Trisha Ziff's 90-minute documentary Mexican Suitcase is poised for its United States premiere at the Laliff-Los Angeles Latino Film Festival on July 24th (order tickets here). In Europe it was screened on July 5 at the prestigious Rencontres, Europe's most important photography festival, held in Arles, France, and the
Trisha Ziff, the curator and filmmaker who was instrumental in the recovery of the "Mexican Suitcase," is interviewed in El País about her documentary Mexican Suitcase, which retraces the miraculous journey of the more than 4,000 Spanish Civil War negatives from Paris to Mexico to New York. A reflection on memory, history,...
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The exhibit featuring the more than 4,000 Spanish Civil War images by Robert Capa, "Chim" Seymour and Gerda Taro that were recovered from the so-called "Mexican Suitcase" have begun their travels after their initial display at the International Center of Photography (ICP) in New York. They are now on show in Arles, France, Artdaily...
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Re: Spain Confronts Years of Pain Over Lost Babies Congratulations are due to the New York Times for your excellent front-page coverage of this terrifying story. Many of us hope you might be able to give similar prominent coverage to a much larger and related story: that of the over 100,000 victims of the...
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The Orphan Film Symposium DVD containing the recovered and restored film With the Abraham Lincoln Brigade in Spain, by Henri-Cartier-Bresson and Herb Kline, was just award for "Most Original Contribution to Film History" at the prestigious Cinema Ritrovato festival in Bologna, Italy. It was the scholar and ALBA friend Juan Salas who, while conducting research on...
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The British media are considering the ramifications of the information contained in the MI5 files on the Spanish Civil War and International Brigades that were released two days ago. Here is a piece in the Guardian by SCW scholar Tom Buchanan; here a segment on the topic from Channel 4 news with...
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Spanish Civil War scholar Len Tsou sends us the following note from Athens:
While waiting for a solution to sail for Gaza, I went to the rally at Syntagma square during the 48 Hrs general strike. I saw a familiar banner attached here.
The UK National Archives have just released a large cache of records related to the British participation in the Spanish Civil War. From the press release:
More volunteers may have left Britain with the aim of joining the International Brigades in Spain than previously thought according to documents discovered at The National Archives.
The Dartmouth Alumni magazine just ran this tribute I wrote a long time ago to one of my undergraduate mentors, Robert Russell. I thought it might be of interest to you ALBA blog readers as well. Salud. Why Blue?
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Spanish singer and songwriter, Javier Molina, has recorded a new version of "Jarama Valley"
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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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