Summary of the impact

Professor Paul Preston's work on the causes, course and long-term legacy of the Spanish Civil War (1936-9) has significantly influenced developments and activities in three areas:

1. Civil Society: supporting the activities of NGOs and civic associations working to quantify, catalogue and commemorate the victims of the Francoist repression, thus contributing to processes of collective commemoration and memorialisation;
2. Public Discourse: stimulating public debate in Spain, the UK and other countries over the historical origins of key political divisions within present-day Spain;
3. Education: stimulating awareness within the educational sector of Spain's recent, violent past.

Underpinning research

Research Insights and Outputs:

Preston has published 5 key books during the REF period. The first two are: Juan Carlos. Steering Spain from Dictatorship to Democracy [1]; and The Spanish Civil War: Reaction, Revolution, Revenge [2], a widely acclaimed account of the origins, development and long-term consequences of the Spanish civil war.

We Saw Spain Die: Foreign Correspondents in the Spanish Civil War [3], is a reconstruction of the objectives and impact of the foreign press in the war, and the difficulties they faced. It is based on a huge quantity of diaries, letters and other papers from correspondents in twenty-one different archives in Spain, the UK and the USA, as well as hundreds of press articles written by them; a substantial amount of memoir material; and interviews with the few surviving witnesses.

The Spanish Holocaust: Inquisition and Extermination in Twentieth-Century Spain [4], is a product of eight years of intensive specialised research by Preston and the culmination of a lifetime of research into the Spanish Second Republic, the Spanish Civil War and the Franco dictatorship. The book is the first to weigh systematically accounts of the underlying motivations and implementation of mass atrocities behind the lines on both sides in the Spanish Civil War. Analysis of complex regional, social and ideological differences required the collection and analysis of a massive body of empirical material in terms of trial records; court and other denunciations; contemporary press coverage from both zones in Spain, as well as international; theoretical works; memoirs by protagonists; and interviews with survivors. Preston also established a network of local historians throughout Spain's fifty provinces to help collate, interpret and debate a huge secondary literature.

Preston's 600-page book rigorously examines the fate of the almost 200,000 men and women who were murdered extra-judicially — or as a result of flimsy legal processes — behind the lines during the Spanish Civil War, a conflict which was sparked by a military coup against the Second Republic on 17-18 July 1936. The book outlines the repression which occurred in the Republican zone and (especially) the Franco zone during the civil war and the immediate post-war period. It thus explores a question at the heart of the `memory wars' over Spain's recent violent past.

El zorro rojo. Una biografía de Santiago Carrillo [5] dismantles many of the myths around Santiago Carrillo, a key twentieth century Spanish politician. An incendiary left-wing Socialist, Carrillo betrayed his party in 1936, taking its Youth movement into the Communist Party (PCE). This `dowry' and his unquestioning loyalty to Moscow ensured rapid promotion for Carrillo. His ruthlessness led to a trail of murders and betrayals which finally secured him leadership of the PCE. Moderation after 1976, and several volumes of mendacious memoirs and countless media appearances, had secured Carrillo's canonisation as a `father' of Spanish democracy prior to Preston's biographical work. Preston's book draws on substantial archival material, as well as rare clandestine press reports and interviews with protagonists carried out over nearly forty years. The research base consists of material consulted from 1976 to 2013, including letters and diaries of party leaders; secret reports; and the congress proceedings of the Socialist and Communist parties held in the Archivo Histórico del PCE, Madrid, and in the Archivo Histórico de la Fundación Pablo Iglesias. Preston also consulted Madrid trial records and denunciations of party members held in the records of the massive state investigation known as the Causa General, themselves located in the Archivo Histórico Nacional in Madrid and the Centro Documental de la Memoria Histórica in Salamanca; and material on relations with the anarchists held in the Archives of the International Institute for Social History, Amsterdam.

Key researcher: Professor Preston, FBA, has been at LSE since 1991.

References to the research

Evidence of quality: Preston's work has been widely reviewed to critical acclaim and awarded international prizes. In 2012, he was awarded the Premi Pompeu Fabra of the Generalitat de Catalunya. Book Prizes: The Catalan version of We Saw Spain Die was awarded the Non-Fiction Prize of the Ramon Trias Fargas Foundation for 2006. In 2011, the Catalan edition of the The Spanish Holocaust was awarded the Premi Història de Catalunya Santiago Sobrequés and in 2012 it was selected as a Sunday Times History Book of the Year. It was shortlisted for the 2012 RUSI (Royal United Services Institute) Duke of Westminster's Medal for Military Literature and long-listed for the Orwell Prize for Books 2013. He has also been awarded the prestigious Premi d'Honor of the Fundacio Lluís Carulla in Barcelona.

