Figure 1.-- A German World War II magazine "Signal" in 1942 reported on a music exhibition which included partcipant from AXIS and AXIS-oriented countries. The Spanish boy here, Jesu Corvino, wears id Phlange uniform. He is packing his violin after a performance in Germany. A Hitler Jugend friend who is not named is helping him.

I do not yet have any information on the Falange Youth groups which apparently was called the Phlange. I am unsure how strong the Scout movement was in Spain, but we note that Franco banned in 1939. I do not have as yet any infornation on the uniforms worn by Flange youth. We have noted a few photographs. We have also noted photographs of contacts between the Falange Youth grouops and the Hitler Youth, but are not sure how extensive those interactions were. The Falange Youth groups were in the news recently because of the controversy surrounding International Olympic Chairman Samaranch who was active in the organization. Unfortunately I have been unable to find more information about the Falange Youth. Hopefully HBU readers will know more. As the Falange was founded in 1933 there could not have been much of an organization before the Civil War. After the Falange was made the ruling party in 1937, state resources would have been available. but we do not yet know to what extent a youth program was developed.

Phlange Established

The Falange Youth group was apparently called the Phlange. I am not sure just waht the derivation was. We are not sure when the Phlange was established, but membershio was eventually made compulsory for Spanish children. and what policies the Falange adopted toward the Scouts.

Scouting Banned

The Spanish Scout movement was the Exploradores de Espana (EDE), a member of WOSM. The EDE was founded in 1912. I am unsure how strong the Scout movement was in Spain. Franco's Government in 1939 disbanded the EDE by executive emergency decree "for the duration of the present temporary emergency". This was in keeping with the other totalitarian movements (Communists, NAZIs, Fascists) which did not tolerate competing youth movements. The EDE apparently went underground, sometimes with the covert support of sympathetic local authorities. Scouts might go camping as "camping clubs". They would post sentries and then puton theiruniforms. If the sentries sounded an alarm they quickly hid theuniforms. This was dangerous, however, as a violation of the emergency decree meant a mandatory y 20 year prison term without regard to age. Thus we are unsure how much of this actually went on. This is called "La Epoca Clandestina de Escultismo en Espana" (The Clandestine Epoch of Scouting in Spain). Well after World War II, Franco acceded to a personal request from the Pope during the 1960's and allowed the establishment of "El Movimiento Catolico de Espana" (The Catholic Scout Movement of Spain". The ban on Spanish Scouting was not entirely recinded until 1976, a year after Franco died in 1975. [Morris]

Religious Component

Franco was a devout Roman Catholic. Presumably there was a strong religious component to the Phlange, but we have no information at this time. This was quite different than the Hitler Youth which essentially was anti-religious and set out to separate members from active participation in religius services as well as targeting church leaders, especially Catholics who were less compliant than Protestant leaders.

Program

As the Falange was founded in 1933 there could not have been much of an organization before the Civil War. After the Falange was made the ruling party in 1937, state resources would have been available. but we do not yet know to what extent a youth program was developed. As membership was compulsory, there must have been some kind of extensive program. What this consisted of and how it changed over time, we do not know.

Uniforms

I do not have as yet any infornation on the uniforms worn by Flange youth. We have noted a few photographs which provide some information.

Hitler Youth

We have also noted photographs of contacts between the Falange Youth grouops and the Hitler Youth, but are not sure how extensive those interactions were. A Dutch reader reports, "In general, however, there were no get-togethers of non-German youth groups with the Hitler Jugend like the boy scouts jamborees. I had never heard for example that members of the Jeugdstorm in Holland ever were invited to participate in events in Germany. Don't forget that a terrible war was going on and most people had other things on their mind. Most of them tried to stay away from any collaboration with the NAZI-occupiers." HBC notes that there were some interactions with Nordic countries as we have seen Danish boys on trains headed for Hitler Youth summer camps. Interactions with the Spanish Phalange seems less likely, although as seen here there were individual cointacts.

Samaranch

The Falange Youth groups were in the news recently because of the controversy surrounding International Olympic Chairman Samaranch who was active in the organization.

Signal

The photograph here is from Signal. It was periodical made to influence the populations of German-occupied European countries and assocaited states (like Spain anf Portugal) with NAZI propaganda. The magazine had been translated in many languages. It tried to appear as tolerant as possible under the circumstances. This image is from an article on a classical music youth competition in Germany during 1942 where young talents from different European countries (incl. Portugal and Spain that were not occupied by the Germans, but were sympathetic to the NAZIs because of the dictatorships of Salazar and Franco) were invited to participate.

Scarce Information

It is interesting to note that so lttle information is available on the Phalange. Spain is a large, populace country. As membership was compulsory for more than three decades, mullion of Spanish children participated. Yet we have been able to find virtually no information on the organization.

Sources

Morris, Ridger. Internet posting, November 14, 1994.

Signal, September 1942.