Jews Who Served in the International Brigade in the Spanish Civil War
Total Page：16
File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb
MASTER COPY This document is the copyright of M Sugarman and may not be reproduced in part or whole without his permission Against Fascism – Jews who served in The International Brigade in The Spanish Civil War (Note – This survey is available at the AJEX Archives of the Jewish Military Museum in Jewish Museum, Camden; the Marx Memorial Library (MML) in Clerkenwell , The Imperial War Museum Library, The National Archives at Kew, the IBMT web site,The British Library, The SOAS Library at the University of London, the LSE Spanish Studies Library, the Jewish Historical Society of England Library, UCL Jewish Studies Library, and The Wiener Library – all in London; Manchester University Library, The Hebrew University Library in Jerusalem, The Virtual Jewish Library website, VALBA (Veterans of the Abraham Lincoln Brigade) web site and Brandeis University Library in the USA. As at 07/03/21 Spanjews.doc By Martin Sugarman, BA (Hons.), Cert. Ed. ( Archivist of the Association of Jewish Ex-Servicemen and Women, Jewish Military Museum) CONTENTS Introductions and opening Comments Page reference for National Batallions - p. 11 - UK p. 26 - Dombrowskis (Poland) p. 54 - USA p. 83 - Canada p. 87 - Latvia p. 93 - Franco-Belge p. 100 – Dimitrov – East Europe 1 p. 103 – Austria p. 112 – Italy p. 112 – Israel p. 118 - Morcco p. 119 – Romania p. 122 – Germany p. 130 – Misc. E and SE Europe p. 132 - Argentina Introduction For reasons best known to themselves, most adherents of the Left - both old and new - and the mainstream Jewish community itself – have been, till recently, loathe to acknowledge and recall the dominant Jewish role in the International Brigade’s (IB) struggle against Fascism in the Spanish Civil War. Stereotyped as timid and submissive, the reality is that thousands of Jews from 53 countries went to fight and die opposing Franco, firing the first shots against Fascism. Some went openly as Jews, others took aliases; some fought in the battalions of their country of birth, others with other national groups; some went via a third nation, others went direct to Spain; some were refugees from anti-Semitism or political oppression already, others went freely from the democracies. In addition thousands more Jews world wide were active in solidarity campaigns, fund raising and refugee rescue, on behalf of the Republican Democrats. Most non-Jewish students of the conflict, however, have no problem emphasising the major part played by Jews in the International Brigade (IB) 1, and the Black actor Paul Robeson, for example, even sang and recorded Yiddish songs for the Jewish soldiers in Spain (see reference to O’Riordan, below) Evidence shows that the marginilisation of the huge part played by the Jewish fighters in Spain is due to the tight grip held by old fashioned Stalinists who have been the “Keepers of the Memory” of the IB in the post war period, and right up to the 21st century – especially in the UK and the USA. To acknowledge the incredible role of the Jews is to have to admit that many went to Spain as proud Jews as much as proud Socialists, and that many were also Zionists, especially the large number – proportionally the largest from any country – who came from Mandate Palestine/Israel. For those on “The Hard Left” , this somewhat explodes the myth that everyone who went was a certified member of the Communist Party or was totally imbued with Communist ideals. This was most certainly not the case as the author heard first hand form Jewish veterans he interviewed. Indeed, Peter Fry openly says in an interview in the film “Forever Activists” that he went primarily because he was Jewish and this was because of his strong Jewish sense of Social Justice, which he felt all the Jewish volunteers had. This is verified by his wife Thelma. In his University of Manchester thesis (2001) Paul Bagon (great nephew of Samuel, who was killed fighting with the 1 Members are affectionaltely referred to as “IB ers” . 2 Polish Dombrowski battalion) examined this assertion further in interviews with 13 mostly Jewish veterans of the IB, coming to the definite similar conclusion, that Jews went as Jews and anti-Fascists as much as Socialists or Communists. It is also interesting to note that after WW2, most of the Jewish fighters returned to Jewish communities and the cultural life they were used to; they were by no means estranged from Jewishness or even Judaism. Some visited Israel many times and others have chidren living there to this day. They also said they sensed a strong strand of anti-Jewish feeling in some of the non-Jewish veterans leaders, and this naturally fed into the tendency by modern writers on the Spanish Civil War to ignore the Jewish contribution to the IB. Stalinist opposition to Zionism, especially after 1948 and the re-birth of Israel, has meant that the Left has to denounce and invisibilise any overt and separate recognition of the massive Jewish contribution to the IB and the Republican struggle, in order to fit in with its perverse and passé Marxist view of history. Hence it can justify celebrating – quite rightly - the part played by Irish and Black volunteers, for example, but not the Jews. Not to give Jews the credit they so richly deserved, of firing the first shots against European Fascism, can thus be justifiably described as anti-Semitic, as it appears that national liberation is alright for everyone else – Ireland, Black Africa, Asia, the Arabs – but not alright for the Jews of Israel. This is open discrimination against Jews and the Left needs to now revise and take a more mature attitude to this issue. Till now, one will not thus find any reference to the contribution of the Jews to the IB in any book on the IB in the Spanish Civil War, except a moderate mention in Richard Baxell’s Ph D, and later book 2. Indeed when I met Richard Baxell at the first Len Crome memorial lecture at the Imperial War Museum, where I raised this issue at the discussion that followed, of the marginalisation of the Jews in the IB, to the extreme discomfort of Jack Jones and others present (Jack loudly asserted that I was surely not accusing the IBMT of anti-Semitism!), Baxell said privately to me that I should not expect more from him in his book – although it turned out he gave a paragraph or two and some footnotes - very generous compared to previous writers. Perhaps he saw sense after my remarks at the lecture, or perhaps he just could not avoid the glaringly obvious truth of the sheer number of Jews who served and died? Afterwards at the reception, members of the Crome family came and said to me they agreed with my objections but would not say it publicly at the lecture for fear of upsetting the apple cart of traditional views! And when I asked the amazing Milton Wolf (last Jewish Commander of the Abraham Lincolns) , the same question, at a lecture he gave on his story at LSE, about a year later, just before he died, he tried to dismiss this matter amusingly as a red herring, but was clearly somewhat flummoxed by the question, conveniently taking the passé stance that you do not break ranks with the established wisdom and “don’t mention the Jews”. But yet again young Spanish students came up to me afterwards and said I was right to point out this anti-history of ignoring the Jews, and that in Spain they have no problem giving the Jewish IBers the high profile they so richly dererve. But again they would not speak out publicly. This article now redresses this balance. 2 “British Volunteers in the Spanish Civil War”, Routledge 2004. 3 With regard to the Jews who went to Spain from Israel (Palestine Mandate), some argue that they went because they were ‘internationalists’ , not Zionists 3. In which case why did those among them who were refugees from Europe, go to Israel in the first place when there were many other countries they could have fled to? Why did they return to Israel after the SCW ended? Why did they fight in Israel’s War of Independence in 1948 - if they were not Zionists as well as Socialists? One can be both – these are not incompatible idelogies and never have been or will be. Some facts It is estimated that up to 25% of all the IB Fighters were Jewish (Alberto Fernandez, “Judios en la Guerra de Espana” , Tiempo de Historia, Madrid, Sept., 1975; “Los Judios Luchadores de la Libertad” by Gina Medem, nee Birnszweig, Madrid, 1937 and Josef Toch “Juden im Spanischen Krieg 1936-39”, Zeitgeschichte, Vienna, April 1973) - up to 10,000 men and women. Whilst 20th century history documents well the mass murder of Jews, Jewish resistance by comparison is feebly recorded. This included in Spain the following approximate numbers – certainly an underestimate - of Jewish fighters and participants in the IB - Poland - 2,250 (of 5,000 Poles - 45% - Jews only 10% of Polish population) USA - 1,250 (38% of total USA Volunteers – Jews only 4% of USA population) France - 1043 (15% of French volunteers - Jews only 0.5% of population) Britain – some 350 (15% - Jews 0.5% of population - David Diamint’s book, mentioned below) Israel/Palestine - 300-500 Argentina – Prof. Raanan Rein (see below), Prof. of History, Tel-Aviv University, estimates that of the 5-600 Argentinians who went to Spain, about 10% were Jews and yet were only 1.6% of the population Hungarian, Austrian (120-150 volunteers based on research by Hans Landauer and others in The Leo Baeck Year Book 1995, footnote page 17), Czech, Yugoslav (34 – probably a huge underestimate), Bulgarian (17), Canadian (71 Jews from Canada - in The Mackenzie-Papineau Battalion) , Italian, Scandinavian, German - totalling 1095 (work by Arno Lustiger in “German and Austrian Jews in the International Brigade” published in Frankfurt 1989 – and also “Schalom Libertad – Juden in Spanischau Burgerkrieg”, also published in French - and the Leo Baeck Year Book No.