At his Jaily News blog, Nacho García reports on the attempt to remove the monument to the International Brigades in Madrid, the monument to the Lincoln Brigades in New Hampshire which is now threatened with being auctioned, and the status of the monument to the Brigades in Burgos. The Jaily News is inspired by and named...
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The Spanish authorities are not investigating crimes under international law committed during the Civil War and Franco period, sending the message that impunity for human rights abuses is allowed, Amnesty International said in a new report that was released yesterday. The report, titled Time Passes, Impunity Remains, examines how the Spanish authorities have refused to investigate...
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Around 200 people gathered on Saturday at the monument to the International Brigades on the campus of the Complutense University to protest the removal of the monument ordered by Madrid’s highest court. Among the speakers was University President José Carrillo, who said his office still has not received the court’s decision, and who vowed...
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As veterans, family, and friends of the International Brigades protest the Supreme Court of Madrid's decision to remove the IB Memorial at the Universidad Complutense de Madrid (UCM), The Guardian's David Mathieson reports on the dangers of rewriting history.
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The Tribunal Superior de Justicia de Madrid (TSJM) has ordered the removal of la Cuidad Universitaria's monument to the International Brigades. A private attorney, Miguel Garcia Jimenez, had filed an appeal to the Administrative Court attempting to block the monument two days before it was unveiled on 22 October 2011 for the...
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Carles Geli, writing for El País, highlights some compelling stories from the newly translated Los brigadistas chinos en la Guerra Civil: La llamada de España (1936-1939), by Hwei-Ru Tsou and Len Tsou
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The Canadian War Museum has just opened a new exhibit featuring the Mackenzie-Papineau Battalion, a group of Canadians volunteers who fought in the Spanish Civil War.
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Nottinghamshire, UK. Fierce local debate over an information board honoring the 19 Nottinghamshire International Brigade volunteers has spurred growing resentment in recent years, especially after the murder of Drummer Lee Rigby in Woolwich last week.
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Sinn Féin activists and the families of six Dublin International Brigade volunteers gathered to unveil a plaque honoring to six local veterans of the Spanish Civil War May 4th on Emmet Road in Dublin’s Inchicore district. Over 150 attendees listened to speakers including the General Secretary of the Communist Party of Ireland, local Sinn...
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Must history repeat itself? Foreign correspondent and Spanish Civil War historian Michael Petrou claims that Western democracies need to learn from their mistakes in 1936 Spain to prevent a similar fate in 2013 Syria.
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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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