Ernesto Giménez Caballero facts for kids

Ernesto Giménez Caballero (born August 2, 1899, in Madrid – died May 14, 1988, in Madrid), also known as Gecé, was an important Spanish writer and diplomat. He was one of the first people to support Fascism in Spain.

He started and directed an exciting magazine called La Gaceta Literaria from 1927 to 1932. His writings are sometimes linked to art movements like Futurism and Surrealism.

Early Life and Education

Ernesto Giménez Caballero went to school at the Instituto San Isidro. From 1916 to 1920, he studied literature at the Central University in Madrid. During this time, he wrote for a conservative newspaper. He also helped start a "Group of Socialist Students." Some members of this group later formed the Spanish Communist Party.

After university, he worked at the Centro de Estudios Históricos. Later, he moved to the University of Strasbourg to teach Spanish. He was influenced by José Ortega y Gasset, a thinker who criticized democracy. This led Giménez Caballero to become a nationalist, similar to the ideas of Miguel de Unamuno.

Military Service and New Ideas

Giménez Caballero served in the military in Spanish Morocco. In 1923, he wrote a book about his experiences there called Notas Marruecas de un Soldado. This book upset some generals, and he was put in prison for a short time. However, the dictator Miguel Primo de Rivera later pardoned him.

In 1928, while working as a literary critic for El Sol newspaper, he visited Italy. There, he met and became friends with several people who supported fascism. These included writers and thinkers like Giuseppe Bottai and Filippo Tommaso Marinetti. After these meetings, he started to believe in fascist ideas himself.

He was already known as a writer who focused on art and beauty. In 1928, he announced his new beliefs in fascism in an article in La Gaceta Literaria. Because of his new views, he became separated from many people in Spain's main cultural groups, who were mostly liberals. He felt like a "literary Robinson Crusoe" because of this.

Understanding His Beliefs

Giménez Caballero was married to an Italian woman. Her brother was the Italian Consul in Strasbourg. Because of this connection, his ideas about fascism were largely based on the Italian model. He also believed that fascism could unite the Latin and Roman Catholic countries.

He did not like National Socialism much. He thought it was too focused on northern European ideas and was too Protestant. He even thought that fascism and national socialism might end up fighting each other.

In his 1932 book Genio de España, Giménez Caballero wrote a lot about what he saw as the decline of modern society. He believed that Spain should return to its former greatness as the Spanish Empire. He imagined this happening under a Latin union led by Mussolini. His next book, La Nueva Catolicidad, showed his strong belief in Roman Catholicism within his fascist ideas.

Giménez Caballero also promoted cultural Philosephardism. This means he was interested in and supported Jewish culture, especially that of Sephardic Jews. He published several articles about this in La Gaceta Literaria. However, even with these interests, he also expressed some antisemitic (anti-Jewish) ideas, especially as his fascist beliefs grew stronger.

Giménez Caballero supported the plans of Ramiro Ledesma Ramos. He joined Ledesma's group, the Juntas de Ofensiva Nacional-Sindicalista. However, Giménez Caballero was not a strong political organizer. He generally let Ledesma lead the movement. He later joined the Falange Española y de las JONS and served on its council.

Despite this, he disagreed with many ideas of José Antonio Primo de Rivera, who was the son of the general who had pardoned him from prison. In 1936, he was removed from the Falange. This happened after he started working with a banker named Juan March Ordinas in a different political party. He was later allowed back into the Falange.

During the Spanish Civil War, he went to Italy. From there, he encouraged Francisco Franco to combine the Falangists with another group called the Carlists. For his support, he was given a job as Vice-Secretary for National Education in Franco's first government.

Later Life and Legacy

One of Giménez Caballero's most unusual actions was trying to arrange a marriage between Pilar Primo de Rivera, José Antonio's sister, and Adolf Hitler. He hoped this would make Hitler "softer" and more "Catholic." This attempt was not successful.

After the Spanish Civil War, he spent most of his time outside Spain. He worked in Spanish embassies in Paraguay and Brazil. In 1958, he became the ambassador to Paraguay, a position he held for 12 years.

In his later years, he continued to write. In 1985, he won his last writing award, the Premio Espejo de España, for his book Retratos españoles (bastante parecidos). He also directed a series of documentary films. Interestingly, in his 80s, he claimed to have become a follower of anarcho-syndicalism, a very different political idea.

Ernesto Giménez Caballero passed away on May 14, 1988. He had been dealing with health issues, including eye surgery and hearing problems, in his home in Madrid.

See also

In Spanish: Ernesto Giménez Caballero para niños