Love for gold in Spain has not faded since the time of the conquistadors. Gold jewelry is made by many popular brands, payment cards inlaid with gold are used to pay in the service sector, and particles of gold dust are even added to bread.
Ordinary Spaniards also love gold. Couples give it to each other throughout their life together. By the time they reach the top ten, women can accumulate a whole arsenal of jewelry. Each block has its own store with jewelry, where you can buy a weightless gold chain or ring from 90 euros.
Also popular among Spaniards and tourists is jewelry called "Toledo gold", or "Damascus" (damasquinado de Toledo). it special equipment gold stamping on blackened steel, which originated in the city of the same name near Madrid. On the treated surface, the master engraves a drawing, which is then inlaid with a thin wire or plate using gold (or silver, if it comes about silver embossing).
In addition to decorations, many things for the home are also created using this technique. So, from Spain, you can also bring jewelry boxes as a gift, wrist watch, a set of chess, a candelabrum and other souvenirs.
Looking for High Quality decoration, prestigious precious stones and world famous designers will have to get out to the central streets of Madrid or Barcelona. There are shops selling branded jewelry. Among the prestigious Spanish brands, names such as Carrera y Carrera, Masriera, Aristocrazy, Yanes and others stand out.
A ring from a prestigious boutique will cost up to 80 euros per gram, given that an ordinary jeweler will never ask for more than 30. In Spain, it is generally customary to make jewelry out of 750-carat gold. This gives the products a light yellow, slightly greenish tint, in contrast to the usual reddish tint, more familiar to Russians.
Some avant-gardists of the jewelry market even bring to the fore White gold and platinum. In their opinion, large diamonds, combined with the cold icy sheen of these metals, look nobler.
And if you want to become the owner of your own gold reserves and transfer your capital into heavy bullion, in Spain this can be done in several large banks.
For purchases, the conclusion of commercial transactions and the organization of individual shopping tours in Barcelona and other cities of the country, contact the specialists of the Center for Services for Business and Life in Spain "Spain in Russian". We will be happy to consult on any issue related to your stay in Spain. For you - more than 100 types of services ! Call us at the phones listed on the site.
The revolution is not only troublesome, but also expensive. It takes a lot of money to organize it. When there is nowhere to get them legally, you can, for example, rob a bank. As you know, the Bolsheviks were responsible for such operations I.V. Stalin. They say he did not change his habit after the revolution.
Spanish gold
According to the well-established legend, before each robbery, I.V. Stalin wrote a statement asking him to be expelled from the Bolshevik Party. In the event of a successful completion of a criminal event, he immediately asked to be admitted back to the party. This was done in order not to cast a shadow on comrades in the struggle in the event of arrest. T
When the revolution took place and the cannonade of the Civil War rumbled, and the country again needed gold, I.V. Stalin did not disdain to apply the old methods. True, now he was acting as the leader, not the executor of the event. The most famous was the operation to seize gold in Spain. A consignment was secretly brought into Russia precious metal worth more than 600 million dollars (in the prices of those years)! This event happened thanks to the outbreak in Spain civil war... On July 17, 1936, the legitimate government was overthrown, replaced by General Franco. Fearing that the country's vast gold reserve might be irretrievably lost, representatives of the republican government asked the USSR to take the precious metal for storage. Stalin agreed.
Take gold: do not give receipts
Soon 20 heavy trucks arrived at a secret vault near Cartagena. The soldiers briskly loaded boxes of gold, after which the precious caravan set off. The transfer of gold to the territory of the USSR took place calmly, in a regular mode. It was decided to issue documents with the Spaniards retroactively. Representative Soviet intelligence Orlov, as well as the captains of Soviet ships that transported gold to Soviet Union(to the port of Odessa), it was strictly forbidden to give the Spaniards any receipts of receipt of the cargo. The order came personally from Joseph Vissarionovich. In this case, it was necessary to observe the strictest secrecy, since the valuable cargo could be recaptured by ships of other interested states: Italians or Germans. Therefore, neither the soldiers who loaded the boxes from the storage, nor the captains of the ships knew what they were dealing with. The Soviet intelligence officer in charge of the operation counted 10,000 boxes. Each of them contained 72 kg of gold. In total, 700 tons of precious metal were accumulated. Gold was transported to Soviet ships for three nights in a row. The incognito of the caravans was not disclosed.
A receipt? A receipt later ...
When the last box was in the hold of the Soviet ship, the Spanish Treasury official timidly asked Orlov for a receipt. But the Soviet representative only glanced insinuatingly at the Spaniard and answered honestly that he was not authorized to sign any papers. Seeing the official's round eyes, he hastened to add that there is no need to worry, since all the papers will later be issued in Moscow when the gold is in Gokhran. The Spanish Treasury official did not believe him. However, it was dangerous to carry the gold back to the vault, it could be recaptured by Franco's troops. Then the Spaniard made a fatal decision for himself. He announced that he would personally accompany the gold in the USSR. He took three people with him. Thus, on each of the four ships there was one representative of the republican authorities. When the valuable cargo arrived in Moscow, the Spanish government was informed that everything went well. Only four Spaniards accompanying the gold disappeared somewhere. Forever and ever. Of course, the Spanish government did not receive any receipts. The most interesting thing is that the fate of this gold has since been covered with a veil of secrecy. But it never returned to Spain ...
The Spanish Civil War broke out 70 years ago. In February 1936, for the first time in the history of this country, democratic elections were held, which was won by the Popular Front, which united a number of left-wing parties. But at the same time, the forces of the right and openly fascist persuasion were consolidated, which organized a military rebellion with the aim of overthrowing the legitimate government. Conditional signal to start active action the conspirators were the words broadcast on the night of July 18-19 by the radio station of the city of Ceuta: "A cloudless sky over the whole of Spain." On September 29, the Soviet leadership decided to conduct Operation X - the provision of active military assistance Republican Spain.
The fate of the Spanish gold reserve, part of which ended up in the Soviet Union at the end of 1936, is directly related to Operation X. Until now, this "dark story" (in the words of some Russian and foreign authors) continues to excite historians. She gave rise to many rumors, myths and speculations. Until now, in Spain and Russia there are publications with sensational headlines, the meaning of which boils down to the fact that Moscow has “warmed its hands” on Spanish gold. Relying on basic research Spanish specialists, as well as Russian archival sources, will try to answer the question of what happened to Spanish gold.
THE ROAD TO MOSCOW
To begin with, we will cite the report of a Polish intelligence agent dated November 24, 1936, found among the captured documents in the Russian State Military Archives: “When the new Spanish ambassador Pasqua was sent to Moscow, he received: the broadest powers to conclude a secret treaty with the USSR on the further supply of the Spanish Reds with weapons. Such an agreement was signed on the third day after Pasqua's arrival in Moscow. that the Spanish government of Caballero pledged to keep in Moscow a gold fund in the amount of not less than two hundred and fifty million pesetas (half a billion francs), at the expense of which Moscow pledged to supply arms to the Spanish Reds. in all, an element of pure commerce, for Moscow, thanks to the help of the Spanish gold fund, received an opportunity, which was by no means unimportant in the face of possible international complications, to increase its gold fund. Having received Spanish gold, Moscow began huge and regular shipments of arms to Spain. "
In fact, military specialists and weapons from the Soviet Union began to arrive on the Iberian Peninsula much earlier than Spanish gold arrived in the USSR. The first military advisers were sent to Spain on the 20th of August 1936. And by October 22, 50 T-26 tanks with fuel and ammunition, a squadron of SB high-speed bombers (30 pcs.), And small arms were delivered on five ships.
(T-26 from the tank group of Colonel S. Krivosheev, tank crews
were mixed, commanders and mechanics from among Soviet specialists)
By the end of the month, 60 armored vehicles, a squadron of I-15 fighters, artillery systems with ammunition, etc. had arrived.And the decision to send part of the gold reserve of the Bank of Spain to the Soviet Union was made by Prime Minister Caballero and Minister of Finance Negrin in the hour of extreme danger - the threat of the capture of Madrid by phalangists ... It seemed to many then that the days of the republic were numbered. Fierce battles were already taking place in the city itself. And the Franco radio daily broadcast to Madrid a pre-prepared program of the solemn entry of the nationalists into the capital.
Most likely, the republican authorities had no choice in those troubled days. Caballero announced the decision to evacuate the government from Madrid to Valencia. It was these circumstances that influenced the decision to send part of the Spanish gold reserves to the USSR. About how the Spanish gold was exported, there are at least two versions. According to the first, the Spanish government made this decision under pressure from Stalin. At the same time, arguments are presented that have not been confirmed archival documents therefore they cannot be considered convincing enough. But in order to get a complete picture, we will cite this evidence as well.
On October 15, 1936, A. Orlov (Swede), the deputy chief military adviser in Spain for counterintelligence and partisan warfare in the rear, received from Moscow a cipher telegram from the People's Commissar of Internal Affairs N. Yezhov: "I am giving you the personal order of the Master(Stalin. - Author's note). Together with Plenipotentiary Representative Rosenberg, organize, in agreement with Caballero, the dispatch of Spain's gold reserves to the Soviet Union. Use a Soviet ship for this purpose. The operation should be carried out in absolute secrecy. If the Spaniards demand a receipt from you, refuse, I repeat, refuse to sign any document and explain that the formal receipt will be issued by the State Bank in Moscow. You are personally responsible for the success of this operation. Rosenberg is accordingly notified. Ivan Vasilievich(Stalin's pseudonym. - Author's note) ".
(Alexander Mikhailovich Orlov (Lev (Leiba) Lazarevich Feldbin) - Soviet intelligence officer,
Major of State Security (1935). NKVD resident and advisor to the republican government on
security in Spain (1937-1938). Since July 1938 - defector, lived in the USA)
The next day, Orlov and Rosenberg informed the Minister of Finance Negrin about the Stalinist proposal. He agreed to send gold to the USSR. Later, in the US Senate commission, Orlov (after escaping to America) admitted that he and Rosenberg "were simply dumbfounded" at how quickly he allowed himself to be persuaded. Orlov believed that the ground for such an agreement had already been prepared by the efforts of the Soviet trade representative in Spain A. Stashevsky. But today it was not possible to double-check these facts according to the documents of the archives.
According to the Spanish scientist A. Vinyas, on October 15, 1936, Caballero and Negrin officially turned to the Soviet Union with a request to accept about 500 tons of gold for storage. We find confirmation of the fact of this appeal of the republican government in the "Special folder" of the protocols of the Politburo of the Central Committee of the All-Union Communist Party (Bolsheviks). Here is the resolution of the meeting dated October 19, 1936:
"[...] 59. Question of Comrade Rosenberg.
To instruct Comrade Rosenberg to reply to the Spanish government that we are ready to accept the gold reserves for safekeeping and that we agree to the shipment of this gold on our ships returning from ports on the condition that the gold will be accompanied by authorized representatives of the Spanish government or the Ministry of Finance and that we are responsible for the safety of gold begins from the moment it is handed over to the People's Commissariat of Finance of the USSR in our port. "
(Juan Negrin Lopez. During the Civil War 1936-1939 was the Minister of Finance in the government
Francisco Largo Caballero as a representative of the "priestists" (from September 4, 1936 to May 17, 1937)
A telegram with the decision of the highest political leadership of the USSR arrived in Madrid on October 20. By this time, the gold was exported from Madrid to Cartagena and stored in old powder magazines near the port. About 510 tons (to be extremely precise, 510,079,529.3 grams) of gold, packed in 7800 standard-type boxes (65 kg each), were distributed among four Soviet ships that delivered weapons and ammunition to Cartagena. Gold was in bars, bars, coins, including rare numismatic specimens.
The ships were loaded at night from October 22 to 25: on the Neva - 2697 boxes; "KIM" - 2100; Kuban - 2020; Volgoles - 963. Everything happened in deepest secret... For conspiracy purposes, A. Orlov was called "by Mr. Blackstone of the US National Bank", whom President Roosevelt himself allegedly sent to Spain to transport gold to Washington. Only seven people in all of Spain were then initiated into the operation; from the Soviet side, two were aware of the matter - Orlov and Rosenberg.
The Republican fleet was pulled together to guard the proposed route of the "golden caravan". This is confirmed by the summary military situation for Spain on October 20, 1936, prepared by the Intelligence Directorate of the Red Army: "The government fleet, which left the Bay of Biscay on October 13, arrived in the Mediterranean on October 18, 1936 and concentrated in Cartagena."... The ships left at daily intervals. The Soviet naval attaché and senior naval adviser in Spain N. Kuznetsov ensured the protection of transports in the base and at sea. The route of the "golden caravan" was carefully planned. Having passed through the Mediterranean and Marmara seas, the Bosphorus and the Dardanelles, the Black Sea, on November 2 the transports arrived in the USSR. Each vessel had one representative of the Bank of Spain. In the port of Odessa, gold was loaded into a special train and under heavy guard they were taken to Moscow.
People's Commissar for Foreign Affairs M. Litvinov, sending on November 3, 1936 to the chairman of the Council of People's Commissars of the USSR V. Molotov, his proposals on the receipt of gold, wrote: "The final registration is possible only after receiving the letter exchange project requested from Madrid. One could now offer the Spanish ambassador in Moscow to write us a letter with a request to accept the gold, but since he is unable to indicate either the weight or the cost, such a letter is deprived of legal significance. I again telegraphed Comrade Rosenberg about the acceleration of the exchange of letters, as well as the communication of data on the amount of gold sent. ".
