Documentary shows Spanish Protestant resistance under Franco

The film tells how Protestants were persecuted in the Barcelona area during the regime of General Franco (1939-1975). Evangelical Focus writes about it.

The idea for the documentary, which took three years of work, came from its director, Catalan journalist David Casals, after the death of his grandmother, Rosa Mora. She was Protestant and died at the age of 89 in March 2018.

Casals recalled how his grandmother often told him that she had to participate in clandestine worship services because she was a Protestant. He decided that testimonies like that could not be left untold "without making them known to the general public".

"The persecution of all protestants by Franco's regime is something that is known internally among the families that suffered it, but it is an unknown episode for the general audience, and that is why we have filmed the documentary", explains Casals.

Clandestine meetings

Evangelicals who experienced those hard times first-hand took part in the documentary. One of them is the former director of the Evangelical Hospital Armand Urrútia, a member of the Assembly of Brethren in Terol Street church in Barcelona, who explains how they still have "photos of the church door with a seal that read 'Court of Law', so you couldn't enter".

"We used to meet in the houses. And we were careful not to have a neighbour denounce us for clandestine meetings. I remember, when I was a child, that the police turned up in the middle of the meeting and took data of all the attendees, who were later fined", points out Urrútia.

The documentary voices 12 evangelical testimonies and six specialists who analyse the historical, political and religious context.

Foreign

The documentary is intended to inform people, but it is also a reminder of a century and a half of the presence of Protestant churches in Spain, David Casals says in an interview with Evangelical Focus.

According to the journalist, Protestants are in danger of being forgotten in the history of Spain. In contrast, the consequences of the Franco dictatorship for this group are still latent. "Until 1990, the profession of a pastor was not recognised by the government. It implies that churches are mortgaging or selling assets to pay pensions for their pastors, even though there is a ruling from the Strasbourg Human Rights Court which recognises that churches should have collected a public pension."

It is typical of the position of Protestant churches in Spain, Casal continues. "Until a few years ago, a state funeral had to be Catholic, and Protestantism is still considered as something foreign and for foreigners."

Marshall Plan

Casals documentary also sheds light on the little-known episode of Spain's exclusion from the post-war reconstruction of Europe, promoted by US President Eisenhower. After US Senator Alvin O'Konsky succeeded in getting the House of Representatives to approve Spain's inclusion in the Marshall Plan on 30 March 1948, Eisenhower, a Baptist, vetoed Franco's regime because it persecuted Protestants.

"Protestants: the silenced history" has been released within Catalonia's "Spiritual cinema exhibition". Its television premiere is expected on regional television channel 33 at the beginning of next year.