The International Center of Photography is working full-speed to prepare for a major exhibit with images from the so-called "Mexican Suitcase"--the long-considered-lost negative archive of Spanish Civil War photographs by Robert Capa, David "Chim" Seymour, and Gerda Taro. Scheduled to open on September 24, the exhibit is already attracting media attention, witness the...
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A monument to Spanish Civil War volunteers from Nottinghamshire, which has been the object of repeated controversy, was rededicated this week in a special ceremony, the Retford Times reports:
The move brought together the county's trades council as well as Labour and Liberal Democrat party members at Read more »
In an interview with El País published on Wednesday, investigative magistrate Baltasar Garzón--suspended while under investigation for allegedly overstepping his judicial boundaries when he initiated an investigation of crimes against humanity committed during the Civil War and the Franco dictatorship--expressed his desire to return to his post at the Audiencia Nacional, the...
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This coming weekend at the Royal Artillery Museum in London: "Britons in the Spanish Civil War," a Living History Event, by La Columna, a UK-based re-enactment group:
Dressed as members of the British Battalion of the International Brigade (IB) and British Aid for Spain campaigners, La Columna’s re-enactors...
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A lot of Spanish Civil War music is available on the web: in addition to a whole series of YouTube clips and the legendary Smithsonian Folkways albums (to be reissued next year), which include online liner notes for volume 1 and volume 2, Geoff Lawes has been working on a
An essay by Liam McNulty in the new Cambridge Undergraduate History Journal, pp. 16-31 (see also the companion blog post):
This week a group of young Spaniards is participating in the seventh annual Summer Camp to Recover the Historical Memory of Extremadura, ABC reports. Organized by the Asociación para la Recuperación de la Memoria Histórica de Extremadura (ARMHEX), the camp brings young people between 18 and 30 years of age from Aragón, Murcia,...
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Sam Lesser, of London's East End, left to fight fascism in Spain when he was 18 years old. Now 92, he tells his story to the BBC (10-minute sound clip).
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Daniel Eagan, writing for the Smithsonian, considers the importance of the recently recovered 18-minute film With the Lincoln Brigade in Spain, by Henri Cartier-Bresson (clip here):
With the Abraham Lincoln Brigade is not high art, but it is a passionate film that complements Cartier-Bresson’s other work. It...
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During a visit to a secret detention center in Argentina employed during the Junta years (1976-83), the Spanish investigative magistrate Baltasar Garzón--suspended for his attempt to open an investigation of crimes against humanity committed during the Franco dictatorship--took advantage to defend the principle of universal jurisdiction, which stipulates that any domestic courts may try...
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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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