From September 1942 to October 1943, when the staggered withdrawal of the Spanish contingent begins, there was a Mobile or Circulating Library service for the troops, in the Blue Division . The Campaign Sheet , a successful newspaper among divisionalists, published catalogues, lists of book donations, loan regulations, campaigns to promote reading and even photographs of the Library. The collection of this had more than four thousand volumes , arrived almost entirely as donations from Spain. The good classification and efficiency in the acquisition, registration and loan service made the Blue Division Circulating Library a symbol of the cultured character of its members. In the first waves of volunteers there were many Phalangist university students, some of whom would later develop careers as writers or journalists.
Before September 1942 and the creation of the Library, there was already a circulation of books among the troops. On the previous July 18, the Falangist newspaper Arriba announced that:
Since September 30, 1942, when the Division had already been in Russia for a year, the Circulating Library was created, establishing a book distribution service, establishing a consolidated fund in the rear of Tallinn – Reval for the Germans. The collection, neatly arranged on shelves and with the books classified by tags, will be organized by provisional lieutenants, a military rank that denotes that they were people of a certain culture , generally from a university, former students. They managed donations that arrived from Spain, they dealt with the cataloging and – where appropriate – censorship, the dissemination of catalogues, operating rules and loans, as well as controlling the distribution of parcels that carried or received the books already read from the front. , locating at all times the whereabouts of any work in the collection.
The Blue Division Circulating Library was a model of cultural service rarely seen in the fighting armies of World War II and less so in the Axis countries. The North American Army implemented a similar service, reading for the troops, but already at the end of the conflict. In the Wehrmacht, where the Blue Division is located, it will not be the libraries or the books that are spread by the rulers and the high command, but a constant propaganda of primary, uncritical, nationalist and racist ideas. The fund of the Circulating Library will not be only political, but more open. The mere existence of such a service was certainly a rare bird .
The establishment of the Circulating Library of the Blue Division had the objective of «rejuvenating the soul of the comrades, contributing powerfully to exercising their intelligence and not to allow the brain to remain inactive» (Campaign sheet , no. 43), during breaks and leave for combatants. For almost two years it will be nourished by donations from Spain, by entities and individuals. It should be remembered that shipments from Spain to the Blue Division were exempt from fees. Symbolically, it will be the commanding general himself, Agustín Muñoz Grandes, who donates the first volume of the Library.
But why was it decided to create a library service at that time, September 1942? That is when the airlift service between the rear and front of the Division also appears, with a Júnker plane. that will serve as transport for passengers, wounded, supplies and postal mail. This Feldpost or postal mail between the rear and the front will be one of the most effective functions of the German Army At least at the beginning of the war. The Division Library is called Circulating or Itinerant because it will "circulate" the books to its users, from the rear of Tallinn to the front lines, by airmail.
The first catalog published in the Campaign Sheet September 1942 collects six hundred titles in alphabetical order, highlighting classics of Spanish literature of all time, essentials of foreign literature –including English, French, North American and even Russian authors such as Gógol or Dostoyevsky–, biographies and patriotic histories, political and ideological writings of a Phalangist nature, romance novels, costumbristas and police, there will also be some German books. It will also highlight a large number of works by writers, including Concha Espina, Emilia Pardo Bazán or Concepción Arenal, as examples.
Public operating rules for the library were drawn up. In that September issue of the Campaign Sheet it was established that the catalog was also valid when making loan requests and some rules were given for it:the books were requested by means of a card to the postal address of the Division's Press and Library; a term of eight days of loan was established; the delinquent users or those who did not return the books on time were sanctioned and it was forbidden to order books through intermediaries or go personally to the Library, which did not have a reading room and did not serve the public.
There was censorship in the Circulating Library. In October 1942 the Campaign Sheet notifies that some books no longer appear in the catalog for this reason. It will be the case of Felipe Trigo, author of Jarrapellejos , censored "not for timid and shrinking spirit, but for moral elegance."
From the beginning there were successive donations of books from Spain. In November 1942 there is a large consignment of four hundred works, the catalog of which is published in January 1943. The Hoja de Campaña It influences the divisionalists in respecting the loan procedure, the good treatment of books and how to enjoy them through intimate reflection , highlighting that in case of doubt by the reader about certain contents, the chaplain of the Unit should be consulted:
That same month of November 1942 offers more interesting data. The fund already reached nine hundred works and the most borrowed book until then had been El miajón de los castúos , by the Extremaduran poet Luis Chamizo, undoubtedly reflecting the origin of many of the divisionalists. At the same time, some 200 books were on loan, according to recorded departures. For readers with the highest number of loans, the Library established prizes such as stationery material.
In March 1943 a new donation was received, in this case from the University of Seville, abounding in the authors of the Golden Age like Miguel de Cervantes. Patience was asked of the divisionaries who wanted to take works already on loan at that time, which speaks of the success of the library service.
In August 1943, another large donation of six hundred and fifty books was received from the Alcoy City Council, «mostly novels and theatrical and poetic works». The new renewed catalog appears in the Campaign Sheet of October 10. By then, Spain had ordered the repatriation of the troops and the Circulating Library stopped providing service almost immediately.
The Circulating Library reached two thousand titles. If we take the ratio of about 17,000 combatants for the period 1942-1943, we have about eight or nine titles per thousand. The real proportion would be higher, since some of these titles would be divided into several volumes, thus being the ratio of more than ten books per thousand combatants. Between propaganda and leisure, knowledge and culture, the Blue Division Circulating Library was apioneering service , novel between the different armies during the Second World War. It deserves to be known.