Diploma for the the Municipal Government of Madrid’s Medal of Fidelity

Following the occupation of Madrid, the rebel authorities launched a broad array of investigations and purges. Various military courts and police agencies scrutinized the political sympathies of apartment building concierges and their conduct during the war. Either on their own initiative or because of a climate of coercion, some of them had become involved in accusatory practices that affected their neighbors and social circles. These activities made caretakers one of the groups most harshly punished by military justice and most vilified in memories of violence in Madrid’s rear guard.

Nevertheless, memoirs, literature, testimonies, and judicial records show that a significant number of building concierges also protected people. They hid those who were being persecuted, provided exculpatory statements, warned neighbors of the arrival of patrols or alerted the authorities when they appeared, and safeguarded homes and belongings. They did so despite the risks involved and, on occasion, were severely punished for it. For this reason, shortly after the capture of the capital, and at the same time that part of the profession was being subjected to repression, the Madrid City Council approved the creation of a Medal of Fidelity.

Proposed in May 1939 by the Count of Casal in his capacity as a city councillor, the award was intended to recognize those building concierges who had protected lives and property. It was later decided that the medal—designed by Mariano Benlliure—would also be awarded to other domestic workers and municipal employees. The City Council, however, rejected other recommendations put forward by the committee, which envisaged safeguarding the concierges’ jobs and introducing material rewards and protective measures for the profession and their families.

Through the notions of ‘loyalty’ and ‘fidelity, the regulations governing the medal employed the notions of ‘loyalty’ and ‘fidelity’ to emphasize the differences between those concierges who had engaged in protective actions and those who were being punished as a warning to others. This elitist interpretation of wartime behavior was reinforced by the requirement that applications be validated by property owners and neighbors. This narrative, however, did not prevent the authorities from continuing to demand the collaboration of concierges in accusatory practices that helped sustain Francoist repression. 

Finally, on 19 June 1940, in El Retiro Park, Mayor Alberto Alcocer presented the medal and the diploma displayed in this museum to a total of 606 recipients. Of these, 525 (85 percent) were concierges, and nearly three-quarters of them were men. The lists include concierges known for their right-wing political sympathies as well as a diverse group of male and female employees, including some who were affiliated with left-wing political or trade-union organizations.

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