Irradiación cultural frente a ruptura diplomática. El mesianismo francés ante el cierre de la frontera española, 1946-1948

Abstract

This work is a study of the option chosen by the men in charge of the French cultural network in Spain, during the closing of the Franco-Spanish frontier, in the years 1946-1948. Their intention was to maintain the cultural exchanges policy between both countries. After World War II, France needed to reaffirm her image as a defender of democratic values, this was the context for the French opposition to the Franco regime. It was also seen as an opportunity to recover her messianic role. However, this conception of «France's mission» in relation to Franco's Spain, in fact, generated two opposing positions. In Paris, a strongly held opinion argued that France had to be the leader of international disapproval, and demanded a boycott of the regime. On the other hand, the people who ran the French art and Education centres in Spain tried to prove that the only valid position France could consider was to maintain cultural and intellectual contacts, in order to represent an opportunity for Spanish democrats to broaden their horizons.