In response to the information session held by ALBA and representatives of the Catalan government, below we offer a list of Frequently Asked Questions about the Alvah Bessie Program.
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Earlier this year, ALBA received a note from Alfonso Repullés Buj, a Spaniard in his late sixties from Aragón, about the iconic photograph from the Spanish Civil War in which Steve Nelson has his right arm around the shoulder of Oliver Law.
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Isabella Lorusso, Fighting Women: Interviews with Veterans of the Spanish Civil War. London: Freedom Press, 2020.
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Enrico Acciai, Garibaldi’s Radical Legacy: Traditions of War Volunteering in Southern Europe (1861–1945). Translated by Victoria Weavil. Abingdon, Oxon./New York, Routledge, 2021.
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What was it like to grow up as the daughter of a Lincoln vet in Cold-War America?
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Wilfred Mendelson (1915-1938), better known as “Mendy,” was one of thirteen CCNY students, faculty and staff volunteers, out of a total of 60, who died fighting in support of Spain’s democracy during the Spanish civil war. A moving 1942 tribute to Mendy from his friends, Let My People Know, is now available online in...
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The Catalan historian Gonzalo Berger, who’s spent years researching the participation of women in the antifascist militias and the Republican army during the Spanish Civil War, has just published a new book, Milicianas, that tells some of these women’s stories for a non-specialized audience.
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Twenty-seven years after the Dayton Peace Accords ended the bloody war in Bosnia and Herzegovina, ethnic tensions in the region have been etched into law. The Center of Peacebuilding builds bridges through interethnic dialogue.
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Spanish conservatives who have rejected any accounting for Francoist crimes are nevertheless willing to make amends with the descendants of the Sephardic Jews who were expelled five centuries ago. The contradiction is only apparent.
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More than 120 objects displayed in five galleries, with each object accompanied by a 350- to 500-word mini-essay available in both English and Spanish: The new Virtual Museum of the Spanish Civil War is in its first phase but already has a lot to offer to a curious visitor.
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Nine years ago, Robert Llopis accidentally came across a Cuban volunteer who went by Teresa but whose gender identity was unclear in the archives. A report on his research so far.
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Dear Friends, “There are now states in this country where this document cannot be taught,” a teacher remarked pointedly at one of the two workshops we taught in November. We were discussing a letter sent from civil-war Spain by Canute Frankson, a Jamaican-born mechanic who in April 1937 left his home in Detroit to...
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As this issue goes to press, the ALBA office is busy finalizing the event calendar for January, February and March, which will include online workshops and film screenings as part of the ongoing Perry Rosenstein Cultural Series. To stay informed, keep an eye out for our email newsletters (sign up through info@alba-valb.org), connect with...
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Continuing its successful model, ALBA is once again joining with the Massachusetts-based Collaborative for Educational Services to offer a five-week online teaching workshop on “The United States and World Fascism from the Spanish Civil War to Nuremberg and Beyond—Teaching Human Rights Today.” Optional graduate credit is available. Sign up here Registration Deadline: Feb. 23,...
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Join us on Sunday, December 4, at 3PM EST/12PM PST, for a live Zoom presentation with Nora Guthrie, daughter of singer and activist Woody Guthrie (1912-67), whose recording of Jarama Valley is legendary, and who in 1952 wrote a series of songs against Franco. Ms. Guthrie began her career as a modern dancer, founded...
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Here is the keynote address that Jeff Chang gave at ALBA's 2022 Bay Area Gala. Click here to see the videorecording.
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Drawing close to 1,000 viewers, ALBA’s Bay Area gala on October 15 offered an inspiring mix of history, music, and activism. Richard Bermack moderated the online event.
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Michael Ugarte, Mercedes Light and Dark. Columbia, MO: Compass Flower Press, 2022. 200pp.
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Carole Naggar. David ‘Chim’ Seymour: Searching for the Light, 1911-1956. De Gruyter, 2022. 294 + x pp.
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Sister Benedicta (aka Andrea Sender), daughter of the celebrated Spanish novelist Ramón J. Sender, who lived in exile in the United States from Franco’s fascist regime, died on June 11. Her parents—Ramón, the prize-winning novelist, and his wife, Amparo Barayón—were strong opponents of the uprising in 1936. At the outbreak of the war, her...
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The Last Cause is an outstanding documentary in three parts on the Lincoln Brigade and International Brigades. Directed in 1976 by Stephen K. Franklin and Alex Cramer and shown briefly on CBC TV, it has now been made publicly available by Harvard University. The Last Cause, part I Part I, of The Last Cause,...
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After a move and renovation that were slowed down by the Covid-19 pandemic, the Tamiment Library has reopened for research appointments. Please note that Reading Rroom seats are limited and appointment slots are currently booking at least several weeks in advance. External researchers are advised that all visitors to NYU Campus buildings, including the...
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“Books join us together as a global reading community, but more important, a global human community striving to learn from the past.” In the spirit of these words by New York Times bestselling author Ruta Sepetys, I invite you to join us as we examine fiction and nonfiction about Spain and its historical legacy...
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Sixty people died when the Ciudad de Barcelona was torpedoed by the Italians off the Catalan coast. Rob MacDonald’s interactive Solidarity Park turns their memory into an invitation for activism.
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When 93-year-old Rosa Ruivenkamp died in 2019, in her nightstand her son found a blue notebook that had belonged to her brother Evert, who had been active in the resistance and was murdered by the Nazis in 1943. The notebook—which, fortunately was not thrown out—turned out to contain the diary notes Evert had written...
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Around the turn of the millennium, the association of British veterans of the Spanish Civil War merged with the Friends of the International Brigades to form the International Brigade Memorial Trust (IBMT), ALBA’s sister organization in the UK. Like ALBA, the IBMT is dedicated to keeping alive the memory of the antifascist volunteers who...
