Martha Gellhorn Quotes
I found out about the Spanish war because I was in Germany when it began.
Gellhorn, Martha. The Face of War. Atlantic Monthly Press, 1988.
There were a number of world leaders who were not happy about the German Reunification. See Henry Kissinger {610355} for another.
Leval was an appeaser and a collaborator with the Nazi’s. He led the government in name but the Germans really controlled the country. His actions killed tens of thousands of French men and women by turning them over to the Germans. After the Germans were defeated in WWII, Leval was shot as a traitor by the Free French forces. See {587231}, {587228} and {587230}.
Germany was in a catastrophic depression with hyper inflation at the same time. Einstein was one of the few world leaders who realized that as long as Germans had not enough to eat, they were easy prey for demagogues like Hitler and philosophies like Nazism and Fascism.
by aiding the nationalist / Fascists in the Spanish Civil War
This is an important quotation because it shows that Franco was not only a Fascist but one who supported and approved of Hitler personally and his criminal programs. Most Spaniards have thereafter regretted that the Spanish Dictator could take such a murderous and inhumane position on behalf of the Spanish people. Franco was supported only by some of the very wealthy, part of the military and the Catholic Church leadership. The latter also makes this quotation important, in that it is very doubtful that the Spanish church leaders would support Hitler if the Pope and the Vatican were opposed to Hitler and the Nazis. Yet some Vatican representatives have maintained that the Pope was definitely opposed to Hitler and Nazism, but the evidence for this is not strong. This quotation tends to lend more credence to the Papal critics.
After the sneak attack on Pearl Harbor, Stimson drafted the Declaration of War that President Roosevelt would ask Congress to vote for. However, there was a small but very vocal group of extreme Republican conservatives who opposed assisting England against Hitler and saw German and Italian Fascism as positive forces. They would oppose any administration declaration of war against Germany and Italy who had not yet attacked any American facilities. The President realized that German and Italy had a Mutual Defense Treaty with Japan, and when we declared war against Japan, would have to ally with Japan or reneg on their treaty. So FDR removed Germany and Italy from the Declaration and Congress just declared war against Germany. In the next days, Germany and Italy declared war against the United States, and the de facto situation was as Stimson had drafted it, but FDR had not given the right wing American Fascist sympathizers any issue to criticize the administration.
Martha Ellis Gellhorn was an American novelist, travel writer, and journalist who is considered one of the great war correspondents of the 20th century.
