ATROCITIES IN SPAIN [To the Editor of Tun SPECTATOR.1 Sia,—We
all sympathise with the indignation of your Roman Catholic correspondents, but what have they to say to this horrible account in the Church of England Newspaper of trd ty The following is from one who knows Spain intimately and iy in close touch with the Protestant workers in that country.
" While a great deal has 1 a )n said and written about the suffering of Roman Catholic priests in Spain, little or nothing has been published concerning the appalling treatment that has been meted out by Franco's followers to Protestant workers wherever the insurgents are in power. In their case it will be noted that no suggestion is made of participation in the war or of political inter- ference. In the bulk of the cases their fault is purely and simply' that they are evangelical workers. An incomplete list, as pub- lished in Spanish papers and corrected as far as possible front private letters written, by refugees and posted outside Spain, tells a terrible story. The evangelical pastor in Salamanca has been shot. Report says that prior to his murder his wife and two small children, one of them only a year old, were executed in his- presence. His fellow-pastor at Valladolid was, with his family, cast into prison in the first days of the occupation. It is reported that the prison was deliberately fired and the inmates burned to death. The latest news tells that the evangelist in charge of the work at Miajadas has been shot and his wife with him. Tho pastor at Saragossa was condemned to death, Roman Catholic priests gathering to enjoy the spectacle of his murder, but through representations made by the German Consul his life was spared. The Protestant Church, however, was sacked. In Granada two Protestant pastors are reported murdered. At Cordoba a priest, at the head of a band of insurgents, presented himself at the school and Church, ordered men to load the furniture on lorries and to take it away. He threatened the pastor with death if he did not leave the town ht twenty-four hours. The pastor took the hint, and left the town. At Jerez an evangelical schoolmistress is in prison, her only crime being that she is not a Roman Catholic. At Ibt:hernando several Protestants were shot, and at Santa Amelia one woman was shot for being, as they said, a heretic."
Brightwell Manor, Wallingford, Berks.
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