Yesterday the French Minister of Culture , Frederic Mitterrand, revealed a statue in honor of the Dutch documentary filmmaker Joris Ivens, whose The Spanish Earth (1937) is one of the best known documentaries of the Spanish Civil War. The sculpture, 36 feet high, is the work of Irish artist Bryan McCormack. The Joris Ivens Foundation reports:
Carl Geiser, a key political leader in the Abraham Lincoln Brigade and author of a pioneering book,Prisoners of the Good Fight, died November 28 in Corvallis, Oregon. View images of the memorial service here.
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An interview with Professor Francie Cate-Arries of the College of William and Mary about her recent work with students in Madrid exploring the historical memory of the Spanish Civil War.
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This Wednesday evening, the Filmoteca Española in Madrid screened Henri Cartier-Bresson's recently recovered Spanish Civil War documentary With the Lincoln Brigade, presented by Juan Salas, who discovered the film. Also present was ALBA board member Soledad Fox. See here for a report in Público, here for more on the discovery, here...
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Russia and Spain are making 2011 a year of mutual cultural-historical interest. Among other initiatives, ITAR-TASS reports, there will be a exhibit of masterpieces from the Prado at the Hermitage in St. Petersburg, and an show of the Russian collection of Spanish Civil War posters:
the Russians also want to...
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The University of Delaware reports the acquisition of the literary archive of American playwright Barrie Stavis (1906-2007):
Stavis knew at an early age that he would pursue a career as a writer. During the 1930s he struggled with his writing, but in 1937 sailed for Europe to volunteer his...
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The Spanish section of Amnesty International issued an annual report yesterday, at the presentation of which Claudio Cordone, interim director of AI Spain, called the trial against Garzón "scandalous." In the report, Amnesty criticizes the Spanish government for failing "to accept some of the recommendations made by States in the UN Working Group...
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Antonio Muñoz Molina, renowned Spanish novelist and public intellectual, as well as a member of ALBA's Board of Governors, has received an honorary Doctorate of Humane Letters from Brandeis University. His recent bestselling historical novel on the Spanish Civil War, La noche de los tiempos, is reviewed by Michael Kerrigan in this week's...
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The five-member United Nations Working Group on Enforced or Involuntary Disappearances, which was set up in 1980, issued statement expressing its concern over the recent suspension of judge Baltasar Garzón, warning against the introduction of amnesty laws, and stressing the victims's right to truth, and the need for investigation as a precondition for reconciliation. More...
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Luis Moreno-Ocampo, the chief prosecutor at the International Criminal Court in The Hague, has an an op-ed in El País today:
Our mission is to end impunity for crimes that, as we have said time and again, would not reoccur, only to see them committed time 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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