Civil and WWarII

[Karen Willmus]

Thanks, Mariusz, for your response.
> I am also quite sure that Spain would be much worse off if it became an
> annex to Stalin's gulag empire. In the choice between two evils, Franco
was
> obviously the lesser one. Too many people, blinded by the "democratic"
> cover of Republican Spain and the romantic myth of the International
> Brigades, ignore this glaring fact.

It seems to me that in 1936, there were certainly a lot of evils to choose
from:  "communisim" ala Stalin, "fascism" ala Hitler, Mussolini, Franco,
"empirism" ala Hirohito, "stick-your-head-in-the-sandism" ala Britain,
"colonialism" ala France, and the strange mix of "anything-for-a-buckism"
combined with "socialist unionisim" (called, 'yeah, but what's in it for
me?) ala the United States.  What makes the Spanish Civil War so interesting
to me is that I see all of the above "isims" were contributing factors to
Spain's War.

Thanks, Jeff, for the book tip.  You're right - no one came out of the Civil
War smelling very good.  (Typical of Civil Wars in general, I'd imagine.
Sort of like most divorces: both sides are at fault.)  At any rate, I've
been curious if, to anyone's knowledge or guess, the Camino was used as a
cover by people fleeing Vichy France in World War II?  If someone were to be
escorted by Basques over the mountains, would it have been reasonable to
imagine some of them traveled along the route to get to Portugal?

I've noticed in my home country of Norway, that it's very difficult to get
anyone who experienced the WWII to discuss the war years in depth.  Certain
ancedotes come up over and over again, but few people want to go beyond
that.  It's kind of like how quickly we forget pain once we're over it.  But
for those of you who have talked to the people along the route, have there
ever been any references to wartime?

Karen Willmus