[Deathwatch] Ramon Serrano Suner, Spanish minister, 101

[Deathwatch Central <cdw@slick.org>]

Spanish Envoy Who Dealt with Hitler Dead at 101
Mon Sep 1, 4:44 PM ET

MADRID (Reuters) - Ramon Serrano Suner, a Spanish minister under
dictator General Francisco Franco who negotiated a "non-belligerency"
pact with Hitler, died on Monday aged 101, the radio station he founded
said.

Serrano Suner, who was also Franco's brother-in-law, died of
respiratory problems, Radio Intercontinental said.

He held various posts including foreign minister and interior minister
under the Franco dictatorship, which came to power after defeating the
Republicans in the Spanish Civil War in 1939 and remained in place
until Franco's death in 1975.

A Germanophile, he accompanied Franco to a summit with Hitler near the
French-Spanish border in 1940.

Serrano Suner left politics in the 1950s to form Radio
Intercontinental, of which he was honorary president upon his death. He
also was a founder of the Spanish state news agency Efe and an author.

As foreign minister in 1940, Serrano Suner held talks with Hitler and
Mussolini and helped negotiate a pact in which Spain agreed not to
enter the war.

During the Spanish Civil War, Serrano Suner was Franco's envoy
responsible for asking fascist Germany and Italy for military aid.