I was just doing one of those endless quiz questions and learned that the USSR joined FIDE in 1947 on the condition that Spain be ejected.

Does anyone know why the USSR wanted Spain to be ejected and why FIDE went along with it?  I didn't have much luck googling this.

Thanks.

Dear Shaggy,

It wasn't me.

Chess History: FIDE

Blue Division / 250th Infantry Division
Division Azul / Spanish Volunteer Division

"The Spanish Volunteer Division was designated the 250th (“Blue”) Infantry Division of the Wehrmacht on 25 July 1941. The Division left active service on 23 December 1943 after seeing considerable and bloody combat on the Eastern front, particularly around Leningrad. It was called the "Blue Division" (Division Azul) because the original uniform included the distinctive dark blue shirts of the Spanish Fascists (the Falange), however, the Division adopted German uniforms as soon as they reached Germany. Their climatic encounter of the war was the Battle of Krasny Bor."

What I know of history reminds me of the bloody and extensive siege warfare done at Leningrad which lasted two and a half years. A million people killed and is akin, to many historians, to the St. Petersburg of the modern era. I can supply a logical guess as the turmoil of the political landscape during and after WW2 caused hostilities to rain down from the battlefield into other areas of the world and everyday life. Thus Spain's Dismissal from FIDE and eventually allowance back in.

How did I find this information? Well now, I am a college student! Locating semi-obscure information is part of my job ^_^'...

Interesting stuff Phylar.

Do you know if Germany was a member of FIDE at that time and if they were also ejected?

I vaguely remember skimming over information regarding Germany's relations after WW2. I believe they were a part of the chess community before WW2 and fell out of promise after the second great war was over. However, I do not believe they were ever removed from FIDE.

"One of the world's strongest chess players was a Latvian named Vladimir Petrov. After World War II, the Soviets occupied Latvia. The Soviets suspected that Petrov collaborated with the Nazis. Petrov was sent to Siberia and never returned.

During World War II, Paul Keres of Estonia particpated in several German and German-sponsored chess tournaments. When the Red Army liberated his country, Soviet authorities planned to execute Keres. Mikhail Botvinnik interceded by talking to Stalin, and Keres was spared.  Durine World War II, it was rumored that Keres was killed.  This was reported in Chess Review.

The Latvian master Karlis Ozols was accused to have taken part in atrocities during World War II. After the war, he fled to Australia. He became Australian champion in 1958. Ozols was a senior officer in the pro-Nazi Latvian militia who carried out mass executions of Jews in Latvia." (Find this Article Here)

I suspect you weren't able to find specific and direct answers in relation to this subject because it was considered an embarrassment and very rarely, if ever, spoken of. Thus I suspect many documents surrounding this issue were either destroyed or put away and forgotten. However, this is history and we are chess players. Putting together the pieces of a puzzle are what we do nearly every day.

I think that the requirement to exclude Spain from FIDE was caused by the fact that after the 2nd World War, Spain remain under the rule of dictator F. Franco

http://europeanhistory.about.com/od/spain/p/Francisco-Franco.htm

While that may have been a part of it, I feel that him staying out of the war causes little contention among anybody. Furthering that, most of the world was anti-communistic and there was little reason for the USSR to single him and Spain out for that alone.

Spain (the one country in this time) where government remained the fascist regime

Portugal.