Details of the impact

Professor Paul Preston is internationally recognised as the leading authority on Franco and the Spanish Civil War. The Spanish Holocaust has received international attention and generated hundreds of articles and reviews [A]. Preston's book challenges the 'pacto de silencio', the political decision of the Spanish political elite to avoid dealing with the legacy of Franco and the difficult transition from dictatorship to democracy. Public recognition of Preston's work commended his courage in breaking taboos [B], and has observed that Spain was still living with the consequences of a `brainwashing process' [C]. Others have written, "Preston's study is history as a public good, a substitute for the truth and reconciliation process that has not taken place in Spain," and that, "it will never again be possible to write history of that period without having read El holocausto español" [D,E].

In 2008, Preston received the Grand Cross of the Order of Isabella the Catholic, awarded by the Spanish Government for services to Spanish history. He has been offered honorary doctorates in 2012 by the Université de Pau, France, and in 2013 by the Universidad de Extremadura, Spain, in recognition of the quality and importance of his research. His work has been published in 11 languages and he is regularly noted in the press.

The "extraordinary moral and emotional power" [F] of The Spanish Holocaust is demonstrated by the high level of personal engagement by readers and critics, as evidenced by the 4000 subscribers to Preston's Facebook page. Social media offers opportunities for readers to share personal stories of traumatic family histories as personal and collective catharsis, contributing to the `memory movement' that Preston's work has helped to inspire.

Preston's research has achieved significant further impact in three key areas:

1. `Memory Movement'

One of the outcomes of NGOs and civic associations working to quantify, catalogue, commemorate, and seek compensation for the victims of the Francoist repression has been the recognition of processes for collective commemoration and memorialisation. Preston has closely collaborated with a number of non-governmental organisations involved in this work, most notably the Andalucían association Todos los Nombres (TLN) and the Memorial Democràtic de Catalunya (MDC).

Dr Francisco Espinosa-Maestre, the former Scientific Advisor to TLN describes Preston's work on The Spanish Holocaust as uniting local historians researching the repression since the 1980s, and revealing to researchers and readers `an almost completely unknown reality' [G]. Dr Jordi Guixé, Deputy Director of the Memorial Democràtic de Catalunya (MDC), points to the significance of the book for the organisation; it is, he says, an "exhaustive work which historically contextualises the different episodes of violence of the civil war...using numerous sources to bring the state of the question up-to-date" [H].

2. Public Discourse

Preston's work has stimulated public awareness of, and public debate over, the historical origins of on-going political divisions within present-day Spain. This impact is observable in Spain, the UK and other countries. Preston's work informs present-day Spanish affairs, most notably the trial of the Spanish judge Baltasar Garzón.

Internationally known as a champion of human rights for his attempt to bring August Pinochet to trial, Garzón was charged with abuse of power for attempting to investigate the crimes of the Franco dictatorship. Although Garzón was acquitted in March 2012, the trial revealed the continuing and conflicting interpretations of the Civil War and the Franco dictatorship in Spain [I]. In the UK, Preston was invited to contribute an analysis of the trial to Socialist Lawyer [J]. Others underlined his role in challenging the 'pacto de silencio', stating: "the ultimate importance of Preston's relentless and impeccable research is as a reminder of the evil unleashed by Franco — a reminder that is especially needed at this time when the only trial being brought about by the 'Law of Historical Memory' is one directed against the judge who has been investigating right-wing atrocities, Baltasar Garzón" [K].

On 2 November 2008, Preston delivered the prestigious annual BBC Radio 3 Free-Thinking Lecture `Us, Them and Europe', as part of the 2008 European City of Culture events in Liverpool [L]. Preston is also a regular speaker at the Hay Festival in both Hay-on-Wye and Segovia. On 4 June 2012, he spoke to an audience of one thousand people on The Spanish Holocaust [M].

Preston has also contribution significantly to the public domain by means of key lectures and plenaries and other public appearances. Lectures and plenaries include: 2008: Club Internacional de Prensa Santiago de Compostela; 2009: Institut Français, London, British Film Institute, London; 2010, `Historical Memory: Policy and Practice' jointly organised by Memorial Democràtic of Barcelona and LSE; and A.L.Morton Lecture of the Socialist History Society, London. Notable research and/or writing contributions/appearances include: 2008: Ramon Pereira l'home dels refugis, TV3; 2009: The Brits Who Fought For Spain, History Channel; Digging up the Dead, presented by Michael Portillo, BBC 4; 2011: The Last of the International Brigaders, presented by D.J.Taylor, BBC Radio 4; 2012: Monarquia o República, TV3; War of Words a five-part programme presented by John Simpson on BBC Radio 4.

