Meeting at Hendaye

The Meeting of Hendaye, or interview of Hendaye, took place between Francisco Franco and Adolf Hitler (at the time, Caudillo of Spain and Führer of Germany, respectively).[1] It occurred on 23 October 1940 at the Hendaye railway station in Hendaye, France, near the Spanish–French border, attended by the respective foreign ministers, Ramón Serrano Súñer of Francoist Spain and Joachim von Ribbentrop of Nazi Germany.

Hitler and Franco at the train station.

The object of the meeting was to attempt to resolve disagreements over the conditions for Spain to join the Axis Powers in their war against the British Empire. However, after seven hours of talks, the Spanish demands still appeared extortionate to Hitler: the handing over of Gibraltar once the UK was defeated; the cession of French Morocco and part of French Algeria; the attachment of French Cameroon to the Spanish colony of Guinea; and German supplies of food, petrol, and arms to relieve the critical economic and military situation faced by Spain after its civil war. At this time, Hitler did not wish to disturb his relations with the Vichy French regime. The only concrete result was the signing of a secret agreement under which Franco was committed to entering the war at a date of his own choosing, while Hitler gave only vague guarantees that Spain would receive "territories in Africa".

See also

References
  1. "Hitler and Franco at Hendaye, the Whole Story", Actually Notes, 8 December 2016

Further reading
  • Paul Preston, Franco: a biography, Basic Books, 1994. ISBN 978-0465025152.
  • Jane Boyar and Burt Boyar, Hitler stopped by Franco, Marbella House, 2001 (review in Conservative Monitor, August 2001). ISBN 978-0971039209.
  • Stanley G. Payne, Franco and Hitler: Spain, Germany, and World War II, Yale University Press, 2008. ISBN 978-0300122824.
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