Hitler Stopped By Franco [Paperback]

Jane Boyar (Author), Burt Boyar (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: July 17, 2001

Hitler planned to defeat England by closing the Mediterranean to British shipping, forcing England to supply herself via the long, U-boat infested Atlantic highway. Crucial to Hitlers strategy was the use of Spanish soil to take Gibraltar, at the mouth of the Mediterranean. He counted on Francos friendship. For three years General Franco, leader of the weakest nation in Europe defied the wishes, and thwarted the hope of Nazi Germany, the greatest military power in history

Editorial Reviews

Review

". . . a very good read . . . Franco . . . may well have tipped the balance of World War II in favor of the Allies." -- Stanley G. Payne, Professor of History, University of Wisconsin-Madison

A captivating example of creative non-fiction....the book that corrects the historical record of WW II -- The Jewish Press, July 13, 2001

About the Author

Jane and Burt Boyar co-authored with Sammy Davis, Jr. the late entertainer's Best Selling autobiography, "Yes I Can" in 1965 (Farrar Straus & Giroux) as well as the also best selling sequel in 1989, "Why Me?" (FS&G) Jane passed away in 1997. Burt edited and added new material for a compilation of those two books, SAMMY: An Autobiography (FS&G) that was published in December 2000. Jane and Burt also wrote "World Class" published in 1975 by Random House. And "H.L. and Lyda: Growing up in the H.L. Hunt and Lyda Bunker Hunt family" with their eldest daughter Margaret Hunt Hill, published by August House, 1994.

Product Details

• Paperback: 323 pages
• Publisher: Marbella House; 1st edition (July 17, 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0971039208
• ISBN-13: 978-0971039209
• Product Dimensions: 8.8 x 6 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (18 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,351,493 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

34 of 40 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Franciso Franco: Protector of Sephardic Jews, February 21, 2003

By 

T. Patrick Killough "All about Patrick" (Black Mountain, NC United States) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Hitler Stopped By Franco (Paperback)

Many have the true notion that Spanish Dictator Francisco Franco craftily prevented his Civil War ally Adolf Hitler from marching 20 divisions through Spain in World War II and occupying British controlled Gibraltar. This prevented the Axis from sealing off the western end of the Mediterranean and made a major contribution to ultimate Allied victory.

What many may, however, learn for the first time in the Jane and Bert Boyars' 2001 documentary novel HITLER STOPPED BY FRANCO is that Franco also got away with provoking Hitler by his bold assistance to Jews.

An introductory quote (p. 104): "The Sephardim, Jews of Spain and Portugal, had not seen Spain since Ferdinand and Isabella had expelled them in 1492 after giving them the opportunity to remain by becoming true Catholics."

Franco's positive attitude towards Jews is at least six years older than Hitler's 1933 rise to power in Germany. As early as 1927 as a fighting Colonel commanding thousands of men in Spanish Morocco, Francisco Franco received permission from Madrid to use his troops to protect from Muslims the local Sephardic Jews. The Sephardic community was grateful and in 1936 supported Franco with money at the beginning of the Spanish Civil War.

In 1927 Spanish dictator Primo de Rivera had also told Franco that Sephardic Jews might return to Spain, become citizens and worship as they pleased. This invitation was deep in Franco's memory when, in 1940, French Jews began beseeching Spanish authorities in Vichy France for asylum on the basis of Spanish citizenship. (p. 104)

As told by Franco's wife to the authors, Franco then briefly but decisively mulled over what to do. "...I have sworn to give my life protecting Spaniards." (p. 105)

After prayer, Franco authorized issuing Spanish passports to Sephardim as their right under Spanish law. Asked by consular officials how to tell Sephardim from non-Sephardim, Franco ruled, "They are all Sephardim."

By September 1940 Hitler was pressuring Franco to cede to Germany one of the Canary Islands and to allow the Wehrmacht to march on Gibraltar through Spain. (p.106)

By November 1940 Hitler told Serrano Suner, Franco's brother-in-law, that he had at the moment 186 inactive German divisions and he intended to use some of them to take Gibraltar. Nor had he failed to notice Franco's Jewish policy. "Spanish passports are being issued to Jews who have never seen Spain, nor have their ancestors in precisely 448 years. ... Suddenly French are Spanish. And from Poland suddenly Poles are Spaniards. And in Denmark and the Netherlands ... overnight my enemies have Spanish passports and are able to leave my jurisdiction." (p. 159)

And leave they did. Nor did Jews ever forget that Franco was their benefactor. For the rest of this little known story -- and for much more-- read HITLER STOPPED BY FRANCO.

