Jeremy O. Simer sends a touching note: A couple of months ago, my friend Lonnie Nelson called from Seattle to ask me to help her arrange for someone in Gandesa (Tarragona) to lay flowers there in memory of her uncle Kenneth Frederick Nelson, who died in combat there in 1938, at the age of...
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Televisión Española, in last night's news program, covered the exhibit of Spanish Civil War photographer Agustí Centelles that ALBA has co-sponsored, and which is still up at the King Juan Carlos I of Spain Center. See the segment here.
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In the 1930s, Margaret Palmer was an American expat living in Spain, and working as a local agent for the Carnegie Institute, Museum of Art. She also was in charge of the Spanish section of the Carnegie’s annual International Exhibition of Contemporary Painting from 1923-38. In the “Archives of American Art Journal” (26:2-3, 1986)*,...
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Diana Anhalt (author of A Gathering of Fugitives, American Political Expatriates in Mexico, 1948-1965), and Yvonne Scholten, biographer of the Dutch miliciana Fanny Schoonheyt, are interested in obtaining information on the Dutch Lincoln Brigade volunteer Bart van der Schelling. He was admired as a baritone--he recorded Songs of the Spanish Civil War, a...
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The parallelisms between the boom-and-bust of the 1920s/30s and our current economic and political meltdown are ubiquitous and uncanny (eg, here and here). These unsettling coincidences form the knot of “Wearing Lorca’s Bowtie,” a wonderful production that will run at the Duke Theater on 42nd Street until December 17, 2011. The great Spanish poet and...
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Trisha Ziff's documentary Mexican Suitcase (review, trailer, website) has been one of thirty feature-length films to be nominated for an Ariel, the Mexican equivalent of the Oscar, Cinemanía reports. The most prestigious film award in the Mexican movie industry, the Ariel has been awarded annually since 1947.
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Agustí Centelles (1909-1985) is one of the most important photojournalists of the Spanish Civil War, and his work should be studied alongside that of Robert Capa, David Seymour, Gerda Taro, Hans Namuth, and Georg Reisner. This much is clear in the wake of the successful exhibit Centelles in_edit_¡oh!, which has been on show...
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On the occasion of the 75th anniversary of the International Brigades, ALBA is organizing a get-together on December 9 and a silent auction to benefit the Abraham Lincoln Brigade Archives.
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On a visit to sites important to the Spanish Civil War in October, 2010, Alan Warren took Josie Nelson Yurek, Parkie Parker, and me to visit the Ancient Major Synagogue in Barcelona. Historically, the Synagogue has roots dating back to the middle ages, although now it functions as a Museum in addition to...
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In a recent post in the Spanish-language blog FronteraD, filmmaker and novelist Alfonso Domingo reviews these two new books: Spanish translations of the memoirs of the Lincoln volunteer, James Yates (From Mississippi to Madrid: Memoirs of an African-American in the Lincoln Brigade) and of the complete writings of Langston Hughes about the war in Spain....
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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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