There was a gloomy joke in Madrid that it was enough to wear a tie and a hat to be considered an enemy of the people. The victims of persecution were right-wing politicians and journalists, landowners, factory owners, officers, shopkeepers: all whom the communists and anarchists regarded as "exploiters." In their eyes, the church was a mainstay of conservatism. The response to the alliance between the throne and the altar that had lasted in Spain since the Middle Ages was furious anti-clericalism.
The nationalists, led by General Francisco Franco, could count on the help of fascist Italy and Nazi Germany. The Soviets sold weapons to the supporters of the republic. When the red Spaniards ran out of gold reserves, Stalin ordered the transports to be suspended. The outcome of this war was of secondary importance to outside powers. More important were the financial and political benefits that could be derived from someone else's misfortune.
Shoot Christ, bury priests alive
Even before the outbreak of regular fighting, A symbol of the new, revolutionary orders was the execution (after a parody of the trial) of the famous statue of Christ the King near Madrid. The mount where the statue stood was renamed from El Cerro de los Angeles (Angels Peak) to El Cerro Rojo (Red Peak). Then it was the turn of the priests and religious. Initially, they were ordered to leave churches and monasteries before they were set on fire. In Barcelona, which remained in the hands of the supporters of the republic almost until the end of the war, no temple escaped this fate. 10,000 priceless medieval volumes from the collection of the Cuenca Cathedral went up in smoke. Holy images, Bibles, and breviaries were publicly burned on huge pyres.
The people of the Church were also not spared. There are reports of priests being castrated and burying them alive in graves that they had to dig themselves earlier. The nuns were raped, provided that they were not "incapacitated, disgusting grandmothers."
The defeated opponent had to be disgraced in the eyes of the nation. That is why republicans staged circus-style performances in profaned temples. Dressed in liturgical vestments, they shaved in baptismal fonts and enjoyed the Mass wine.
Pass the skull!
In Madrid, Republican soldiers in a fit of drunken fancy at the Hermitage of San Antonio de la Florida. Some of the corpses were placed in mating positions. The most drunk danced a tango with the skeletons clothed in shreds of clothing. Someone came up with the idea to play a soccer match in the temple. They were divided into two teams. The ball was replaced by a human skull. The goals were makeshift. One of them was the altar.
Another macabre entertainment was the processions of mummies. , bodies were carried around the streets to the delight of the crowd. It is estimated that seven thousand priests, men and women religious were murdered during the civil war. Over 20,000 churches were burned down.
The anti-religious frenzy discredited the young republic abroad. In addition, the policy of ruthless atheization provoked the resistance of ordinary Spaniards, for whom faith was the foundation of their identity. The nationalists were not saints either. In addition to thousands of real and alleged communists, they killed priests who supported the Basque independence aspirations.
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