [February 28, 1934] or “Ensayo sobre el nacionalismo” [April 1934], in Obras de José Antonio Primo de Rivera. Edición cronológica, ed. A. Del Río Cisneros, 111–12, 179–83 and 211–18. Madrid: Almena, 1971. For an analysis of Falangist attitudes towards the nation during the first phase of Francoism, see Saz, España contra España.

38. De Cossío, Hacia una nueva España, 103–4.

39. See Solé, 18 de juliol. Several examples are also reproduced in Massot i Muntaner, El primer franquisme a Mallorca, 429–33. For the Galician case, see for instance anon. [Lisardo Rodríguez Barreiro]. Resposta escontra unha inxuria . Romance de cego, por un percebe copreiro de Cortegada. Several examples also in Rodríguez Fer, A literatura galega durante a guerra civil (1936–1939), 71–4.

40. Examples in the booklets published by the former Aragonese regionalist who became Franco's supporter, José García Mercadal, such as Frente y retaguardia (impresiones de guerra), as well as by the Galician surgeon Antonio Novo Campelo, Por España Una, Grande y Libre.

41. Examples in Benet, Catalunya sota el règim franquista, 326–37. For Basque examples, see “Unidad e idioma”, Unidad, March 31, 1937, 1, and “Españoles en España”, ABC (Sevilla), April 13, 1937, 5.

42. Capitán Nemo, ‘La disputa de las lenguas y los dialectos’, ABC (Sevilla), April 24, 1937, 3.

43. Una circular del Rectorado de Valladolid relacionada con el personal docente de Vizcaya.” Unidad, May 10, 1937, 2.

44. See e.g. Abella, La vida cotidiana durante la Guerra Civil. I. La España nacional, 188–92; Torrealdai, El libro negro del euskera.

45. See e.g. Fernández, Un día en Uvieo: monólogo en bable.

46. See de Pablo, “La Dictadura franquista y el exilio”; Gallofré, L'edició catalana i la censura franquista (1939–1951); Marín i Corbera, “Existí un catalanisme franquista?”.

47. Cavazza, Piccole patrie.

48. Duarte, “El catalán en su paisaje.”

49. See González Calleja, La España de Primo de Rivera, 200–4. A good example is Pemán, El hecho y la idea de la Unión Patriótica, 235–55.

50. Gil Marín, Los historiadores españoles en el franquismo, 1948–1975.

51. Santos Solla, ed., Galicia en cartel. See also Poutet, Images touristiques de l'Espagne.

52. Lamikiz Jauregiondo, “Ambiguous Culture”; de Pablo, Tierra sin paz.

53. Hernández i Martí, Falles i franquisme a València.

54. Canales Serrano, Las otras derechas, 295–301.

55. Garrido López, “El regionalismo ‘funcional’ del régimen de Franco”; as well as Núñez, “Regions, nations and nationalities,” 55–79.

56. Green, Fatherlands.

57. Biewer, “Preussen und das Reich in der Zeit der Weimarer Republik”.

58. Schulz, Zwischen Demokratie und Diktatur, esp. 477–85.

59. Hitler, Mein Kapmf, 308.

60. Ibid., 309.

61. Quoted from Dahm, “Nationale Einheit und partikulare Vielfalt,” 225.

62. Both quoted from Dahm, “Nationale Einheit,” 226.

63. Toivanen, Minderheitenrechte als Identitätsressource, esp. 33–5.

64. Zehnpfennig, Hitlers Mein Kampf, 231 and 237.

65. Useful overviews are Merker, Die bildenden Künste im Nationalsozialismus; Petsch, Kunst im Dritten Reich; Petropoulos, Art as Politics in the Third Reich; Welzer, ed., Das Gedächtnis der Bilder; and Taylor and Wilfried van der Wil, eds, The Nazification of Art. The exhibition catalogue Art and Power: Europe under the Dictators, 1930–1945 (London, 1995) offers a rich primary documentation.

66. An excellent study of the state architecture of National Socialism, which focuses particularly on the Party Rally Grounds in Nuremberg and on Speer's designs for Berlin, is Jaskot, The Architecture of Oppression. On Speer, see also Schönberger, Die neue Reichskanzlei von Albert Speer. More general on historicist monumentalism in this period: Raith, Der heroische Stil. On the role of Hitler, see Spotts, Hitler and the Power of Aesthetics.

67. Steinberg, All or Nothing.

68. Hermand, Der alte Traum vom neuen Reich, esp. 227–66.

69. Winfried Nerdinger, “Baustile im Nationalsozialismus zwischen Internationalem Klassizismus und Regionalismus,” in Nerdinger et al., eds., Architektur, Macht, Erinnerung, 119–32.

70. Ludwig Ferdinand Clauß, Die nordische Seele (1923) Halle: Max Niemayer, 1923; and Hans F.K. Günther, Rassenkunde des deutschen Volkes (1922). Munich: Lehmanns Verlag, 1922.

71. Large, Hitlers München, esp. 185–9 and 280–9.

72. Quoted from Noakes, “Federalism”, 116 and 117.

73. Ibid., 132.

74. Ibid., 133.

75. Historians often distinguish between the Gaue of the ‘Old Reich’ and the new Reichsgaue in the occupied territories from 1938. For a superb survey of the administrative role of Gau, see John et al., Die NS-Gaue, especially 234–414.

76. Düwell, “Regionalismus und Nationalsozialismus am Beispiel des Rheinlands”, esp 198–9.

77. Schaarschmidt, Regionalkultur und Diktatur; Oberkrome, Deutsche Heimat; von Hehl, “Nationalsozialismus und Region.”

78. Lekan, Imagining the Nation in Nature; see also Rohrkrämer, Eine andere Moderne?

79. Confino, Germany As a Culture of Remembrance.

80. The classical view of French regionalism as a form of nostalgia of the ancien régime still impregnates some of the modern approaches to the topic: see e.g. Revel, “La région.” Against this dominant view, Wright, The Regionalist Movement in France, asserted that some French regionalisms had a progressive and pro-state character. A similar view, which insists on the polyedric nature of the different projects involved in French ‘regionalised nationalism’, is held in a recent article by Anne-Marie Thiesse, “Centralismo estatal y nacionalismo regionalizado.”

81. Prinz and Zitelmann, eds., Nationalsozialismus und Modernisierung; Blum-Geenen et al. , eds., Bruch oder Kontinuität; Hans Mommsen, “Noch einmal.”