Dr Mercedes Peñalba-Sotorrío

Why study Modern European History, Nazi Germany, Spanish Civil War, Franquismo, War propaganda, Neutrality studies?

Undergraduate courses

Unit Leader: 

Europe in Turmoil: 1900-1939 

Wars without End: Civil Wars and Revolutions in the 20th Century

The Spanish Civil War in History and Memory

I also contribute to the following units: 

Europe, Nazism and War 1930-1945

Research expertise

My current research, funded by the Irish Research Council, aims to enhance our understanding of the effects of Nazi propaganda on Spain’s foreign and domestic policy during World War II. I conducted most of the work related to this project at the Centre for War Studies (University College Dublin) where I spent two years as a postdoctoral fellow.

More broadly I am interested in the impact of war over neutral countries, the history of authoritarian and fascist regimes - in fact my PhD was an analysis of the early history of the Spanish fascist party and the Franco regime -, the analysis of their propaganda and its relation to policy-making and the spreading of violence.

Academic collaborations

At present I contribute to the following research projects: 

• The Returning Soldier (Manchester Metropolitan University) led by Dr. Kathryn Hurlock
• Civil Post-wars: Violence and National (Re)Construction in Spain and Europe, 1939-49 (Autonomous University of Barcelona) led by Dr. Javier Rodrigo
• Transnational Contacts between European and Latinamerican Dictatorships: Mutual Understanding, Rivalries and Links with Democratic States (1930´s -1980´s) (Autonomous University of Madrid) led by Dr. Misael Arturo López Zapico and Dr. Gabriela de Lima Grecco

Publications

• Featured Works

• Books (authored/edited/special issues)

  JM. González García, A. León Mejía, M. Penalba-Sotorrio (2017). Cómo escribir y publicar un artículo científico.

  M. Penalba-Sotorrio (2015). La Secretaría General del Movimiento. Construcción, coordinación y estabilización del régimen franquista. Centro de Estudios Políticos y Constitucionales.

  JMG. García, AL. Mejía, M. Penalba-Sotorrio (2014). Cómo escribir un trabajo de fin de grado.

  M. Peñalba (2013). Entre la boina roja y la camisa azul la integración del carlismo en Falange Española Tradicionalista y de las JONS (1936-1942).

  M. Peñalba (2009). Falange española historia de un fracaso (1933-1945).

• Journal articles

  M. Peñalba-Sotorrío (2021). From Civil Conflict to Crusade: Mobilisation and National Identity in the Spanish Civil War. International Journal of Military History and Historiography. 41(2), pp.277-307.

  M. Peñalba-Sotorrío (2019). Introduction: Spanish-German Relations during the Second World War. Journal of Contemporary History. 54(4), pp.825-833.

  AC. Moreno Cantano, M. Peñalba Sotorrío (2019). Tinta franquista al servicio de Hitler: la editorial Blass y la propaganda alemana (1939-1945). RIHC. Revista Internacional de Historia de la Comunicación. pp.344-369.

  M. Penalba-Sotorrio (2015). The battle of the airwaves in the Spanish Civil War. REVISTA UNIVERSITARIA DE HISTORIA MILITAR. 4(8), pp.230-233.

  M. Penalba-Sotorrio, C. Cerrano (2014). La OMU y la Conferencia Internacional de dirigentes universitarios de junio de 1955 vista desde la delegación española del SEU. Revista electrónica de Fuentes y archivos del Centro de Estudios “Prof. Carlos S. A. Segreti”. Year 5(5), pp.193-218.

  M. Peñalba-Sotorrío (2012). German Propaganda in Francoist Spain: Diplomatic Information Bulletins as a Primary Tool of Nazi Propaganda. Bulletin for Spanish and Portuguese Historical Studies. 37(1),

• Chapters in books

  M. Peñalba-Sotorrío (2020). Tainted Visions of War: Antisemitic German Propaganda in Spain. In: Spain, the Second World War, and the Holocaust: History and Representation. University of Toronto Press, pp.389-402.

  M. Peñalba-Sotorrío (2019). Red Berets, Blue Shirts: Nationalist Militia Forces in the Spanish Civil War. In: Spain at War. Bloomsbury Academic,

  M. Penalba-Sotorrio (2013). La milice, élément fondamental du fascisme: le cas espagnol. In: Lavail, Christine and Peloille, Manuelle (dir.), Fascisme ibériques? sources, définitions, pratiques. Université Paris Ouest Nanterre La Défense,

  M. Peñalba Sotorrío, M. Penalba-Sotorrio (2013). Creando falangistas: las Escuelas de Mandos del régimen franquista (1937-1945). In: Claves del mundo contemporáneo debate e investigación : actas del XI Congreso de la Asociación de Historia Contemporánea. Comares,

  M. Penalba-Sotorrio (2013). La Secretaría General del Movimiento como pilar estructural del primer franquismo, 1937-1945. In: Falange las culturas políticas del fascismo en la España de Franco (1936-1975). Institución “Fernando el Católico” (CSIC),

  M. Penalba-Sotorrio (2012). Obstáculos a la institucionalización: problemas de competencia entre la Junta Política y la Secretaría General del Movimiento. In: Segura, Antoni; Mayayo, Andreu and Abelló, Teresa (Dirs.), La Dictadura franquista. La institucionalització d’un règim. Edicions Universitat Barcelona,

Invited papers

Invited Seminars, Lectures, and Symposium Papers:

‘From one war to another. Nazi Propaganda in Spain during World War II’, Workshop – Comparing the cultural history of Fascist Italy and Nazi Germany, 21-22 March 2019, Freie Universität Berlin.

