A Catholic safe haven: University students from Eastern Europe in Spain during Francoism

Abstract

In 1946, Madrid became home to a Catholic university residence, the colegio mayor Santiago Apóstol, which catered specifically to refugee students from Eastern Europe who had fled the aftermath of the Second World War and the creation of Communist regimes in their home countries. This residence hall, which housed about 800 students from 20 nationalities between its opening in the postwar era and its rededication in 1969, was part of the anticommunist governmental strategy to overcome the political isolation that Francoist Spain found itself in. It was also part of the efforts of the Catholic church to support refugees from Eastern Europe in the early Cold War. This article aims to bring these strands together, focusing on the founding of the residence hall as a Catholic and governmental endeavor. In a second step, the article focuses on the residence hall itself, considering the agency of the residence’s officials and its students, and contemplating the residence’s academic and exile networks both in Spain and internationally.