Legion Condor Memorial in Spain

In the main cemetery of Madrid City there is a Memorial in memory of 7 pilots of the Legion Condor that died during the Spanish Civil War fighting in the nationalist side.

This memorial was inaugurated on July of 1942, with the presence of the German Ambassador, the Spanish Minister of Air Force,  the Major of Madrid and different military authorities and diplomatic from Italy, Japan, Portugal, Romania, or Slovakia.

The main placard had words in German and Spanish. In German stated: “The German pilots here buried died fighting for a free Spain” and in Spanish it said: ”German Pilots, fallen for God and Spain. Present! “. 

Above it there was another placard with a Luftwaffe eagle, that in the spring of 1958 at the urging of the Foreign Office of the Federal Republic of Germany, was removed due to the presence of swastikas on it.

It is said that the remains of the pilots were returned to Germany after the IIWW.

Some years ago, in 2005, this memorial was attacked by the reds, that covered it with red paint, and after that it was restored by Spanish comrades, that make a ceremony after the restoration was completed.

In February 2012 it was vandalized again and some months later it was restored. The reds also made some damages to the monument-tomb of the Blue Division that is placed very close.

The Socialist Party has complained for the presence of this Legion Condor monument several times, but as the City Council is controlled by the Popular Party (right conservative) they did not achieve anything. Therefore some month ago they decided to complain to the German Embassy, the German Embassy spoke with the German Government, and in April following orders of the German government the main plaque, which had the motto we have previously mentioned in black letters, was covered with white paint and plaster.

After that the Socialist Party sent a thanks letter to the German Embassy.

Something to highlight is that when this monument was vandalized, the German Embassy did not complain or went to the police; they did nothing at all, and were the Spanish comrades who had to make the restoration. Also is not clear if they have competencies to take decisions over a memorial placed in a Spanish cemetery in Spanish land without German corpses on it.

A new sing of lack of honor of these democrat authorities that do not respect even their fallen countrymen.

For this reason it was decided to make a “redress” act the morning of the 29th of September in the place of the memorial, which was attended by around 50 comrades of different political parties and organizations.

There were three speakers. The first speaker explained the circumstances that lead to the German Embassy to cover the placard, related with the Socialist complains and the “Historical Memory” law approved by the last socialist government. The second speaker explained also that this is also related to the apologies for the Guernica Bombing that the German President Roman Herzog made to survivors of the raid apologizing on behalf of the German people and state in 1997, which lead to a law passed by the German parliament in 1998 that legislate for the removal of all former Legion Condor members names from associated German military bases. The Madrid socialist knew that and use it as an argument in front of the current German authorities. He explained also that some years ago in a village of the province of Toledo was inaugurated a Memorial for Soviet pilots that died operating in the airfield placed there. In that case, the Russian Putin government sent a wreath with the current Russian flag colors and a military representation.  They were not ashamed of their history and they respect their soldiers who died fighting in a foreign country. The last speaker started saying the names of the seven soliders fallen, that was responded by the words “Present!”, then he spoke about the role of the Legion Condor during the Civil War and the ignominy of the acts of both the socialist party and the German authorities.

The act ended singing the song “I had a comrade" (Ich hatt' einen Kameraden)  in Spanish.

There are plans to repair the despicable act made by the German authorities.