In December 2021 and January 2022, the South Florida Chamber Ensemble (SFCE) performed Extranjeros, a program about the Spanish Civil War and the Abraham Lincoln Brigade. Written by Myrna Meeroff and produced in partnership with ALBA, the program featured music and texts from Manuel de Falla, María Rodrigo, Joaquín Rodrigo, Federico García Lorca, Joaquín...
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The ever-expanding ALBA collection, which has been housed at NYU’s Tamiment-Wagner Library since its transfer from Brandeis University in 2000, is now increasingly available online. The slow but steady efforts to digitize materials—archival-quality preservation and transfer is a time-intensive, painstaking process—have focused primarily on graphic and audiovisual objects: not only photographs, posters, and postcards...
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A growing number of dedicated living historians are choosing to portray the Spanish Civil War at public history events. Although they are as diverse as the Brigadistas they portray, they are united in their passion for history and desire to inspire people to learn more about the conflict.
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Dear Friends, When Bryan Stevenson received the ALBA/Puffin Award in 2014, he spoke about the message he likes to deliver to white audiences: “I often say: ‘Many of you were raised in households where your parents and your teachers—the people you loved and trusted—taught you that you’re better than everybody else because you are...
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In partnership with the Collaborative for Educational Services, ALBA will offer a new iteration of its successful five-week online workshop for K-12 teachers anywhere in the world. The course will meet weekly on Thursday evenings between March 10 and April 7. Registration deadline: February 24. For more details, go to www.collaborative.org/events-and-courses/america-and-world-fascism
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This spring, stay tuned for a special online presentation featuring a performance and discussion of the fascinating letters that Lincoln volunteer George Watt exchanged with his wife Ruth when George was serving in Spain. The letters, curated by Dan and Molly Watt, will be read by professional actors with musical accompaniment. Saturday, April 9...
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A new slate of “workshops for everyone” offered as part of the new Perry Rosenstein Cultural Series (PRCS) has drawn broad interest from the ALBA community. Modeled on ALBA’s institutes for teachers but open to the general public, the 1.5-hour PRCS workshops are led by two experts who provide participants with reading and viewing...
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ALBA’s annual gala, including the ALBA/Puffin Award ceremony, will once again be online this year, in light of the ongoing pandemic. Tune in through YouTube or Facebook on April 30 at 4 PM (EDT) for an inspiring slate of speakers and musical guests. For more details, keep an eye on our website and your...
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On January 6, the one-year anniversary of the assault on the Capitol, ALBA announced that the 2022 ALBA/Puffin Award for Human Rights Activism will go to the organization Life After Hate (LAH) (Press Release). Founded in 2011, LAH helps people leave violent far-right and white supremacist groups to connect with humanity...
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Willy de Lathouder was the first Dutchman to join the defense of the Spanish Republic. He died in 1938 shortly after the birth of his child. More than 80 years later, his granddaughter discovers her family’s history.
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We do not know at this point what access will look like in the fall, and are awaiting further information from the University administration, who have set policies on access throughout the pandemic based on safety concerns for the community. In the meantime, we can offer some remote reference and research opportunities, as well as reproduction...
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It’s always sad when someone dies prematurely, but there is some consolation that Manus’s final hours were spent doing what he loved and dedicated to what he did much of his life.
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The actor Ed Asner, who passed away in August, was a tireless activist and a faithful friend of the Veterans of the Lincoln Brigade.
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A People Betrayed: A History of Corruption, Political Incompetence, and Social Division in Modern Spain, by Paul Preston. London: Liveright Press, 2020.
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On September 23, the Camp de Rivesaltes Memorial in southern France celebrated the opening night of “The colors of exile,” an exhibit honoring the life and work of Josep Bartolí, the Catalan artist and anti-fascist activist.
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Is it possible to be a pacifist and support—or even join—a war? If our criterion is consistency, the answer is clearly no. Yet consistency, for good or for bad, is not a universal human trait.
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Pedro Pastor, the young Spanish singer/songrwriter who has performed at several ALBA events, has dropped a new album. An interview.
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How might instructors teach the Spanish Civil War (1936-1939) and Franco dictatorship (1939-1975) to students who have little prior knowledge of the period? A participant in ALBA’s teaching workshops explains.
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Spanish teachers in the ALBA workshops often ask whether they can use the rich and complex material about twentieth-century Spanish history in language classes, even at beginning or intermediate levels. The short answer is: Absolutely!
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Peter Glazer is a world-renowned director and playwright and a professor of Theatre, Dance, and Performance Studies at the University of California, Berkeley. He sits on the ALBA board and is an active leader in ALBA’s Bay Area programs. Peter’s father was the folk singer Tom Glazer. You have written several plays and musicals...
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CRT is a curious target for legislators and school board members, if only because it is not taught at the K-12 level and only rarely to undergraduates. Today, it’s serving as a red herring to silence the discussion of race and racism across classrooms in the U.S. In recent months, Republican legislatures in approximately...
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ALBA Honorary Board Member Robin D.G. Kelley spoke in September at ALBA’s Bay Area celebration. Here is the complete text of his address.
