The Gestapo Papers

by Josep C. Verges My father Josep Verges Matas, publisher of Destino, who was very well informed, told me that the violent disagreement in the Hendaia train with Hitler (" ran!o is worse than a visit to the dentist"" was not the hardly !redible !arving up of #fri!a, but the inal $olution of the Catalans. %he &estapo $i!herheitsdienst, the spies of #dolf Hitler's politi!al poli!e, set up in ()*+ the operation ,nown as the $alaman!a -apers, .//,/// ,ilos of do!uments stolen from Catalans and ,ept in the orphanage of &ibraltar $treet in ran!is!o ran!o's. head0uarters. %he di!tator's historian -aul -reston has un!overed that $$ !olonel Hein1 Jost, senten!ed to death in 2uremberg, designed this ra!ial !leansing of $pain. My father Josep Verges Matas, publisher of Destino, who was very well informed, told me that the violent disagreement in the Hendaia train with Hitler (" ran!o is worse than a visit to the dentist"" was not the hardly !redible !arving up of #fri!a, but the inal $olution of the Catalans. %he 3hrer baul,ed at deporting all of us as the blood pri!e of his ally for entering the 4ar. 5ne thing is the disappearan!e of the dispersed Jews of the 666 7ei!h and another, 6maginary Jews in their own land. Crimes must be ,ept hidden li,e the bloody perse!ution set up by the &estapo. %hree million Catalans, every single one, was on poli!e file. 8rother in law 7amon $errano $unyer entrusted the looting to friend of the family Mar!elino 9libarri. :ater he presided the 7epression %ribunal, in !harge of death senten!es. Just in Camp de la 8ota, today !overed by the $pe!ulators' orum, (,;// were shot. #nything not !arted off was destroyed, li,e boo,s and maga1ines in Catalan. 8ut these were not burnt as in &ermany, rather made into paper paste, whi!h is more profitable. %he magnifi!ent -la1a Mayor of $alaman!a is also built with war plunder from the destru!tion of Catalonia in (+(;. %he ar!hive designed by the &estapo in $alaman!a !omprised (+ (of </" provin!es whi!h fought against fas!ism. 8ut $paniards have re!overed their do!uments, li,e the families of politi!ians &iner de los 7ios and #1a=a. 6n !ontrast the Catalan families of Cambo and 7ovira i Virgili re!eived >ust lies as an answer. %he Dignity Commission says in a boo, (-ublishers Milenio" that hiding the !ontents and ma,ing a poli!e file into an ar!hive is a dishonest ploy to gain time and not return do!uments whi!h were obtained through violen!e. %he first !ulture minister after ran!o 7i!ardo de la Cierva warned that returning the $alaman!a -apers to the Catalans would brea, up $pain, as Jose Maria #1nar repeats? "%he $panish nation itself is in danger." %he Dignity !oordinator %oni $trubell as,s? "Matthausen and Da!hau are ,ept as reminders of the holo!aust. 4hat would be hard to understand is ,eeping some Jews in huts for 9nity of the Jewish #r!hive. 6t is unthin,able that do!uments stolen by the 2a1is during the war have not been returned. 6f $alaman!a is the Civil 4ar #r!hive, why does it only have the do!uments of a minority@ %here was no Civil 4ar in the rest of $pain@ 4hy not ta,e there the enormous !olle!tions held in at least siA $panish ar!hives@ 2ot forgetting the highly subsidised ran!is!o ran!o oundation. 6f minister of defen!e Jose 8ono has been able to return to 7ussia the holy orthodoA !ross plundered by the Division #1ul, why !annot Catalans have returned what belongs to us@ 6n the 7ule of :aw all stolen goods are returned to their owners." <// intelle!tuals and famous people li,e presidents Mario $oares and ran!es!o Cossiga have as,ed for their return. Hispanist Henry Bttinghausen writes? "6t is the deliberate perpetuation of a $tate of armed robbery. Doing nothing is not a neutral de!ision, rather maintains !olle!tive amnesia and rules out remedying one of the very few disasters of the Civil 4ar that !an still be remedied." -$5B, in miAed marriage with -$C and dependant on Bs0uerra, will be >ust as guilty as -- if they

do not return the &estapo -apers in $alaman!a, !apital of the Civil 4ar and, it seems, Buropean !apital of !ulture. Josep C. Verges (..(...//; CCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCC