Vol. XXVI, No. 4 December 2009 “...and that government of the people, by the people, and for the people, shall not perish from the earth.” ABRAHAM LINCOLN

FOUNDED BY THE VETERANS OF THE ABRAHAM LINCOLN BRIGADE 

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7+$7:$6 Dear ALBA Friends, International Brigades. As volun- It’s been a busy year. My firstfirst teer Matti Mattson said, he and his week with ALBA, in Octoberber ffellow Brigaders have claimed this 2008, gave me a wonderfull intro-intro- ccitizenship in the name of all those duction to our community withwith wwho volunteered and are no longer the 70th anniversary Despedidaedida wiwith us. event. Also in October, histo-to- On behalf of ALBA and its Board rian Helen Graham gave thehe of GGovernors, I thank all of the ALBA Bill Susman Lecture on whathat cocommunitym for their support. Working the Brigadistas have taughtht uuss totogether,get 2010 will see our continued about crossing borders of alalll dededicationdic to the history and legacy of kinds. ththee AbrahamAb Lincoln Brigade. In 2009, we continued with the inspirational les- All My Best for the New Year, sons of crossing borders. Jeanne Houck Many of our programs Executive Director and events were made [email protected] possible through won- derful institutional partnerships,rships, including the Puffin Foundation,dation, TaTamimentmiment LiLibrary,brary,y the King Juan Carlos I Center,nter the SteinhardtSteinhardt School of Education, the Catalan Center, the Gotham Center for NYC History and the Instituto Cervantes New York. We began the year with a Walter Rosenblum pho- tographic exhibit on refugees. This theme continued in The Volunteer the spring with a full-day symposium and with our San founded by the Francisco and New York 73rd anniversary reunions. Veterans of the In New York, Pete Seeger’s friends decided to hold his Abraham Lincoln Brigade birthday party the same day as the ALBA reunion. True an ALBA publication to what I have learned about the ALBA community, there 799 Broadway, Suite 341 was no competition. Instead, there was a characteristi- New York, NY 10003 cally inclusive effort to do both events. What I have (212) 674-5398 learned about the ALBA community is that we are dedi- Editorial Board cated, energetic, and really a lot of fun! Peter N. Carroll • Gina Herrmann There have been many other wonderful events this Fraser Ottanelli past year, too numerous to list. It has been especially Book Review Editor uplifting that we have been able to reach out to new gen- Shirley Mangini erations with our educational programs. Art Director-Graphic Designer The year 2009 also has been a time of anniversa- Richard Bermack ries, celebrations and remembrance. Founded in 1979, Editorial Assistance ALBA celebrated its 30th anniversary. And recently, we Nancy Van Zwalenburg gathered for a 25th year anniversary screening of the documentary film, The Good Fight: the Abraham Lincoln Submission of Manuscripts Please send manuscripts by E-mail or on disk. Brigade and the Spanish Civil War. ALBA also participated E-mail: [email protected] in the dedication of a new commemorative plaque at the cemetery of Fuencarral, Madrid. We have also seen volunteers take advantage of the Spanish government’s offer of citizenship for the New Jersey Teachers Keep the Memory Alive: A Letter to ALBA

he history of the Abraham Lincoln Brigade has all but been Tforgotten in American high schools, with history textbooks barely making mention of these “premature anti-fascists.” But over the last two years, 33 students from the Bergen County Academies, a magnet high school in Hackensack, New Jersey, have opted to learn more about the American volunteers of the Spanish Civil War by enrolling in a new open project called “Political Activism Then and Now: Lessons of the Abraham Lincoln Brigade.” The idea for this course originated issues—political, social, economic, or this project possible: Principal Danny in the summer of 2008 during a week- environmental—and drawing up a Jaye and Lee Frissell of NYU for giv- long workshop at New York plan of political action based on a ing us the opportunity to participate University. Three teachers from BCA, cause they would like to take up. in the workshop that led to the cre- Gabriella Calandra and Carlos The two classes learned a lesson ation of this project; NYU Professor Gonzalez from the World Language in historiography by taking a field trip James Fernandez, Jeanne Houck, Department and Sergei Alschen from to the Tamiment Library at NYU in Executive Director of the Abraham History, were among the 16 teachers April and October and conducting Lincoln Brigade Archives, and Gail that participated. archival research. The students spent Malmgreen, Associate Head for The project allows students to time reading letters written by and to Archival Collections at the Tamiment explore not only the confluence of the veterans, which they used to pro- for providing us with access to the international, Spanish, and American duce a short written account of what archival documents; and Peter Carroll conditions that led to the Spanish they learned. Having access to the for all of his guidance during our Civil War, but also to learn about what actual documents written in a trench NYU summer seminar and for his motivated young people in the 1930s at the front or a hospital behind the wonderful book, The Odyssey of the to take up the cause of justice and to lines brought the realities of conflict Abraham Lincoln Brigade, which we use fight against fascism on the other side closer to home for the students. They as one of our textbooks for the project. of the world, when their own country also browsed the political posters Most of all, thanks to the students that prohibited them from doing so. The from the Spanish Civil War, learning have enrolled in this project for mak- project culminates with the students the importance of the messages con- ing it so interesting and so much fun identifying contemporary veyed in them to mobilize support for to teach. the Republican cause. Finally, the stu- Sergei Alschen dents viewed the documentary movie History Department The Good Fight: The Abraham Lincoln [email protected] Brigade in the Spanish Civil War, which Gabriella Calandra culminated in a spirited class discus- World Language Department sion about the heroism of the veterans. [email protected] Mrs. Calandra and I would like to Bergen County Academies thank the following people for making

December 2009 THE VOLUNTEER 1 Matti Mattson, Citizen of Spain

n August 26, 2009, Matti Mattson became the third Osurviving Lincoln vet to take advantage of one of the key provisions of Spain’s controversial “Law of Historical Memory,” which allows veterans of the International Brigades to acquire Spanish citizen- ship without renouncing their other nationality. In becoming a citizen of demo- cratic Spain, Mattson joins the ranks of his comrades Clarence Kailin (who recently passed away) and John Hovan. At a ceremony in the private Matti Mattson (seated) at the consulate proceedings. office of Fernando Villalonga, Photo by Nicole Tung/New York Times (www.nicoletung.com). Spain’s Consul General in New York, Mattson accepted the honor Matti Mattson’s big day was covered by The New York Times, which published a “not only for the guys that are bur- significant article the next day. The article can be seen at ied here, but also for the guys that www.nytimes.com/2009/08/27/nyregion/27lincoln.html?r=1&partner=rss&emc=rss. are buried in Spain. And there’s a lot of them.” ALBA and James D. Fernández produced a five-minute video reportage of the day, which can be viewed at www.youtube.com/watch?v=NpSzMNFOWzU.

Beijing Commemorates Spain he 70th anniversary of the or so veterans of the Spanish Civil book, expected to be translated into Spanish Civil War brought a War—including my father, David Spanish soon. Tcycle of conferences to Beijing’s Crook—who served with the emerg- For organizing this most con- Cervantes Institute. The first, a bilin- ing Peoples’ Republic of China. vivial event, I am most grateful to gual event in Spanish and Chinese, Prof. Zhang Kai gave a meticu- the Cervantes Institute Peking, the focused on the role of the Chinese vol- lously documented account of China’s Universita Autonoma de Barcelona, unteers in the war. The hall was support of the war, as well as of and the sponsors. packed with Chinese of all ages. the heroic deeds of veterans of the If any reader has leads or can tell Professor Laureano Ramirez, who Spanish Civil War who went to China us more about veterans who served in had proposed this series, gave an to help in the war of resistance against China, please contact me! The China overview of the project to study the Japanese aggression (1937-1945). Society for People’s Friendship Studies Spanish Civil War and its relationship The piece de resistance was would be most grateful! with China. Hwei-Ru Ni’s presentation, a well- Long live peoples’ friendship! Then I gave a brief presentation illustrated record of the heroism of Michael Crook entitled “Defend Madrid! Build New the Chinese volunteers in Spain, a [email protected] China!,” an account of the dozen tantalizing taste of the content of her

2 THE VOLUNTEER December 2009 NY Teachers Praise Program ith public school pupils addressing such questions in their stories are an excellent avenue to dis- released from classes on classrooms and integrating a forgotten cuss so-called radicalism in the U.S., Welection day in New York subject into the regular teaching expe- African American experience in the last month, ALBA took the opportu- rience. Their response was 1930s, and a grasp of American com- nity to create a day-long professional enthusiastic, as seen in some of the mitment to democratic ideals.” development program for 25 high anonymous post-session reports to “I would use these documents to school teachers, co-hosted by New ALBA: help DBQ [Document Based Question] York University’s Steinhardt School of “I gained important knowledge essay writing skills.” Human Development and Learning, about the issues, but more important, “I would open this workshop up the King Juan Carlos Center, and realized that the issue is vital to bring to ALL humanities teachers!” Tamiment Library. into U.S. and global classrooms.” “The professors are wonderful in Aimed to introduce teachers to the “The topic is useful in so many their knowledge and presentation.” riches of the ALBA collection and to ways besides the obvious topic of “The As for ALBA, we consider this just explain its relevance to various curric- Spanish Civil War” or “U.S. involve- the beginning! ular requirements, the program was ment prior to World War II.” The coordinated by Professors James Fernandez (Spanish Department and ALBA), Robert Cohen (Teaching & Learning), Peter N. Carroll (ALBA), and Lee Frissell (NYU). Bay Area Vets Remember The 25 social studies teachers, Hilda Roberts at Annual Picnic selected from over 200 applicants from photos by Richard Bermack public high schools in the five bor- oughs, were able to conduct hands-on explorations of the archives and to dis- cuss ways to incorporate ALBA’s unique resources into their high school classrooms. The workshop par- ticipants explored nine manuscript collections, as well as a selection of original Spanish Civil War posters, postcards, and photographs. When does a war start? Why has the Spanish Civil War been largely written out of U.S. history textbooks? What are the links between Depression-era activism in the states and the war in Spain? What are some of the implications of the racially inte- grated nature of the International Brigades? Why was President Roosevelt slow to challenge German and Italian intervention on the Franco side of the war? Using original archival sources, the teachers discovered fresh ways of

December 2009 THE VOLUNTEER 3 From left, Charles Woolfolk, Peter Carroll, Dr. Muriel Petzioni, Susan Robeson, and Jacob Morris. PAUL ROBESON BOULEVARD

he volunteers of the Abraham After the war ended, the trajectory 1939 to 1941 as “Paul Robeson Lincoln Brigade created a self- of Robeson and the Lincoln vets Boulevard.” The formal ceremony took Tselected identity: out of the 130 remained inextricably intertwined. place at the intersection of Paul million people living in the United Both supported the Spanish refugees Robeson Boulevard and Count Basie States in the 1930s, only 2800 put their and advocated breaking diplomatic Place (formerly Edgecombe Avenue & lives on the line to defend the demo- relations with the Franco regime. Both 160th Street). cratic government of Spain. faced the wrath of the Un-American After the ceremony, I spoke about Plus two: Two other people were Activities committees and the black the Robesons’ connections to Spain at given honorary membership as veter- list. Robeson sang songs of protest at the nearby Morris-Jumel Mansion. The ans of the brigade. One was Dr. VALB reunions; the vets acted as his Robesons’ granddaughter, Susan Edward K. Barsky, who helped create personal body guards during the red Robeson, also participated, along with the American Medical Bureau to Save scare. They had forged a lifetime com- several municipal officials. The crowd Spanish Democracy and became a mitment to the good fight. was entertained by Marjorie Eliot and front-line surgeon who saved hundreds The recent publication of Robeson friends. The program was organized of lives; the second was Paul Robeson, in Spain brought ALBA a welcome by a local activist, Norman Skinner. singer, actor, activist, who visited the invitation to participate in the public —Peter N. Carroll brigade in Spain, toured the embattled ceremonies on September 26 sur- countryside, and sang songs of resis- rounding the renaming of the New tance for the wounded in hospitals. York street where Robeson lived from

4 THE VOLUNTEER December 2009 Paul Robeson’s Legacy Ol’ Man River: he changed the lyrics La lucha continua: the war continued one night in Albert Hall, 1937: (in the Jim Crow army) No more against fascism I’m tired of livin’ (the Red Cross segregated colored blood) And scared of dyin’ (a captain court-martialed Jackie Robinson but a vow for refusing to sit in the back of the bus) I must keep fightin’ until I’m dyin’. La lucha continua: they were already (when Rosa Parks did not stand up) And the Negro baritone brought his voice in the fight to soldiers defending Spain’s Republic, (when Dr. King dreamed) fightin’ fascism: Franco, Hitler, Mussolini. to give my life to something eternal Anti-fascists embraced the new version, and absolute. Not to these little gods especially 90-odd African American volunteers that are here today and gone tomorrow. of the Abraham Lincoln Brigade, including Robeson’s Spanish Civil War veterans re-entered the front lines: in Mississippi, south side Chicago, Canute Frankson, who dreamed aloud Louisville, Harlem, Selma, Newark, Detroit, if we crush Fascism here Seattle, Sacramento, San Francisco, LA. we’ll save our people in America . . . build us a new society . . . no color line, La lucha continua: the struggle goes on no jim-crow trains, no lynching. until I’m dyin’ and goes on. And after Spain, back in America —Peter Neil Carroll Robeson taught the songs Barcelona, October 2008 All your tears of sorrow We shall avenge them This poem was originally published in I Have a Dream: And all our age-old bondage International Tribute Exhibition to Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., edited by Gabi Serrano (Sitges, Spain, 2009). We’ll break asunder. (Belafonte took notes, carried away the dream.) Peter Neil Carroll is the author of Riverborne: A Mississippi Requiem (2008). For more about his poetry visit: http://poetspace.ning.com/profile/PeterNeilCarroll.

Book Notes Norway & the Spanish Civil War War is Beautiful Tusen Dager: Norge og den Spanske Poet James Neugass's account of Borgerkrigen 1936-1939 (A Thousand the Spanish Civil, along with other Days: Norway and the Spanish Civil Spanish Civil War books, is avail- War 1936-1939), a Norwegian lan- able from Powell's Books through guage book about the Norwegian the ALBA website, www.alba-valb. volunteers in the Spanish Civil War, org/books, and the ALBA office, by Jo Stein Moen and Rolf Sæther, 212-674-5398. has recently been published. The Hardcover: 26.95 ISBN is 9788205393516. To order the book, go to www.tusendager.no.

December 2009 THE VOLUNTEER 5 Children’s Drawings in Havana By Tony Geist

rawings of airplanes, bombing raids, soldiers in combat, and Dcivilians wounded and dying made by young Spaniards in Children’s Colonies saw the light of day 70 years later in Havana, Cuba. On September 22, 2009, I had the honor of speaking at the opening of “They Still Draw Pictures: Children’s Drawings from the Spanish Civil War,” on display in the Pablo de la Torriente Brau Cultural Center, named for the Cuban volunteer who died defending Madrid early in the war. