Some of us have theorized that these communist atrocities, done to the faithful of Spain, were well-known to the Catholics of France in 1939-1940 and explain in part the pathetic state of French morale that produced a stunning defeat at the hands of the Nazi invaders. This mindset, that no doubt originated in a deep loathing of the communist movement, then well-established in France, explains the attitude of collaboration by Vichy with the German right.
The history of the communist atrocities in Spain has been largely shoved down the memory hole by journalism and history, as were those atrocities committed by communists in Ukraine about a decade earlier.
However, journalism and history took a keen interest in the French resistance that opposed the Nazis, especially in coordination with Allied actions there, beginning on D-Day. A great portion of that resistance was simply resistance by communists.
Many factors are presented to explain the otherwise inexplicable failure of the French effectively to resist the Nazi invasion. After all, the French had more troops, better equipment and the advantage of defense. Yet everywhere they acted with a defeatist mindset that the facts on paper did not justify. Interestingly, we see Churchill flying to France as the German advance rolled on, only to be shocked by the feckless French.
My surmise is that a pious Catholic in France made a rational choice between a Nazi occupation on the one hand and collaboration with communists on the other. He saw the excesses of the communist in Spain, but had no evidence at that time of the atrocities to be committed by the Nazis.
