Franco, Jewish bankers and the myth that keeps coming back

Franco, Jewish bankers and the myth that goes no further than the trolls

The question that opens the debate is straightforward: did Jewish bankers fund the Franco side? Judging by the thread that raises it, the answer is that it never even comes close to a serious discussion. The first contribution with any value at all is "juan march busca" (search Juan March), a clue that leads to the well-known financier Juan March, a Mallorcan with no Jewish ancestry who did indeed put money into the uprising. But from there to the Rothschilds, the Rockefellers and Trump's grandfather is a stretch that the thread's own author calls out as trolling.

The only contribution with any substance mentions that Banca March was "the owner" of all the INI (Spain's state industrial holding company) firms in Barcelona. A claim that, true or not, has little to do with an international conspiracy of bankers of Jewish origin. The fact that the thread drifts toward those names says more about the intellectual laziness of those replying than about any real connection.

The result is a debate that is born dead: the original question goes unanswered, and the reader is left with the feeling that the myth of Franco's Jewish bankers is nothing more than a catch-all where any name that sounds like old money fits. Perhaps the lesson is that, when it comes to funding the Franco regime, the sensible thing is to start with Juan March, move on to German banks, and not get lost in surnames that sound like a movie.

But then, why does the myth keep resurfacing? Perhaps because imagining a conspiracy is easier than reading a history book.