Two-thirds of the way into Trisha Ziff’s brilliant documentary about the re-discovery in Mexico of 4,500 Spanish Civil War photographic negatives of Robert Capa, Gerda Taro and David Seymour, two Mexican intellectuals comment on the donation of that vast archive to the International Center of Photography in New York. Photographer Pedro Meyer openly says...
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ALBA's Human Rights Film Series opens tonight in the Museum of the City of New York with the must-see documentary Impunity (2011; trailer), by Hollman Morris and Juan José Lozano. Impunity investigates the sudden interruption to “peace and justice” process in Colombia due to the political and economic interests of the...
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The International Center for Transitional Justice (ICTJ), one of the co-sponsors of ALBA's Human Rights Film Series this coming weekend, has just published an interview with Trisha Ziff, director of The Mexican Suitase, one of the documentaries screened there. Listen to it here.
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On Friday, the same day the film opens at movie theaters in Spain, Trisha Ziff's gripping documentary The Mexican Suitcase is being screened at ALBA's Human Rights Film Festival (Museum of the City of New York, tickets here, trailer here). See here for coverage in the Spanish press today. The Suitcase...
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ALBA joins the international community in its denunciation of the appalling vandalization of the recently inaugurated monument to the International Brigades on the campus of the Universidad Complutense in Madrid. See El País coverage here.
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We are sad to report the passing of Fanny Edelman aka Fanny Jabcovsky, Argentine political activist and feminist, one of the most charismatic among the women volunteers to join the Republic's fight against fascism in the Spanish Civil War, and President of the Communist Party of Argentina. See here for a touching video;...
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As part of the events surrounding the 75th anniversary of the founding of the International Brigade, a group of Lincoln vet family members took a tour of some of the central sites of the US Medical Services in the Spanish Civil War. The tour, led by Alan Warren, visited several hospitals directed by Dr....
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Goodbye Barcelona, the International-Brigade-themed musical by Judith Johnso, Karen Rabinowitz, Mark Smith, and K.S. Lewkowicz, will be premiering later this month at the Arcola Theatre in London. See the flyer here.
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Good news for the fight against impunity in the Southern Cone: "An Argentine court sentenced 12 former military and police officials to life in prison on Wednesday for crimes against humanity committed during the country's 1976-1983 military dictatorship," the Associated Press reports today:
Among those sentenced to life in the landmark ruling...
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A beautiful album, courtesy of the AABI (Asociación de Amigos de las Brigadas Internacionales) with images from: Inauguration of the monument to the International Brigades at Madrid’s Ciudad Universitaria. Concert/homage to the IB Visit to the Fuencarral Cemetery Visit to the Jarama battlefield Luncheon at Rivas Vaciamadrid in honor of the IB. See album...
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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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