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Given the source of our inspiration, it’s perhaps no surprise that we’ve become used to war-based metaphors when speaking about our work.
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As part of the Bay Area event this fall, Bruce Barthol conversed with Barbara Dane. Here are excerpts from their conversation, which is also included in the video recording of the event.
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ALBA Authors Curricular Guide for Students in Spain ALBA is proud to partner with the Spanish government in the preparation of a curricular guide for high-school students in Spain. Highlighting the experiences of U.S. volunteers in the International Brigades the guide invites readers to use these stories as an inspiration to set up their...
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This year, the jury of the Watt Essay contest recognized a group of excellent papers written by high school, undergraduate, and graduate students from around the world.
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A new initiative, ALBA Workshops for Everyone, opens our teaching up to the general public. A new teacher workshop is scheduled for early 2022.
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On September 26, ALBA’s San Francisco Bay Area community organized a stirring, 75-minute program that was streamed live to an audience of hundreds. Hosted by Richard Bermack, the celebration featured footage of a gathering held in late August at the Lincoln Brigade Monument near the Embarcadero, with June Gipson and Deja Abdul-Haqq of the...
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Tamiment will continue being able to serve only current NYU students, faculty and staff through August 31, 2021. We do not know at this point what access will look like in the fall, and are awaiting further information from the University administration, who have set policies on access throughout this pandemic based on safety concerns for the...
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Last May 23, our dear veteran Josep Almudéver Mateu died in France. At 101 he was, as far as we know, the very last surviving veteran of the International Brigades, and certainly the last one to be an activist until the very end. Josep had wanted to return to his beloved Valencia this summer...
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American Commander in Spain: Robert Hale Merriman and the Abraham Lincoln Brigade, by Marion Merriman and Warren Lerude. Reno: University of Nevada Press, 2020.
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Fighting for Spain: The International Brigades in the Civil War, 1936–1939, and The People’s Army in the Spanish Civil War: A Military History of the Republic and International Brigades by Alexander Clifford. Pen and the Sword Military, 2020.
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Over the past couple of years, I have worked with history teacher David Hanna at Stuyvesant High School to create a website dedicated to preserving the memories of the brave souls who risked everything to fight fascism. Originally, it was to be a simple thing, a small blog perhaps, but since then it’s expanded...
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Kurzke's memoir The Good Comrade was published this past May by the Clapton Press, after having been tucked away for years, known only to a small number of specialist historians. In this new introduction to the book, Richard Baxell explains why it's so valuable.
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Simon Deefholts and Kathryn Phillips-Miles are the driving force behind the Clapton Press, which has been issuing “Memories of 1930s Spain,” including both previously unpublished memoirs and new editions of books that were long out of print.
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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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The family of Paul Andrew Mooney (1910-1961) is searching for documentation to substantiate information he provided to his family about serving in the International Brigades. Paul Mooney was born and raised in Cincinnati, Ohio. He graduated from Hughes High School in 1929 and attended the University of Cincinnati in 1929, 1935 and 1936. In...
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Teesside, an industrial region in Northeast England that in the nineteenth century grew to be a center of shipbuilding and iron and steel production, spawned no fewer than thirty International Brigade volunteers. Of the nine who were born in the borough of Stockton-on-Tees, moreover, six played leading roles in Spain: five rose to the rank of Lieutenant...
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The first thirty-six Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests for Phase IV were submitted December 30, 2024. Phase IV is intended to focus on volunteers on whom we have minimal information. At some point in the future, I plan to resubmit some volunteers who were returned as not found or on whom no information...
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My grandfather (Nana), Suresh, moved to the United States in 1959 as a young man on a student visa pursuing his master’s degree. His parents, my great grandparents, sought value in being ‘foreign educated’ and bringing his education home – to Mumbai, India to run their family business. 2 years after my Nana moved...
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Peter N. Carroll, a respected and prolific writer, poet, and US historian, died after a short illness on September 16, surrounded by his family. He was 80. Born in New York City in 1943 to a secular Jewish family, Peter grew up in the Bronx and Queens, where his father worked as a composer,...
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LA RÉPUBLIQUE -QUOTIDINEN DE COMBAT RADICAL ET SOCIALISTE, February 5, 1938 Foreign Volunteer Arrested On March 27 last, 29 North Americans were arrested on board the boat Sans-Pareil while they were attempting to reach the Spanish Coast. They were sentenced to a prison term for violating the decree of February 18, 1937 on the...
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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...
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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...
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Peter Verburgh’s translation from the French Newpaper Le Journal about a group of 29 Americans arrested in France. “29 American Volunteers Arrested in Muret” Le Journal, 5 April 1937 Toulouse, 4 April- The Control services of the Non-Intervention Committee do not remain inactive, especially with the help of the French Police and Gendarmerie. Thus...
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ALBA Board Member Steve Birnbaum made the trek on Memorial Day to the Home of Eternity Cemetary in Oakland, California to pay tribute to ALB veteran Hans Joachim. Joachim was born in Berlin, Germany in 1906 and moved to the US in 1924. He served in Spain with the George Washington Battalion and later...
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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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