Getting to know Ramn Serrano Suer: reality and invention, 193742

Ramn Serrano Suer, General Franco's brother-in-law, was also his political adviser and second-in-command of the Francoist regime during the Civil War and the first half of the Second World War. Serrano's influence was crucial because he devised not only the political form that the Francoist regime took the fascistized State but also the political orientations implemented between 1937 and 1942. After building up the new single party, the Falange Espaola Tradicionalista y de las JONS, Serrano rose to become its maximum representative before Franco, which made him unpopular with the Army, the monarchy and other sectors of the regime, eventually forcing his removal from office. The article compares Serrano Suer's own written version of his political career with the results of the most recent historical research, concluding that the books written by, and on, Serrano Suer offer an substantially inaccurate version of the state of affairs.