Jeffrey R. Ryan, a history teacher from Massachusetts, has just published A Volcano Heard Afar (Dorrance Publishing Co.), a novel whose protagonist is a US volunteer in Spain who, upon his return, becomes a victim of McCarthyism.
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The Center for Constitutional Rights reports:
two leading human rights groups filed papers urging a Spanish judge to open a criminal investigation into the role of former Bush administration officials, including torture memo authors John Yoo and Jay Bybee, for their part in creating a legal framework...
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"Obama decided long ago to turn the page on the abuses and illegalities of the Bush administration," the Executive Director of the Center for Constitutional Rights states in a Huffington Post column on the revelations about US pressure on Spain's judiciary in relation to torture investigations;
The U.S. was particularly...
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The Telegraph reports:
The Palace of El Pardo, an old royal residence set in hunting grounds on the northeastern outskirts of Madrid, served as el Caudillo's home following his victory in the Spanish Civil War until his death in 1975. But guided tours around the palace will no longer include...
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At a massive celebration of the International Human Rights Day, with performances by Sting and others, Baltasar Garzón received the Azucena Villaflor award--named after one of the founders of the Mothers of the Plaza de Mayo--from Argentine President Cristina Fernández de Kirchner. See BBC coverage here, and footage here and here.
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Lee Kutnick, former secretary of the Friends of the Abraham Lincoln Brigade, passed away two weeks ago. From an obituary in the San Francisco Chronicle:
Lee worked tirelessly as a community and union organizer, devoting her life to making the world a better place for working people. She was Secretary...
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Robert Llopis reports on the inauguration of the "Parc Dels Internacionals," dedicated to the International Brigades, at Benissa this past October 30th as part of the Homage to the IB, in the presence of a representative of the City of Benissa, Irene Filip from the Dokumentationsarchiv des österreichischen Widerstandes (Archive of the Austrian Resistance,...
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Gert Hoffman writes with sad news:
This is to announce that Josef "Joschi" Eisenbauer, one of the three surviving Austrian brigadistas died on December 10. He was one of the more than 1400 Austrians who had gone to defend the Spanish Republic. He went to Spain in 1937, was a member of the XIIIth and XIth International Brigades, was wounded and taken to...
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Andy Worthington at The Public Record provides an extensive overview of the revelations of US pressure on Spain to curb torture investigations:
The cable reveals how US officials immediately began sounding out Spanish officials, and how, on April 15, an apparently unlikely figure for the Obama administration to embrace — Sen. Mel...
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In the English-language edition of El País this past Sunday, an overview by Carlos E. Cué of the WikiLeaks revelations in relation to Baltasar Garzón and the US attempts to influence the Spanish judiciary:
The American Embassy in Madrid has been keeping a close eye on the High Court, and...
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The Abraham Lincoln Brigade Archives (ALBA) is an educational non-profit dedicated to promoting social activism and the defense of human rights. ALBA’s work is inspired by the American volunteers of the Abraham Lincoln Brigade who fought fascism in the Spanish Civil War (1936-39). Learn more at our website or
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New information about the New Zealand-born Spanish Civil War surgeon Doug Jolly (1904-1983) has emerged following the recent publication of his biography, Frontline Surgeon.
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On September 24, 1945, Dr. Barsky delivered this speech during the Spanish Refugee Appeal rally at Madison Square Garden.
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In 1944, Barsky wrote A Surgeon Goes to War, an 18-chapter memoir of his time in Spain, which was never published but can be consulted at NYU’s Tamiment Library. This is the first chapter.
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Self-effacing and shy though he was, Dr. Edward Barsky’s experience in Spain made him an outspoken activist, tireless organizer, innovative frontline surgeon, and political prisoner. “Eddie is a saint,” Hemingway wrote. “That’s where we put our saints in this country—in jail.”
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The Volunteer is thrilled to honor Dr. Barsky on the fiftieth anniversary of his death.
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For Edward Barsky, political and humanitarian activism were two sides of the same coin. Those who persecuted him begged to differ.
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The time she spent in civil-war Spain loomed large in the life of Martha Gellhorn, the St. Louis-born war journalist. “The truth is that Martha could not stop thinking, feeling, and writing about her Spanish experiences.” “Objectivity bullshit.” That’s what Martha Gellhorn (1908-1998) called the journalism of her day. Her letters to personalities like...
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Among the thousands of Jewish volunteers who joined the International Brigades were many descendants of the Sephardim. What was it like for them to “return” to Spain? Three case studies: Lini de Vries, César Covo, and Samuel Nahman, aka Manny Harriman.
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How the 22-year-old Jewish American dancer Janet Riesenfeld performed flamenco to help raise money for the Second Republic under fascist attack.
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Why did Jawaharlal Nehru, future prime minister of India, visit civil-war Spain in 1938? As it turned out, the triangular relationship between Britain, Spain, and India had deep cultural and geopolitical implications.
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ALBA's project to provide a complete list of the more than 2,800 individuals who left from U.S. territory to fight with the Spanish Republic
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