José María de la Blanca Finat y Escrivá de Romaní (Madrid, February 11, 1904 - Madrid, May 30, 1995) was a Spanish politician and government official who held several important posts in

Francoist Spain Francoist Spain (), also known as the Francoist dictatorship (), or Nationalist Spain () was the period of Spanish history between 1936 and 1975, when Francisco Franco ruled Spain after the Spanish Civil War with the title . After his death i ...

. After the

Civil War A civil war is a war between organized groups within the same Sovereign state, state (or country). The aim of one side may be to take control of the country or a region, to achieve independence for a region, or to change government policies.J ...

he was named Director General of Security and from 1952 to 1965 he was the

Mayor of Madrid The Mayor of Madrid presides over the Madrid City Council, the government body of the capital city of Spain. The mayor has the duty of boosting the local policies, it directs the action of the other executive bodies, leads the Local Executive Adm ...

Biography

Early years

His father was José Finat y Carvajal, a nobleman who held several titles including ''Count of Mayalde, Finat and Villaflor''. His mother was Blanca Escrivá de Romaní y de la Quintana, daughter of the Count of Casal. He entered public life in

Toledo Toledo most commonly refers to: * Toledo, Spain, a city in Spain * Province of Toledo, Spain * Toledo, Ohio, a city in the United States Toledo may also refer to: Places Belize * Toledo District * Toledo Settlement Bolivia * Toledo, Or ...

as a political protégé of the

Count of Romanones Count (feminine: countess) is a historical title of nobility in certain European countries, varying in relative status, generally of middling rank in the hierarchy of nobility. Pine, L. G. ''Titles: How the King Became His Majesty''. New York: ...

in the last years of the reign of

Alfonso XIII Alfonso XIII (Spanish language, Spanish: ''Alfonso León Fernando María Jaime Isidro Pascual Antonio de Borbón y Habsburgo-Lorena''; French language, French: ''Alphonse Léon Ferdinand Marie Jacques Isidore Pascal Antoine de Bourbon''; 17 May ...

. In 1919, he assumed his father's title of Count of Mayalde. He took a degree in law and began a military career as an

artillery Artillery consists of ranged weapons that launch Ammunition, munitions far beyond the range and power of infantry firearms. Early artillery development focused on the ability to breach defensive walls and fortifications during sieges, and l ...

commander. He became an activist for the

Liberal-Conservative Party The Liberal-Conservative Party () was the formal name of the Conservative Party of Canada until 1917, and again from 1922 to 1938. Prior to 1970, candidates could run under any label they chose, and in many of Canada's early elections, there wer ...

in the municipal elections of 1931. After the establishment of the Second Republic his opinions became radicalized and he became a supporter of the Spanish Falange, a party that was soon incorporated into the larger

national syndicalist National syndicalism is a socially far-right adaptation of syndicalism within the broader agenda of integral nationalism. National syndicalism developed in France in the early 20th century, and then spread to Italy, Spain, and Portugal. F ...

movement. He participated in the elections of 1933 and 1936, running under the banner of the Popular Action Party and the

Spanish Confederation of Autonomous Right-wing Groups The Confederación Española de Derechas Autónomas (, CEDA) was a Spanish right-wing political party in the Second Spanish Republic. A Catholic conservative force, it was the political heir to Ángel Herrera Oria's Acción Popular and defined ...

(CEDA). During the Civil War he was personal secretary to

Ramón Serrano Suñer Ramón Serrano Suñer (12 September 1901 – 1 September 2003), was a Spanish politician during the first stages of the Francoist dictatorship, between 1938 and 1942, when he held the posts of President of the FET y de las JONS caucus (1936 ...

Francoist Spain

As DGS, he arrested and detained

Lluís Companys Lluís Companys i Jover (; 21 June 1882 – 15 October 1940) was a Catalan politician who served as president of Catalonia, Spain from 1934 and during the Spanish Civil War. Companys was a lawyer close to the labour movement and one of the mo ...

, the

President of Catalonia President most commonly refers to: *President (corporate title) *President (education), a leader of a college or university *President (government title) President may also refer to: Arts and entertainment Film and television *'' Præsidente ...

, who was put on trial and executed by firing squad in 1940. His final act as DGS was to establish the " Jewish Archive", a collection of documents put together by the civil authorities to register and manage the Jewish residents of Spain; approximately 6,000 at that time. Finat increased police cooperation with Nazi Germany. This cooperation involved Paul Winzer, the head of the

Gestapo The (, ), Syllabic abbreviation, abbreviated Gestapo (), was the official secret police of Nazi Germany and in German-occupied Europe. The force was created by Hermann Göring in 1933 by combining the various political police agencies of F ...

in Madrid, who was directing an instruction program for Franco's secret police. Between 1941 and 1942 he served as the Spanish Ambassador to Germany, coinciding with

Operation Barbarossa Operation Barbarossa was the invasion of the Soviet Union by Nazi Germany and several of its European Axis allies starting on Sunday, 22 June 1941, during World War II. More than 3.8 million Axis troops invaded the western Soviet Union along ...

, which saw volunteers of the

Blue Division The 250th Infantry Division (), better known as the Blue Division (, ), was a unit of volunteers from Francoist Spain operating from 1941 to 1943 within the German Army () on the Eastern Front during World War II. It was officially designated t ...

at the front. In 1952 he was named

, a post he occupied until replaced by

Carlos Arias Navarro Carlos Arias Navarro, 1st Marquess of Arias Navarro (11 December 1908 – 27 November 1989) was the Prime Minister of Spain during the final years of the Francoist dictatorship and the beginning of the Spanish transition to democracy. Arias ...

in 1965, making him Madrid's longest-serving mayor. In 1971 he became a member of the

Cortes Cortes, Cortés, Cortês, Corts, or Cortès may refer to: People * Cortes (surname), including a list of people with the name ** Hernán Cortés (1485–1547), a Spanish conquistador Places * Cortes, Navarre, a village in the South border of ...

and a Minister in Franco's National Movement. In his later years, he retired to a ranch.

Later life

A noted cattleman, the Conde de Mayalde became the President of the Union of Breeders of Fighting Bulls in 1982. The ''Avenida del Alcalde Conde de Mayalde'' in

Hortaleza Hortaleza is one of the 21 Districts of Madrid, districts of the city of Madrid, Spain. History Origin The first recorded human activity in the area of Hortaleza was the existence of a nomadic or semi-nomadic population in the Paleolithic ...

is named after him, as is the Public School "Conde de Mayalde" in Añover de Tajo.

Titles held

*17th Count of Mayalde *3rd Count of Finat *15th Count of Villaflor *14th Marquess of Terranova

References

Sources

* 1904 births 1995 deaths Counts of Mayalde Counts of Finat Counts of Villaflor Politicians from Madrid Mayors of Madrid Antisemitism in Spain Ambassadors of Spain to Germany Civil governors of Madrid Spanish cattlemen Spanish collaborators with Nazi Germany Spanish Falangists Members of the Congress of Deputies of the Second Spanish Republic Perpetrators of political repression in Francoist Spain {{Spain-noble-stub