Representing the Enemy

Abstract

This article takes a close look at the iconographic construction of the so-called “otherness” in Spain between 1936 and 1945. During this three year period of civil unrest, the Franco regime set out to cast the defeated half of the war as an inimical “other.” In this process of building an impression of the “other,” the “New State,” created after April 1, 1939, played an important role, since in many ways the existence of this enemy “other” could favour unity between the rest, or “us.” The State used mandatory education as an efficient socialization tool in this process. The text looks at the different ways in which the image of the “other” was used in books that taught History, Civic Education and Patriotic Education in primary school.