Jewish Volunteers in the Spanish Civil War
The Abraham Lincoln Brigades Archive is an expansive research site documenting the history of the ALB’s contribution to the anti-fascist struggle of the Spanish Civil War.
From their website:
The veterans of the Abraham Lincoln Brigade were courageous men and
women who participated in the Spanish Civil War in the fight against fascist aggression in Europe. In 1979, together with academic scholars, writers, filmmakers and cultural workers, the veterans established ALBA to awaken public consciousness to historical issues of the 20th century that are rarely presented in secondary and higher education curricula in the United States.
Through its continually expanding archival collections in exhibitions, educational programs, publications, and performances, ALBA preserves the legacy of activism and commitment as an inspiration for present and future generations in working effectively toward a better and more just society.
This, the ALBA website, is fast becoming the leading web resource of information on the Spanish Civil War and its legacy, and the relationship of the importance of historical principals of individual dedication to social justice in today’s society. So take a look, join our Listserve, study our education modules, keep abreast of the latest news and events. Back issues of The Volunteer, ALBA’s award-winning quarterly news journal, are online and available for your information and education.
Included on this website is also a section about Jewish Volunteers in the Spanish Civil War.
This entry was posted on Sunday, October 28th, 2007 at 4:41 pm and is filed under anti-fascism. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
on November 25, 2007 The New Centrist wrote:
If you are interested, the actual archival collections of the Abraham Lincoln Brigade are housed at the Tamiment Library/Robert F. Wagner Labor Archives at New York University:
http://www.nyu.edu/library/bobst/research/tam/alba_collections2.html
Some of the collections have hypertext links where you can view the finding aid and see the contents of the collection. Also, you’ll find the materials at NYU are a bit less slanted towards the perspectives of the volunteers than the VALB-ALBA website which can be hagiographic.
on January 7, 2008 BobFromBrockley wrote:
The ALBA Jewish Volunteers module is very good, but suffers from a focus on the Stalinist history. There were foreign Jewish volunteers in the anarchist militias and in the POUM militias, and anti-Stalinist Jewish leftists abroad (for instance in Argentina, Mexico, North America, Palestine, France and London) played a heavy role in organising aid and solidarity for the Spanish revolution. These stories need to be told too.
on March 1, 2008 Arieh Lebowitz wrote:
SOURCE FOR FIRST SET OF INFORMATION {2/3 of the way down this page]: http://www.jmtfilms.com/document.htm
MADRID BEFORE HANITA – Jews from Palestine in the International Brigades A film by Eran Torbiner / Israel 2006
History. 58 minutes. Hebrew, Spanish, Polish and German. English/French/Spanish subtitles.
The story of 300 Jews from Palestine/Israel who departed to fight fascism and joined the International Brigades during the Spanish Civil War from 1936-1939.
Many of them were Jewish communists who believed Fascism was the main enemy of humanity in general and of Jews in particular. This film follows their stories in Palestine and the decision to go to Spain and documents their complex relationships with the civilian Spanish population and their loves, disappointments, hopes, and deaths. The leading characters in the film are the last of volunteers still living today, and family members and relatives of others who were killed or have since died. The film is set with a voice-over narration of segments from their letters and diaries, and uses Spanish and Israeli archives extensively, combined with current footage of Israel and Spain .
Winner: Platinum Remi Award : Worldfest Houston International Film Festival, Texas - USA 2007
Chicago International Documentary Film Festival - USA 2007
Haifa International Film Festival - Israel 2006
SOURCE FOR SECOND SET OF INFORMATION:
http://movies.nytimes.com/movie/398096/Madrid-Before-Hanita-Jews-from-Palestine-in-the-International-Brigades-/overview
Madrid Before Hanita (Jews from Palestine in the International Brigades) (2006)
Review Summary
With his documentary Madrid Before Hanita (Jews from Palestine in the International Brigades), filmmaker Eran Torbiner reflects on the segment of the Jewish population that baffled the Zionist community and the Palestinian Communist Party by traveling to Spain to counter the Fascist forces of the Spanish Civil War. The participants rightly regarded Fascism as the world’s great evil and as the foremost threat to the Jewish race, and thus felt a kinship with the forces battling General Franco and others. In his film, Torbiner couples interviews with the handful of surviving volunteers — who reflect on the vicissitudes of their experiences in Spain — with recitations from letters and journal entries of the day and period archival footage. ~ Nathan Southern, All Movie Guide
Movie Details
Title: Madrid Before Hanita (Jews from Palestine in the International Brigades)
Running Time: 58 Minutes
Country: France, Germany, Spain
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