Sección Femenina del Falange Photograph Collection

Collection

Identifier: MSH/LAT 0122

Staff Only
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Scope and Contents

The Sección Femenina del Falange Photograph Collection comprises thirty-three folders of photographs related to the Sección Femenina (SF) in the 1940s. Photographs were taken by German propaganda photographers, Bruno Wisniewski and Ege, to distribute to German audiences. Images depict SF members in classes, playing field hockey, cooking, sewing, reading materials related to Hitler, and more. Names of photographers as well as the “SS-PK” stamp are noted in verso on photographs.

Dates

Creation: Circa 1940-1941

Conditions Governing Use

Copyright status for collection materials is unknown. Transmission or reproduction of materials protected by U.S. Copyright Law (Title 17, U.S.C.) beyond that allowed by fair use requires the written permission of the copyright owners. Works not in the public domain cannot be commercially exploited without permission of the copyright owners. Responsibility for any use rests exclusively with the user.

Biographical / Historical

Nazi Waffen-SS Propagandakopanien (SS-PK) formed in 1938 and was a branch in the German army responsible for providing wartime propaganda to the German audiences. Photographers, such as Bruno Wisniewski and Ege, were often placed in armed divisions or diplomatic corps to capture images. Wisniewski and Ege likely visited Spain between October 1940-141 when Hitler and General Franco were meeting in Southern Spain.

Biographical / Historical

Sección Femenina (SF) was a women’s branch of the Falange Española, the Spanish Fascist party. They were formed in 1934 by José Antonio Primo de Rivera but were not officially recognized until 1939 by General Francisco Franco following the end of the Spanish Civil War. The SF primary mission was social justice but their secondary mandate was to educate women while rejecting more feminist values. Adhering closely to Catholic values, they rejected feminism in the name of upholding traditional feminine values that a woman should be Catholic, an obedient wife and self-sacrificing. Sección Femenina was dissolved in 1975 following the death of Francisco Franco.