General Franco gave list of Spanish Jews to Nazis

London, June 21(ANI): Spanish dictator General Francisco Franco had reportedly ordered his provincial governors to compile a list of Jews, which could have sent thousands to their deaths in the extermination camps run by Adolf Hitler's Nazi regime.

It runs contrary to popular opinion that General Franco protected Jews from the Holocaust during the Second World War.

According to Spanish newspaper El Pais, General Franco had ordered his officials to draw up a list of some 6,000 Jews living in Spain.

The order, sent out in May 1941, was signed by Franco's head of security, Jose Finat Escriva de Romani.

It ordered a list of "all the national and foreign Jews living in the province... showing their personal and political leanings, means of living, commercial activities, degree of danger and security category".

The provincial governors were also ordered to look out especially for Sephardic Jews, descendants of those expelled from Spain in 1492.

"Their adaptation to our environment and their similar temperament allow them to hide their origins more easily," The Guardian quoted the order, as saying.

Romani later personally handed over the list to German Protective Squadron chief Heinrich Himmler, when he was appointed Spanish ambassador to Germany. (ANI)