Editor’s note: At the initiative of ALBA board member Chris Brooks, who maintains the online biographical database of US volunteers in Spain, the ALBA blog will be regularly posting interesting articles from historical issues of The Volunteer, annotated by Chris. For Lincoln Brigade volunteers, their time in Spain was not an isolated event but rather...
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The International Brigades Archaeology Project (IBAP) is a Spanish (Incipit/CSIC) and British, archaeological initiative exploring the ‘landscapes encountered by the International Brigades in the Spanish Civil War’. IBAP is unique in that it has been able to draw upon non-Spanish volunteers to take part and learn about the SCW in a hands-on way, and academically,...
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Max Levitas is a veteran of the Battle of Cable Street — the infamous 1936 clash between Oswald Mosley’s British Union of Fascists, anti-fascist demonstrators and London police — and the brother of International Brigade volunteer Maurice Levitas who was imprisoned in San Pedro. On the occasion of Max’s 100th birthday on May 31, 2015, the...
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IMPUGNING IMPUNITY 2015 THE CALL FOR ENTRIES IS NOW OPEN We are now accepting submissions for Impugning Impunity 2015: ALBA’s human rights documentary film festival. Impugning Impunity underscores ALBA’s commitment to upholding the values of the U.S. volunteers who fought fascism in the Spanish Civil War, bringing human rights struggles to life with the presentation of recent and...
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Editor’s note: At the initiative of ALBA board member Chris Brooks, who maintains the online biographical database of US volunteers in Spain, the ALBA blog will be regularly posting interesting articles from historical issues of The Volunteer, annotated by Chris. This week, Saul Friedberg sketches a memory of Harry Schoenberg, his traveling companion and comrade in the...
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Editor’s note: At the initiative of ALBA board member Chris Brooks, who maintains the online biographical database of US volunteers in Spain, the ALBA blog will be regularly posting interesting articles from historical issues of The Volunteer, annotated by Chris. The return home from Spain was difficult for many volunteers. Benjamin Goldring recounts Canadian volunteer Thomas Danek’s...
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Editor’s note: At the initiative of ALBA board member Chris Brooks, who maintains the online biographical database of US volunteers in Spain, the ALBA blog will be regularly posting interesting articles from historical issues of The Volunteer, annotated by Chris. This week Robert Steck remembers Leo Grachow, the passionate writer and Republican, one of the many American volunteers...
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Editor’s note: At the initiative of ALBA board member Chris Brooks, who maintains the online biographical database of US volunteers in Spain, the ALBA blog will be regularly posting interesting articles from historical issues of The Volunteer, annotated by Chris. A brutal death during the Ebro Offensive has reverberations far beyond Spain. Bill Wheeler responds to a request...
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On behalf of NYU’s Department of Spanish Literature and Portuguese, the King Juan Carlos I of Spain Center, and the Abraham Lincoln Brigade...
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Editor’s note: At the initiative of ALBA board member Chris Brooks, who maintains the online biographical database of US volunteers in Spain, the ALBA blog will be regularly posting interesting articles from historical issues of The Volunteer, annotated by Chris. Harry Fisher waded through the war with fellow volunteer Marty Sullivan. Sullivan was fearless 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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