Demetrio Delgado de Torres Papers, 1939-1946 (MSS 15)

Extent: 1.2 Linear feet (3 archives boxes)

Papers of Demetrio Delgado de Torres(1900-1984), Undersecretary of the Spanish Ministry of the Treasury during the period of the Civil War and personal advisor to Juan Negrin, president of the Spanish Republic. The materials, written mostly in Spanish, cover the period from 1939 to 1946 and include hand written and typed notes primarily concerning economic conditions in Spain during the Civil War. Also included are materials relating to Juan Negrin, including texts of speeches, magazine articles, and telegrams.

Demetrio Delgado de Torres (1900-1984) was Undersecretary of the Spanish Ministry of the Treasury during the period of the Civil War. He was on the side of the Republicans and served as personal advisor to Juan Negrin (1892-1956), Prime Minister of the Spanish Republic. Negrin was also the physician for the Delgado family. During the Civil War, Delgado de Torres was responsible for the procurement of war materials, for the transfer of Republican funds to Paris, for the shipment of papers of the Spanish Republicans to Mexico on the yacht Vega in 1939, and for the transfer of gold to Russia.

After the defeat of the Spanish Republicans, Demetrio Delgado lived in exile in New York City, where he died on December 23, 1984.

The papers of Demetrio Delgado de Torres were stored in the basement of the New York apartment house where the family lived. When the building's pipes broke the papers were damaged by water. As a result, many of the materials are unreadable, and all are in a deteriorated condition. Due to this situation, the entire collection has been photocopied and the copies have been inserted next to the originals. The papers were obtained from Miguel Delgado de Torres, Demetrio's son, by UCSD history professor Dr. Gabriel Jackson. Most of the materials are part of a diary, written in Spanish by Demetrio Delgado between 1939 and 1946. He may have been planning to use the diary as the basis of a thesis at the New School for Social Research (New York). Except for materials in folder 1, which contains papers related to Dr. Juan Negrin, the rest of the collection largely concerns the economic conditions in Spain during the Civil War, 1936-1939.

Arranged in three series: 1) JUAN NEGRIN MATERIALS, 2) UNPUBLISHED ARTICLES, and 3) NOTES.

Container List

JUAN NEGRIN MATERIALS, 1941-1945

Scope and Content of Series

Series 1) JUAN NEGRIN MATERIALS, 1941-1945: The series begins with some speeches delivered by Negrin in London and New York between 1941 and 1945. Two problems in particular are addressed in these speeches: first, the position of exiled Spanish Republicans during World War II; second, the divisions within the Spanish Republican government in exile, divisions resulting from the opposing political positions of the Republicans exiled in Mexico (the Diego Martinez Barrios faction) and those exiled in Europe (the Juan Negrin faction). In addition there are some articles and telegrams of Juan Negrin relating to these political divisions.

Box 1 Folder 1
Juan Negrin Materials, 1941 - 1945
Box 1 Folder 2
Juan Negrin Materials, 1941 - 1945
Oversize MC-044-06
Juan Negrin Materials, 1941 - 1945

UNPUBLISHED ARTICLES

Scope and Content of Series

Series 2) UNPUBLISHED ARTICLES: Materials written by Delgado de Torres which appear to have been intended for eventual publication or use in a thesis. The longest of these articles, the title of which is translated "The Policy of Economic Non-Intervention during the Spanish Civil War," is for the most part a hand written paper about the historical consequences of the Non-Intervention policy. According to Demetrio Delgado, the economy of Republican Spain needed foreign currency to supply not only the war industry, but also to buy foodstuffs indispensable in feeding the civilian population. Delgado felt the Non-Intervention Agreement damaged the economic development in Republican areas, and he saw the Agreement as an important element in explaining the Republican defeat.

At the end of this series is a group of short miscellaneous articles. This first piece is about the commercial relations between Spain and Great Britain from 1922 until the end of Civil War. Following this are other articles in which Delgado examines the economic relations between Spain, France, and the United States at the time of Civil War. Here he emphasizes the negative impact of the non-intervention policy on the economic conditions of the Spanish Republic.

Box 1 Folder 3-10
Policy of Economic Non-Intervention during the Spanish Civil War
Box 1 Folder 11-12
Economic Relations, Spain - Great Britain, 1922 - 1939
Box 2 Folder 1-2
Commercial Relations Spain - Great Britain, 1936 - 1939

Economic proposals for postwar time; Commercial policy in Spain until July 1936

Box 2 Folder 3-4
Commercial Relations, Spain - Great Britain and Spain - France, 1936 - 1939
Box 2 Folder 5-6
Spain, economic conditions, 1936 - 1939
Box 2 Folder 7-8
Commercial Relations Spain - France and Spain - United States, 1902 - 1939
Box 2 Folder 9-10
Articles on Spanish Economic conditions, 1936 - 1939

NOTES

Scope and Content of Series

Series 3) NOTES: The NOTES series begins with a folder of materials concerning the economic policy of the Republic. In this same folder there is one newspaper clipping entitled "Spain plays a waiting role for Hitler." Delgado's notes about the chemical industry in Spain, Spanish agriculture, and production of energy (1936 - 1939), are extracted from secondary sources such as yearbooks and speeches of political personalities. Also included with these notes is an article, typed on the backs of several sheets of notes, titled "Franco tiene razon" which concerns the position of Franco's Regime in World War II. Following this is a subseries of personal notes in chronological order listing the most important events in the economic development of Spain between 1936 - 1939. Four of these five lists refer to the political decisions adopted by the Central Republican Government. The last of these lists relates to economic conditions in Catalonia and the most important decisions adopted by the Generalitat Government in regulating the Catalonian economy during the Civil War.

Box 2 Folder 11-12
Economic Conditions in Spain, 1936 - 1939
Box 3 Folder 1-7
Economic Conditions during the Spanish Civil War, 1936 - 1939

Chronological development

Box 3 Folder 8-9
Economic Conditions in Catalonia, 1936 - 1939

Chronological development