La idea de Europa en la cultura franquista 1939-1962

Abstract

One of the main features of Franco's regime is his international isolation due to both his nationalist discourse and the political rejection in Europe of the last stronghold of defeated fascism. However, the issue of relations between Europe and Spain was a key question alongside the regime´s intellectual and political evolution. This article tries to explain the development and disputes of the francoist intelligentsia over this matter. The common goal was the justification and survival of Franco's system. Firstly, asserting the Nazi project of a fascist Europe; afterwards, vindicating a Catholic Europe and its traditional values in opposition to the reality of a liberal and democratic Europe in the postwar years. The relevance of the debate shows, on the one hand, the concern of the victors of the civil war with the image of Spain in Europe and, on the other, its deep fear of accepting the full consecuences of the intellectual and cultural heritage of Contemporary Europe.