An hour-long radio debate on the impunity of Francoist repression and the possibilities of seeking of legal recourse, broadcast last month by Contratiempo. Featuring Emilio Silva, founding president of the Association for the Recuperation of Historical Memory, as well as three magistrates: Ramón Saéz Valcarcel, Ignacio Ubaldo González de la Vega, and José Miguel García...
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Human Rights Watch has issued a report proposing "a framework for improving US immigration law that would give immigrant crime victims a chance to seek justice, protect workers, respect the private and family life of longtime residents, and provide fair treatment for immigrants who come before the courts." More here.
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Los Canadienses: Canadians in the Spanish Civil War, Albert Kish's hour-long documentary from 1975 on Canadian volunteers in the Spanish Civil War, is now viewable in six parts on YouTube.
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A photography project by Alex Burgaz at United Photo Press.
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Historian and novelist C.J. Sansom, author of the best-selling Winter in Madrid, reflects on the relationship between Adolf Hitler and Francisco Franco:
The issue of the relationship between Spain’s General Franco and Hitler has been a controversial one for many years. The “conservative” view is that Franco’s dealings with the...
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At the University of Colorado this summer: The Autumn Orchard, an opera by J. Michael Martínez and Daniel Kellogg based on the life of the Spanish poet Miguel Hernández (1910-1942), who supported the Spanish Republic and died in a Francoist prison shortly after the end of the Civil War. Miguel Hernández's centenary is...
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Few people have done more than investigative magistrate Baltasar Garzón to connect issues of human rights and historical memory in Latin America with those in Spain. IPS reports that a Peruvian attorney, Ronald Gamarra, has been called as a defense witness to present evidence supporting the claim that amnesty laws do not cover...
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A victory against impunity in Argentina. Almudena Calatrava reports for the AP:
Some of the most notorious figures of Argentina's “dirty war” were convicted Thursday of kidnapping, torturing and murdering 22 people at the beginning of the 1976-1983 military dictatorship when the country cracked down on leftist dissent. Family members of...
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Exclusive to the online Volunteer: A reflection on historical memory a propos of Bloody Sunday (the Saville Enquiry Report was published last month) and the Spanish Civil War, by Trisha Ziff, curator of photography (Hidden Truths: Bloody Sunday) and filmmaker (Chevolution), currently directing the documentary, La Maleta Mexicana/The Mexican Suitcase. Read the...
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The Catalan news program 30 Minuts has made an hour-long documentary on Agustí Centelles, the Spanish Civil War photographer whose archive was recently bought by the Spanish government, and whose portrait of a young black volunteer set off a global detective search. See the documentary here (in Catalan):
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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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