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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Founded by the Veterans of the Abraham Lincoln Brigade
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 newly redesigned website of the office of the Spanish Prime Minister, the Moncloa Palace, no longer mentions Franco as a former head of state, but instead only lists the country's five Prime Ministers since 1976, Público reports. The previous iteration of the website listed leaders going back to the early nineteenth...
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"This is War! Robert Capa at Work" along with a selection of Spanish Civil War work by Gerda Taro--a combined exhibit that first opened at the International Center of Photography in New York two years ago--has made it to Madrid, El País reports. The show will be up at the
Alan Singer, who teaches at Hofstra, was asked to give this year's graduation address at University Heights High School in the Bronx. He turned to Dolores Ibárruri for inspiration:
Stand up! Defend the rights of children! Endure sacrifice rather than grant victory to forces that represent oppression and tyranny. Teachers!...
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David Rovics has written a song honoring Lincoln vet Bob Steck. Read the lyrics at Anti-War Songs / Canzoni Contro la Guerra or listen to it here:
They say people get conservative /
The older that they age /
They say that being radical /
Is just...
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A section on Lincoln vet Abe Osheroff at the Voices Education Project. Includes great photos.
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As reported earlier, the Spain's 2007 Law of Historical Memory did not annul Francoist sentences, although it did, ambiguously, declare the tribunals that issued them to be “illegitimate.” As a result, it is now up to individual victim's families to request actual legal annulments. After Andulucía's request for an annulment in the...
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José Ignacio Torreblanca, writing for the Financial Times, assesses Spain's victory at the FIFA World Cup in light of the state of the country:
Rarely can sporting triumph have come as such a welcome distraction as World Cup victory has...
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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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Although this text by Ivens is little known—and has never been translated before—it offers an eye-opening reflection on the power of his filmmaking.
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Antifascism has long been synonymous with American values. In 1934, student activists at New York’s City College arguably understood this better than many do today.
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After the Nazis occupied the Netherlands, the Seegers family did not hesitate to join the resistance. They had experience fighting fascism: their son Piet had fought for the Spanish Republic. When Tom King started digging into his family history seventy years later, he fell from one surprise into the other.
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Tina Modotti’s short life took her from Italy to North Beach and from there to Mexico, Berlin, Moscow, and civil-war Spain. Rightly known as a pathbreaking modernist photographer, she was also a radical activist. “Modotti spent the second part of her working life fighting for revolution.”
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Kirsten Weld has spent years studying Latin American dictatorships and the citizens who fight to hold them accountable. That experience has proven valuable in her current role as president of the AAUP chapter at Harvard, which, in March, sued the federal government for targeting students and faculty—and won.
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Targeted by the far right, Rutgers historian Mark Bray and his family went into exile in October. Speaking with The Volunteer from Madrid, he reflects on the current political situation. “Fascism shamelessly takes over institutions that, under liberal norms, are supposed to remain neutral.”
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I. In the Beginning Second child, Bernard, born March 1, 1915 Older brother, my father, Jacob (Jack), born June 3, 1912 Younger sister, Roslyn, born (June 1, 1922) disabled, hospitalized, died February 10, 1942 Their father, Abraham, died March 21,1930 Their mother, Nettie, died April 29, 1953 Bernie Brilliant student, graduated High...
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The title of this new occasional feature of The Volunteer is the Esperanto word for “archive.” In it, we will present, translate, and contextualize iconic non-English language documents related to the anti-fascist struggle in Spain.
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In recent years, citizen groups in Leipzig and Madrid have fought to preserve the buildings that were backdrops in two of Robert Capa’s best-known photographs. Their steadfast dedication has created two sites of historical memory whose significance extends far beyond Capa’s original images.
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On November 8, 1937, Salaria Kea, a 26-year-old African American nurse from Ohio, had been in Spain for seven months and one day. The country was in disarray. Half its territory was controlled by fascist rebels. Cities were being bombed, and civilians were killed by the thousands. Thousands more were forcibly displaced. But Kea...
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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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