OCR
GUILLERMO MARÍN In a small, guiet and traditional town like Vitoria in the early 1940s, many of its inhabitants followed the developments of this second big war through the local press. Ihis study is a very interesting way to gauge the capacity for transformation that Francos regime had as the war was advancing and as the winners and losers were being outlined. In the press studied between 1939 and 1944, the population was convinced that the Axis powers (and especially Germany) were the world’s vanguard, the model to follow. German ,,conquests” in Europe, such as the number of enemy ships sunk or the success of their attacks in France, England or the USSR, were enthusiastically reported. Figures such as Adolf Hitler and Benito Mussolini were extolled, and through small sections with photographs an image of friendly German soldiers was portrayed, fraternising with the locals wherever they went, as opposed to the red hordes that burned and destroyed everything in their wake. Meanwhile, far more distant powers, like Japan, were presented as the future rulers of the Pacific Ocean". From 1943 onwards, this openly pro-German vision (which contrasted, let us not forget, with the official status of the Franco regime during World War II — neutral from 1939 to 1940, non-belligerent from 1940 to 1943) was tempered by the first great defeats suffered by the Axis. This progressive change of perspective started with the first major Nazi setback during the war: the story of the German defeat in Stalingrad in February 1943. The press, as if trying to conceal the defeat, gave very little space to this news, and continued to present the Germans as heroes”. The existence of the Blue Division®®, which fought on the eastern front supporting Germany and against a great shared enemy communism — was a decisive factor for the press to maintain this pro-German vision on the oriental front. On the western front, however, little attention was paid to Germany, and the manner in which the war was described changed radically, focusing on other great narratives of the war in Europe, such as the American advances in Italy, or the Normandy landings. In contrast to the pro-German approach until 1943, that year the press started to emphasise the military might of the ,, Yankees”, the neutrality of Spain, and the need to end the war and conquer peace. Meanwhile, regarding the Pacific front, the pro-American about-turn was also progressive, and is especially representative in the narrative of the process of the reconquering of the Philippines by the Americans from the occupying Japanese, represented as a ,,reconquest of the Hispanic lands for Western civilisation and for Christianity”. 18 Pensamiento Alavés, January 23, 1942, 8; April 15, 1942, 1; December 27, 1943, 1. 1% Pensamiento Alaves, April 6, 1943, 4; May 31, 1943. 2° Xose Manoel Niifiez Seixas: Camarada Invierno. Experiencias y memoria de la Division Azul (1941-45), Critica, Barcelona, 2016. 21 Pensamiento Alavés, November 23, 1944, 3. * 100 +