By November 6, the gold was deposited in the USSR People's Commissariat of Finance. Later, an act on the acceptance of gold was drawn up, which in early February 1937 was signed by the Ambassador of the Spanish Republic M. Pasqua, the People's Commissar of Finance of the USSR G. Grinko and the Deputy People's Commissar for Foreign Affairs N. Krestinsky. A copy of the act has been sent to the republican government. April 24, 1937 A. Stashevsky from Valencia sent a cipher telegram to the People's Commissar foreign trade A. Rosengoltsu: "I found out for sure that the Moscow certificate of acceptance of gold was handed over to Caballero, and he, in turn, handed it over to Baraibo, the deputy minister of war, a very dubious person."... After the end of the civil war, this copy of the act was kept by Negrin, and after his death it was transferred to the Franco government.
PRICE OF OPERATION "X"
According to the famous British researcher A. Beevor, at a banquet in the Kremlin on January 24, 1937, Stalin, being in good spirits, allegedly unexpectedly said: "The Spaniards will never see this gold as their own ears".
Indeed, Operation X was not free of charge, weapons and equipment were supplied on a commercial basis. The republic paid for the Soviet military aid on account of the gold deposited in the State Bank of the USSR. In addition, Spain paid for deliveries military equipment and weapons from third countries purchased there on the orders of the Soviet government; assistance to the USSR in the creation of the republic's military industry; dispatch Soviet people to Spain and their participation in hostilities (salary); allowances and pensions to the families of those killed in the war; training in the USSR of personnel for the republican army.
Note that cash for operation "X" were released by decisions of the Politburo of the Central Committee of the CPSU (b) even before the arrival of gold in Moscow. The 1910 thousand rubles and 190 thousand dollars allocated on September 29, 1936 were not enough, and on October 13 there was "In addition, funds were allocated for the purchase in Czechoslovakia on a special assignment to the already allocated 400 thousand US dollars, another 696 347 US dollars."
On October 17, the Politburo decides: "1) To approve the dispatch of people and goods to" X "according to the lists submitted by the NPO ... 3) To release the NPO from the reserve fund of the Council of People's Commissars of the USSR 2,500,000 rubles to cover the costs of a special assignment.".
By November 15, 2300 thousand rubles and 190 thousand US dollars were spent on sending 455 people and 9 transports with weapons to Spain. dollars. At the meeting of the Politburo on November 22, 3468.5 thousand rubles and 48.5 thousand US dollars were additionally allocated. dollars to finance sending 270 people and 5 ships.
There are other examples of the allocation of funds by the government of the USSR for Operation X. total amount delivered from the USSR from September 1936 to July 1938, only the material part amounted to 166 835 023 dollars. And for all dispatches to Spain from October 1936 to August 1938, the republican authorities fully paid the entire amount owed to the Soviet Union in 171,236,088 dollars. All these figures are contained in the reference book of the USSR People's Commissar of Defense K. Voroshilov with the inscription on the cover "Operation X" ...
Adding the cost of military equipment sent in late 1938 - early 1939 to Spain from Murmansk via France ($ 55,359,660), we get the total cost of military-technical supplies. It varies from $ 222,194,683 to $ 226,595,748.Due to the fact that the cargo of the last delivery was not fully delivered to its destination and part of it was returned to Soviet military warehouses, the total value of the military cargo delivered to Republican Spain is 202. $ 4 million
Calculations for sending people and goods were rather complicated, since they included not only salaries, but also travel expenses to Spain and back, maintenance in Moscow, equipment, daily allowances, loading at ports, etc. railroad through Europe cost 3500 rubles and 450 dollars, by sea - 3000 rubles and 50 dollars, loading transport and providing the team with food - 100 thousand rubles and 5 thousand dollars (advance payment to the team leader). Until January 25, 1938, 1,555 volunteers were sent from the USSR to Spain, the costs amounted to 1,560,741.87 dollars (6,546,509 rubles and 325,551.37 dollars).
V total cost transaction "X" was also taken into account monetary allowance which was paid to Soviet military specialists in Spain. Their salaries were different, pilots received the most. The families of Soviet servicemen who perished in Spain, with the approval of the Politburo, were given a one-time allowance in the amount of 25 thousand rubles and a pension as early as January 1937. Thus, the family of the commander of the 12th International Brigade M. Zalka (Lukach), who died in June 1937, was given a pension of 1,000 rubles. In total, more than 200 Soviet citizens died during the Spanish Civil War, of which 158 were sent only through the military department.