Preston also contributes regularly to the major Spanish and Catalan radio and TV channels: TV3, Catalunya Ràdio, Cadena Ser, RTVE, Canal +, and in the UK to BBC Radio 4. A documentary based on The Spanish Holocaust is in development in Sweden [N].

3. Education

The Spanish Holocaust (TSH) has stimulated awareness and increased understanding of the civil-war and post-war repression within the educational sector. The impact in the educational sphere extends far beyond the submitting HEI. In at least nine UK universities, including Royal Holloway University of London, TSH now forms part of course reading for either one or more undergraduate or postgraduate modules dealing with Spanish history, general European history, and Spanish and European contemporary society and politics. Lecturers from at least six universities are using the book as recommended reading for undergraduate or postgraduate students in the present academic year, e.g. Universities of Madrid, Girona, Zaragoza, Granada, Cáceres, Paris, Williams College, USA [O].

Lectures at other educational institutions beyond the submitting HEI:

2011: The Carnival of Death Perceptions of Death in Europe and the Americas, Institute of Germanic & Romance Studies, University of London; 2012: Plenary Lecture at the Conference of the Association for Contemporary Iberian Studies at Kings College; 2013: Keynote Lecture, `L'Holocauste espagnole' at the Colloque International organised by Université Paris 8, `L'antifascisme en question, 1922-1945: nouveaux objets, nouveaux débats'; Convocation Lecture at Newcastle University; lecture to inaugurate the academic year at the Universitat Rovira i Virgili.

Sources to corroborate the impact

All Sources listed below can also be seen at: https://apps.lse.ac.uk/impact/case_study/view/74

A. A small selection of press articles can be found on the LSE website.
http://www.lse.ac.uk/europeanInstitute/research/canadaBlanch/publpp.aspx

B. Snyder, T. (2012) The New Republic, `Savagery,' 29 March.
http://www.newrepublic.com/article/books-and-arts/magazine/102134/spanish-holocaust-francisco-franco
https://apps.lse.ac.uk/impact/download/file/1621

C. El País, 23/05/2012, `Holocausto Silenciado'(TRANSLATION) `There was a brainwashing process and today we are still living the consequences of it'.
http://ccaa.elpais.com/ccaa/2012/05/23/valencia/1337804205_946103.html
https://apps.lse.ac.uk/impact/download/file/1622

D. Graham, H. (2012) Review: The Spanish Holocaust: Inquisition and Extermination in Twentieth-Century Spain, By Paul Preston. 02 March. http://www.independent.co.uk/arts- entertainment/books/reviews/the-spanish-holocaust-inquisition-and-extermination-in-twentiethcentury-spain-by-paul-preston-7468500.html https://apps.lse.ac.uk/impact/download/file/1623

E. El libro El holocaust español, del historiador británico, marca un hito decisivo en el estudio del siglo XX español, Tiempo, 29 April 2011. Source files:
https://apps.lse.ac.uk/impact/download/file/1624

F. Sandbrook. D (2012) Sunday Times Review. Source files:
https://apps.lse.ac.uk/impact/download/file/1625

G. Email from: NGO. Source files: https://apps.lse.ac.uk/impact/download/file/1626

H. Email from: NGO. Source files: https://apps.lse.ac.uk/impact/download/file/1627

I. Tremlett, G. (2012) Review. The Guardian. 9 March.
http://www.theguardian.com/books/2012/mar/09/spanish-holocaust-paul-preston-review?newsfeed=true https://apps.lse.ac.uk/impact/download/file/1628

J. Preston, P. (2012) Unlikely hero, Socialist Lawyer, July 27. Source files:
https://apps.lse.ac.uk/impact/download/file/1629

K. Jacobs, G. The Sleep of Reason. Literary Review.
http://www.literaryreview.co.uk/jacobs_03_12.php
https://apps.lse.ac.uk/impact/download/file/1630

L. BBC Free-Thinking lecture: http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio3/freethinking/2008/festival-events/event27/

M. Podcast from the Hay Festival: http://www.hayfestival.com/p-4690-paul-preston.aspx

N. Link to the trailer for upcoming film:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jiXiqmEWVaE&feature=related

O. Email from University of Girona. https://apps.lse.ac.uk/impact/download/file/1631