Voces del Prado

The Blue Division

Luis Lapausa Arango, General Operations Service Technician (Carpenter), 1960-2008

The volunteers who had fought in the Blue Division [supporting Germany in World War II] had to work somewhere and Franco ordered that they be given posts at ministries, museums... Those who had an occupation could go back to their trade, but those who had no occupation had to be placed somewhere once the war was over.
There was a man here who's surname was Santofebrial, also from the Blue Division. One day we were having lunch at the cafeteria and some Americans were chatting with us. When he, a staunch Franco supporter, heard an American say "Franco is a murderer," he got up, grabbed a bottle and it's a good thing we stopped him in time because he wanted to clobber the American. I said, "Santofebrial… Have you gone mad?" He said, "The bastard... Who do they think they are?" It's a good thing the American apologised afterwards. Not sure whether they went to the embassy but they sure raised up a fuss.