Volunteer John Augustus Ramatowski was only 21-years old when he went missing in action during The Retreats in April 1938. Six of the numerous letters he wrote home were saved and passed down through the family. His letters were addressed to his older brother Adam and his family disclose his observations about France, Spain,...
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The Volunteer for Liberty, January 13, 1938 (This pledge was taken by the 15th Brigade Training Camp soldiers on January 1, 1938.) We promise, on this New Year’s day, to renew our Pledge: With all our hearts, we shall fight until we win our Victory over fascism. We shall carry out our duties in...
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Most American volunteers demonstrated a high level of commitment during their voyage to Spain. While only a few turned back voluntarily, some were sent back. Of those who were sent back, medical conditions were the most common reason, though some were sent back for political reasons. Only three are known to have turned...
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The Volunteer for Liberty, Vo. II, No. 2, January 13, 1938 The month of January is an especially significant month for Americans in Spain. It was on January 2, 1937 – a year ago – that the first large group of American volunteers set foot on Spanish soil. Reaching Albacete four days later they...
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The Volunteer for Liberty, v. 2, no. 2, January 13, 1938 In case any of the folks at home paused in the middle of their Christmas dinners to have a few sober thoughts about the boys in Spain, they will be glad to know that the boys had a vey good time. The Brigade...
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The Volunteer for Liberty, V. 2, Special 15, April 9, 1938, p. 2. When I asked Capt. Diaz to give me his life story, he smiled and said it was unimportant. This time Capt. Diaz was wrong. The lives of all anti-fascists are important in these decisive days, especially those who have proved themselves...
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Pursuit of Reason, Philadelphia: Adelante Press, 1971, pp. 21-31 The early morning weather was fine, just fine; warm and sunny, with a very slight breeze from the South. I could smell Africa, over six hundred kilometers away and four thousand feet below me. The month was April. Blue swallows flitted greetings to Spring. I...
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The Volunteer for Liberty, Vol. 2, No. 20, May 25, 1938, p. 3. “Halto!” “Manos arriba!” “Que Brigada?” We of the Transmisiones are becoming expert in replying to these gambits. At Belchite, Lecera, Albalate and Caspe we learnt our lesson, and the fruits were shown in this latest march from Batea. Out of 78...
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The Volunteer for Liberty, Vol. 2, Special 15, April 9, 1938, p. 3. Attached to the British Battalion when we went into action at Fuentes de Ebro last October were two American comrades, Sam Kaplan and another (whose name I never knew), whose great courage in volunteering to get me to safety when I...
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An undated report listed the costs for sending a volunteer: Passport, birth certificate, picture, fare tot County seat etc. $15.00 Average fare (West Coast, Middle West, New York) $30.00 (from the West Coast $60.00 to come to N. Y. by bus.) ...
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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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One of the most compelling first-person accounts in English from the Spanish Civil War languished in the archives for more than 80 years. Artist and model Kate Mangan (1904-77) was a keen observer of character with a sharp nib on her pen. After traveling to Spain in 1936 in search of her lover, Jan...
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The Volunteer is proud to present these translated excerpts and images from Las voces de la tierra, a new book in which thirty-three writers pen brief texts about everyday objects recovered during the exhumations of the mass graves of Franco’s victims. The photographs are by the renowned photographer José Antonio Robés, who also curated...
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How do the Abraham Lincoln Brigade and the broader American response to the Spanish Civil War of 1936-1939 appear in introductory college-level United States history textbooks? A survey of a dozen highly regarded textbooks published in the past quarter century reveals a mixed picture. Some ignore altogether the American volunteers who fought alongside the...
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I resented the world for having taken my mother away from me, explains journalist James Benét, who went to war to fight against fascism in Spain, and no doubt part of my radicalism was that, he says, proud having chosen the right target, the ills of society. I feel that everyone should feel that...
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Judge Garzón, the crusading Spanish magistrate and first recipient of the ALBA/Puffin Award, looks back on his turbulent career. “The truth is that my ideas have not changed much.” No Spanish judge has had as many admirers around the world as Baltasar Garzón—the Spanish judge who helped bring about a world in which political...
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After the outbreak of the Civil War in July 1936, not a week went by in Hollywood without a fundraiser for the Republican cause. The film colony was passionately on the side of the Loyalists—a position for which many paid a price in the years of McCarthyism. A look back on a remarkable chapter...
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From 1939 to 1975 a manor located in the province of La Coruña, Galicia, was used as a summer residence and office by the dictator Generalissimo Francisco Franco. For the last fifteen years, a diverse group of activists has put the spotlight on the questionable claim of ownership by descendants of the dictator. In...
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The Dutch photographer Lini Bunjes was among the first foreign volunteers to join the defense of the Spanish Republic. A free-spirited and independent woman, she attracted suspicion from both the Republican and Nationalist authorities and spent several stints in jail. When she left Spain, in January 1941, she was 23, had an infant son,...
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The war of 1936-39 in Spain had much in common with the many other conflicts being waged in societies across Europe after the First World War, as those who sought to maintain old hierarchies clashed with those striving for change. Yet the evident similarity is one that English-speaking historians often seem oblivious to. What...
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Isabel Allende, the Chilean author and philanthropist, spoke at ALBA’s Lincoln Brigade Monument Celebration on September 12, 2020. This is what she said.
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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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