Spanish archives share confiscated Moroccan-Spanish love letters from the colonial era

Seized between the 1930s and the 1950s, letters between Spanish women and Moroccan men were unveiled by Spanish archives, unraveling the colonial chronicles of forbidden intimate relationships between the two nationalities.

There are pictures in a few of the letters. Dozens of them show women with beautiful hairstyles posed to remind their faraway boyfriends of their appearance. According to the BBC, one lady sent in a picture of herself riding a bicycle, showing a lighthearted moment from daily life.

The letters never reached their intended recipient and were discovered deep within the Spanish archives among hundreds of love letters.

Such correspondences were routinely confiscated for decades by the colonial authorities of the Spanish protectorate in Morocco.

The letters, which had been collecting dust for years, were discovered and released by scholars Josep Lluís Mateo Dieste and Nieves Muriel García.

While each letter offers an intriguing glimpse into a relationship, they also discuss the oppression that these partnerships endured. Spanish officials allegedly made numerous attempts to prevent these connections from occurring.

One directive dating back to 1937 stated, “As a general rule, marriages between Moroccan soldiers with Spanish women must be prevented.”

Concha, a Spanish woman, met Nasar, a Moroccan soldier stationed nearby in Salamanca.

In 1938, she wrote to his authorities requesting permission to marry him. However, such communication was strictly prohibited by Spanish colonial officials.

In 1948, a letter from Carmen in Zaragoza to her lover Abdeselam in Morocco was intercepted. Tetouan authorities rapidly prohibited both from crossing to the other side.

Carmen shared news about their kid, who would now grow up without ever seeing her father. The officials did not consider the child, who still refused the union of  couple.

Because the Spanish colonial regime defined marriage as the subjection of a woman by a man, any marriage across the colonial line would render a Spanish woman submissive to a Moroccan man, which seemed unacceptable to the Spaniards.

These letters show that contacts were prevalent behind the surface of colonial life, leading to various connections like friendships, sexual experiences, and marriages.

According to Dr. Arthur Asseraf, a historian of modern France, North Africa, and the Mediterranean, opening them is fascinating. It is a window into people’s lives that official records rarely reveal. But it’s also unnerving because most letters never reached their intended recipient. He stated it felt like an invasion of privacy because these folks did not choose to be included in this collection.