‘Falange, the Nazi party, and the Jews. The propagandistic use of Antisemitism in Spain during the Second World War’, Conference Spain and the Jews, 1933-1950, Tel Aviv University, 17 December 2018.

‘The Spanish Civil War as an instrument of German Anti-Bolshevik cultural mobilization’, School of Law, Kyoto University, 4 June 2018.

‘Consenso y disenso entorno a FET y de las JONS (1937-1945)’, Susurros de disidencia. Resistencias y contradicciones en la consolidación social del primer franquismo Workshop, Santiago de Compostela University, 24-25 April 2018.

‘From Civil Conflict to Crusade: Mobilization and National Identity in the Spanish Civil War’, Northern Network for the Study of the Crusades Second Symposium: The Modern Appropriation of the Crusades, Manchester Metropolitan University, 9 February 2018.

‘Neutrality explained. Early Nazi propaganda campaigns in Spain during World War II’, ManMet History Research Centre Seminar Series, 31 January 2018.

Workshop Cultures of Diplomacy, University of Manchester, 25 January 2018.

‘Societal Divide and State-construction: Cultures of Victory in the Aftermath of the Spanish Civil War’, Cultures of Victory and Victorious Societies in Twentieth Century European History Workshop, Maynooth University, 16-17 November 2017.

‘Beyond the War: Nazi Propaganda Aims in Spain during the Second World War’, School of Cultural Studies and Humanities, Leeds Beckett University, 8th November 2017.

‘From one war to another. Nazi propaganda campaigns on Spanish soil during World War II’, Liverpool John Moores History Research Seminar Series, 8 March 2017.

‘Propaganda y movilización cultural. La Guerra Civil Española al servicio del anticomunismo alemán’, Grupo de Investigación en Historia Reciente de la Universidad de Navarra, 2 June 2016.

‘Hans Lazar, master of propaganda’, Seminario de Historia, organised by School of Social History and Political Thought, National Distance Education University; School of History of Thought and Social and Political Movements, Complutense University of Madrid; José Ortega y Gasset – Gregorio Marañón Foundation, January 14, 2016.

‘“Fascism is not a tactic, violence; it’s an idea, unity”. The role of Franco’s single-party in the construction of the New Spain’, University of Limerick, April 20, 2015

‘Nazi Propaganda in Franco’s Spain’, Centre for War Studies, UCD, March 31, 2015

‘Juan Ramón Jiménez entre le modernisme et le krausisme’, Journée culturel: Juan Ramón Jiménez, un prix Nobel au Bouscat, Le Bouscat (France), October 19, 2011

‘La milice, élément fondamental du fascisme: le cas espagnol’, Journée d’étude. Autour du fascisme: sources, définitions, pratiques. Bibliothèque de Documentation Internationale Contemporaine and Université Paris Ouest, March 19, 2010

Conference organisation

Co-organiser of Veteran Politics in Europe Workshop, Manchester Metropolitan University, 17th June 2019.

Co-organiser of The Returning Soldier Symposium, Manchester Metropolitan University, 6th September 2018.

Co-organiser of No End to the War: Cultures of Violence and Humanitarianism in the aftermath of the First World War’ in partnership with Centre for the Cultural History of War (University of Manchester) and the University of Leeds, 24-25 January 2019 (hosted at University of Manchester).

‘Dancing around belligerency: Spanish-German Relations during World War II’, Centre for War Studies, 15-17th June 2016.

Grants

QR Global Challenges Research Fund (2018/19)

Jean Monet Centre for Excellence, Workshop Grant (2018) 

Jean Monet Centre for Excellence, Workshop Grant (2018)

Journal of Contemporary History, Conference Grant (2016)

UCD Seed funding (2016)

Royal Irish Academy Charlemont Grant (2016)

UCD College of Arts and Humanities Funding for Research Activity for 2016 - Conference Fund Scheme (2015)

Association for Portuguese and Spanish Historical Studies, Conference Grant (2015)

Two-Year Government of Ireland Postdoctoral Fellowship. Irish Research Council (2014) 

Research Grant for Studies on Carlism. Government of Navarre (2012)

Research Grant from Friends of the University, Inc., University of Navarre (2005) 

Projects and initiatives

Public Lecture, ‘BeyoThe Spanish Civil War’, Tameside remembers the Spanish Civil War, Local Studies and Archives Centre, 26th November 2019.

Public Lecture: ‘Beyond the war: Nazi propaganda campaigns on Spanish soil during World War II’, Dublin Festival of History, 29th September 2016.

Screening of The Basque Swastika at the Cervantes Institute Dublin, 15th June 2016.

Co-Organiser of Distinguished Lecture Series Lingering Pasts: European Approaches to Historical Trauma, UCD School of History and Centre for War Studies, February-April 2016

Organiser of ‘History, memory and the trauma of the Spanish Civil War’, co-hosted by the Cervantes Institute, Science Gallery Dublin, and Centre for War Studies, 27th January 2016

Media appearances or involvement

“El Gran Plan o el verdadero interés de Hitler por España” by Héctor G. Barnés in El Confidencial, 8 July 2018.

Visiting and honorary positions

Visiting Fellow at the Centre for Political and Constitutional Studies, Madrid (2015)