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For more than 80 years, historians have ignored the important role played by thousands of women soldiers in the People’s Army of the Spanish Republic. A new dissertation takes a crucial first step to correct the record.
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Eighty-six years after the last soldiers in the Lincoln Brigade left Spain, their legacy continues. As veterans shared their stories with friends and family, they shaped the lives of their children, grandchildren, and great grandchildren. The family of Lincoln veteran Oiva Halonen, a Finnish-American volunteer, is one example.
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Dear Friends, Putting together a quarterly magazine is a surefire way to make time fly. As this issue goes to print, your editors are already thinking about the next one, approaching authors, agreeing on word counts, setting deadlines—before we know it, another three months have passed. Since we last wrote, the US Supreme Court...
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More than 90 percent of the teachers who participate in ALBA’s teaching institutes report that they use ALBA’s materials in their work. Two testimonials from participants in our most recent five-week workshop.
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On October 20 at 3 PM EDT / 12 PM PDT, the Perry Rosenstein Cultural Series will resume with a roundtable presentation on Spain, World War II, and the Holocaust, with ALBA board members Gina Herrmann and Robert Coale, who will be accompanied by Sara Brenneis and Joshua Goode. For updates, check the online...
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The Susman Lecture is back! Join us on Sunday, December 4, at 3PM EST/12PM PST, for a live Zoom presentation with Nora Guthrie, daughter of singer and activist Woody Guthrie (1912-67), whose recording of Jarama Valley is legendary, and who in 1952 wrote a series of songs against Franco. Ms. Guthrie began her career...
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Please join us on October 15 at 1pm PST (4pm EST) for the annual online gala organized by ALBA’s Bay Area Committee. This online event will feature a keynote by Jeff Chang; a presentation on Asian veterans of the International Brigades by experts Nancy and Len Tsou; Patrick Riccards of Life After Hate, the...
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Mark your calendars. ALBA is proud and excited to present a full slate of events for the next three months, with the Bay Area Gala, a Susman Lecture, a workshop, and other gatherings--both online and in-person.
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On April 9, Vero Maynez and Nathan Payne, two Berkeley-trained actors, movingly interpreted excerpts from the Spanish Civil War correspondence between Lincoln volunteer George Watt and his wife Ruth. Stage-directed by ALBA’s Peter Glazer and presented by María Hernández-Ojeda, the event brought the online audience to tears. The performance was based on a script...
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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
sign up to receive email updates from ALBA. Support ALBA through a tax-deductible gift! To inquire about a donation, please contact the ALBA office at info@alba-valb.org or 212-674-5398.
The Spanija series translates select autobiographical accounts by Yugoslavian and Montenegrin volunteers of their actions in the Spanish Civil War. Dr. Ray Hoff used Google Translate from Croatian to English and he edited the selections. As this is a machine translation, the idiomatic features of Croatioan or Serbian and the translation of names and...
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With deep sadness, I write of the passing of Helene Susman, widow of Bill, at the age 103. She did not go to Spain with the Lincolns nor held a position with the VALB or ALBA, but to me and many others she was a founder of our small organization and a kindred spirit....
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The Spanija series translates select autobiographical accounts by Yugoslavian and Montenegrin volunteers of their actions in the Spanish Civil War. Dr. Ray Hoff used Google Translate from Croatian to English and he edited the selections. As this is a machine translation, the idiomatic features of Croatioan or Serbian and the translation of names and places are...
Read more »
The Spanija series translates select autobiographical accounts by Yugoslavian and Montenegrin volunteers of their actions in the Spanish Civil War. Dr. Ray Hoff used Google Translate from Croatian to English and he edited the selections. As this is a machine translation, the idiomatic features of Croatioan or Serbian and the translation of names and places are...
Read more »
The “Spanija” series translates selected autobiographical accounts by Yugoslavian and Montenegrin volunteers of their actions in the Spanish Civil War. Dr. Ray Hoff used Google translate from Croatian to English and he edited the selections. As this is a machine translation, the idiomatic features of Croatian or Serbian and the translation of names and...
Read more »
The “Spanija” series translates selected autobiographical accounts by Yugoslavian and Montenegrin volunteers of their actions in the Spanish Civil War. Dr. Ray Hoff used Google translate from Croatian to English and he edited the selections. As this is a machine translation, the idiomatic features of Croatian or Serbian and the translation of names and...
Read more »
The “Spanija” series translates selected autobiographical accounts by Yugoslavian and Montenegrin volunteers of their actions in the Spanish Civil War. Dr. Ray Hoff used Google translate from Croatian to English and he edited the selections. As this is a machine translation, the idiomatic features of Croatian or Serbian and the translation of names and...
Read more »
The “Spanija” series translates selected autobiographical accounts by Yugoslavian and Montenegrin volunteers of their actions in the Spanish Civil War. Dr. Ray Hoff used Google translate from Croatian to English and he edited the selections. As this is a machine translation, the idiomatic features of Croatian or Serbian and the translation of names and...
Read more »
The “Spanija” series translates selected autobiographical accounts by Yugoslavian and Montenegrin volunteers of their actions in the Spanish Civil War. Dr. Ray Hoff used Google translate from Croatian to English and he edited the selections. As this is a machine translation, the idiomatic features of Croatian or Serbian and the translation of names and...
Read more »
ALBA’s passport project is currently in the third of four planned phases. The first two phases concentrated on volunteers whose name appears on the “Scope of Soviet Activity” list that includes passport numbers. The first phase of the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) filings focused on volunteers killed in Spain. In the second phase,...
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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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