-OOO-

32 of 39 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars preconception shattering, October 31, 2001

By 

Orrin C. Judd "brothersjudddotcom" (Hanover, NH USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Hitler Stopped By Franco (Paperback)

All of which brings us to the Boyars' excellent historical novel. Having lived in Spain for nearly thirty
years and become friends with folks like their landlady, Franco's daughter, Carmen, they found both
Franco's Spain and Franco's reputation in Spain to be much different within the country than they were
perceived from without. With such connections, the authors were given extraordinary access to
members of Franco's family and inner circle and to former government ministers. They have
combined this access with what was obviously quite extensive research to produce a scrupulously
documented (how often have you read a novel with citations and footnotes) account of how Franco
kept Spain out of the War, focussing on the years from 1940 to 1943, when Spanish acquiescence to
Hitler's demands would have allowed Axis forces to use the Spanish coast as a staging area for an attack
on Gibraltar and eventually complete control of the Mediterranean and North Africa.

The weaknesses of the book are mostly a function of the task it is trying to perform. Characters are
required to recite large chunks of historical background, which is obviously artificial and somewhat
pedantic, but is also probably the most effective way of conveying the necessary information (it is
certainly less disruptive than the technique that Herman Wouk used in Winds of War, where he
interspersed chapters of an imaginary history of WWII). And in almost every instance, the authors
give Franco the benefit of the doubt in regards to his motivations and the farsightedness of his vision.
This creates the impression, which even I find unlikely, that he never seriously considered joining the
Axis and intended all along to simply hold Hitler at bay until America joined the War and swung the
balance of power.

On the other hand, Franco has been treated so viciously by almost every other author (H. G. Wells
called him the "murderous little Christian gentleman"), that it's hard to begrudge one overly favorable
treatment. Moreover, it is entirely plausible that Franco, who had after all fought to preserve a
traditional Spain, based on Church, Crown, and commerce, never seriously intended to allow the Nazis
a free hand in Spain. No true patriot, which Franco must by any measure be considered, would fight
off the Comintern only to put his nation at the disposal of the National Socialists.

Meanwhile, the books strengths are significant. First, there is a very real tension to the story, even
though we know its outcome, as this small and recently wartorn nation holds off Hitler, who is perched
on their border just waiting to pounce. Second, there's the fascination of seeing people like Franco and
Canaris presented as three dimensional beings and as genuine heroes in the resistance to Hitler, rather
than as enemies of humanity, simply because they too were fascists. Finally, books that challenge our
precious preconceived versions of events are so rare that it is always a good thing when one, especially
a really good one, comes along.

14 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Franco did Allies a favor by staying out of the war, September 25, 2001

By 

Kenneth S. Smith (Goleta, CA USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Hitler Stopped By Franco (Paperback)

This is an unusual history book written in the format of a novel. This makes the book very readable and presents the historical figures in a more lifelike way than the usual dry history books. The material for this book is drawn from historical records, documents, and interviews with surviving members of Franco's family and retired officials of the Spanish government.

I have always wondered why Franco and Spain did not enter the war on the side of the Axes and this book gives a good answer: Franco was for the survival of Spain. Spain had just ended a savage civil war with over one million dead. The country's infrastructure was on the verge of collapse and the population was on the brink of starvation. Spain owed huge debts and the army did not have the equipment or supplies to enter any conflict. Franco had to seem to favor the Axis and played a very dangerous game with Hitler, keeping him believing that as soon as possible, Spain would enter the war. Franco was a cleaver fox and knew how to play the game of words as a means of delay.

Hitler badly wanted Gibraltar and Franco refused to let him move troops through Spain to capture it. Enraged, Hitler moved 20 divisions of the German Army to the Spanish border, but Franco refused to be intimidated. He moved his own troops to the border and poured concrete bunkers (Spain had no shortage of concrete) and threatened Hitler with guerrilla war. Hitler realized that it would be too costly to wage that kind of war and backed off, eventually having to withdraw his army for use against the Russians.

If Franco had allied Spain with the Axis and given Hitler the doorway to the Mediterranean, the results would have been disastrous for the Allies. Franco did us a huge favor by remaining neutral and keeping his country from German occupation.