An important item of expenditure was the cost of training national personnel for the Spanish Republican Army in the USSR. Unfortunately, the final figures for the cost of training have not yet been revealed. Only a few components are known. Thus, the cost estimate for the construction and maintenance of the 20th military pilot school in Kirovobad for training pilots for the Spanish Air Force amounted to 4,022,300 rubles or 800 thousand dollars (this is without the cost of aviation equipment, vehicles and other costs). Republican pilots who studied in 1938 at the Lipetsk military aviation improvement courses received a monthly salary: captain - 1000 rubles, lieutenants - 750 rubles each.
The cost of food and uniforms alone for 100 cadets who studied for 1.5 months at the Ryazan infantry school, Sumy art school (30 artillerymen), Tambov school (40 people) and Gorky tank school (30 tankers) amounted to 188,450 rubles or $ 37,690.
An important feature of Operation X is that since March 1938 it was carried out on credit. First, the Soviet government provided the Spanish government with a loan in the amount of $ 70 million for a period of three years, and in December 1938 - a new loan for up to $ 100 million. the end of the civil war.
DID SECURITY NEEDED?
All events related to the movement of gold from Spain to another country took place in an atmosphere of the strictest secrecy. Prepared by the 3rd Western Department of the People's Commissariat for Foreign Affairs for The Supreme Council THE USSR " Overview domestic and foreign political events in Spain for the third quarter of 1938 "there is no mention of the fact that the Soviet Union provided military assistance to republican Spain, there is not a word about the fate of Spanish gold.
For many years, everything connected with the gold of Spain became a taboo topic in the USSR. Moreover, at a meeting of the Politburo of the Central Committee of the All-Union Communist Party of Bolsheviks on January 14, 1937, it was proposed "t. Maisky(the plenipotentiary of the USSR in Great Britain and the Soviet representative in the Committee on Non-Interference in Spanish Affairs. - Ed.) Strongly object to the discussion by the London Committee of the question of Spanish gold ".
This was the Kremlin's reaction to the fact that "On January 12, German and Italian delegates to the London Committee raised the issue of exporting the Spanish Bank's gold reserves."... Advisor to the USSR Embassy in Great Britain S. Kagan in a secret message dated April 23, 1937 informed the head of the 3rd Western Department of the People's Commissariat for Foreign Affairs A. Neiman: "As the secretary of the French Embassy, Marquis Castelano, confidentially told me, the Italians' persistent desire to obtain, at all costs, accurate data on the amount of Spanish gold exported after July 18, 1936 (where this gold is located and to what extent is it on the deposits of the Spanish government and other institutions of republican Spain) is caused by the fact that one of the directors of the Spanish bank who had deserted to Franco began a process in a French court with the aim of obtaining a decision on the illegality of exporting the gold reserve or part of it from Spain abroad. he can not get the exact data he needs to conduct the process on the amount of exported gold and where this gold is located. Here the Italians, having no other way to obtain this data, and tried through a commission of experts to get this data. According to Castelano , the French government is currently not interested in this data were provided, and, for its part, does not intend to give the information at his disposal on this matter ".
In March 1939, the Spanish Republic was defeated. Memory of the civil war on Iberian Peninsula overshadowed the Second World War, more terrible and cruel. The Spanish gold was "forgotten" for a while. Naturally, no one was going to calculate the overall balance, let alone make any payments of loans or interest on them. Much later, the Spanish scientist A. Vinyas concluded that all the gold of the Bank of Spain sent to the Soviet Union was not appropriated by Stalin, but was completely spent on military aid (that is, on Operation X).
For many years no one knew about the operation to export the Spanish gold reserves to the USSR. Only in 1953 the book of A. Orlov, who escaped from Spain in July 1938, was published in the USA " Secret history Stalin's crimes ", in which he spoke about the export of Spanish gold.
Now it is already clear that it was hardly correct to hide the fact of sending the Spanish gold reserves to Moscow, this only later served as a ground for various speculations. Of course, one cannot discount the enthusiasm with which people in the USSR and around the world reacted to the call for fundraising to help republican Spain.
It is possible that the Soviet leadership thought that the announcement of the export of Spanish gold to Moscow could deprive the USSR of the aura of "disinterested defender" of revolutionary ideals. At the same time, the legally elected government of the Spanish Republic had every right to dispose of the country's gold reserves at its discretion and use it to suppress fascist insurgency... If this had been stated openly, then there would have been no accusations that the republican government exists on the money of the Comintern - a thesis actively promoted at that time by the Western press.
