Historia de Barcelona

Etiqueta: Francia de Vichy

  • Pierre Laval, ex primer ministro francés y colaborador nazi, ingresa en Montjuic

    LAVAL HELD IN SPANISH PRISON
    Suite at Ritz Reserved for Collaborationist
    By Charles S. Foltz
    Montjuich Citadel, Spain (AP)
    Pierre Laval, Vichy’s former chief of government, who sought refuge in Spain, listened to the «Voice of America» broadcast in French Thurday for outside news in this stone military prison 600 feet above Barcelona harbor.

    I saw him enter the fortress in an American automobile which brought him from the airport where he landed in a German bomber at noon Wednesday. He surveyed impassively the massive walls of the prison where he was brought to await disposition by the allies at American demand.

    Furniture Moved

    The car, belonging to Barcelona’s civil governor, took him into the citadel. There the manager of Barcelona’s Ritz hotel inspected the beds and furniture and prepared food, all brought to the prison from his hotel. This grim fortress is not famed for such luxuries.

    Laval did not expect to be treated as a prisoner. A suite at the Ritz is still reserved for him and his wife. A protest by American Consul General David M. Key on behalf of the embassy, blocked Laval’s request to go to the Ritz to rest before his imprisonment at Montjuich.

    The French collaborationist chief and four companions are housed in separate pavilions in the citadel. The first thing Laval requested was a radio and the first broadcast he heard was the «Voice of America» in French.

    Talks to Governor

    With Laval until 3 a. m. was Barcelona’s Falangist civil governor, Antonio Correa Veglisson, who met the former premier at the airport.

    The troops of Montjuich garrison, acting under orders from Madrid, kept close guard on Laval. This correspondent was refused permission to approach him.

    Laval expressed fears to Spaniards that he would be taken to France to be judged.

    The commander of the fortress, Lt. Col. Sebastian Gomila, said he was not interested in politics and was only obeying the orders of the Madrid government to keep Laval incommunicado.

  • El colaboracionista nazi, Pierre Laval, «tejiendo suéteres en la cárcel Montjuic para calmarse»

    Worried Laval Knits Woolies To Quiet Nerves

    LONDON, July 24 (UP). A Madrid dispatch to the Evening Standard said today that Pierre Laval, morbid and depressed, sits every day in the Mediterranean sunshine knitting winter woolies to quiet his nerves.

    Laval, former Vichy Chief of Government, fled to Barcelona in the last days of the European war. The dispatch said the stalemate over his status might be broken soon when Spain’s reorganized cabinet settles down to work.

    «It is believed that the new foreign minister may induce Laval to give himself up to France,» it said.

  • Pierre Laval, ex primer ministro del gobierno de Vichy, es deportado a Francia

    Laval Reported in Allied Hands After Franco Gives Him the Gate from Spain

    BARCELONA – Ordered out of Spain by General Franco, Pierre Laval and his wife left Barcelona airdrome early yesterday morning, aboard a Junkers divebomber, headed for an unannounced destination. The French quisling has been ordered to stand trial in Paris within the next eight days.

    […]

    Originally, the ancient Junkers aircraft was scheduled to leave Spain, Monday night. Laval actually got into the plane and it taxied around the Barcelona airfield three times, trying to get off the ground. When it rolled to a stop, Laval got out of the plane and sat on a camp stool while the German pilots tinkered with the engine. Finally they announced it would take several hours again to get the plane working, so the flight was postponed until the next day.

    Laval, wearing his usual white tie, himself provided a clue to his destination when he said: «If Petain can face the music, so can I?»

    Later he complained: «It’s unfair what is being done with me. I don’t understand why the Spanish Government is delivering me to my country.» Spanish officers were at the airfield to see Laval off.

    After Monday night’s flight had been postponed, the events of the day, combined with the heat, proved too much for Laval. He fainted, but revived shortly.

    From the moment that Laval and his party left the Montjuich fortress, Mme Laval was in tears. Although Spanish authorities told her that she could stay in Spain if she wished, she insisted on accompanying her husband.

    During his stay at Montjuich castle, Laval lived well on the best food and wines served by a Ritz waiter. But as an indication of Spain’s change of attitude, a Spanish official at Barcelona who once described Laval’s case as «interesting» now calls him «a dirty fellow.»

    […]