The Sociedades Hispanas Confederadas in the FBI Archives. (Emigration and Spanish Exile in the USA, 1936-1975)

This article gives an account of the sociological origins of the Confederated Hispanic Societies and the political environment in which they arouse. The study draws on classified information released by the FBI and the Criminal Section of the United States. At outbreak of the Spanish Civil War the Spanish population in the United States aligned itself with the Republican cause. The various Spanish organisations ( regionalists, political or medical) decided to create an umbrella organisation under which to unified their efforts on behalf of the Spanish Republic. The new group dedicated itself to collecting relief-funds and disseminating information about the Spanish situation. When the defeat of the Republic sent thousands of Spaniards into exile the Confederated Hispanic Societies assisted the refugees. The organisation also acted as a liaison between the newly arrived exiles and the emigrant population already in the United States. Thus the groups formed a community in its own right that helped them maintain contact with each other.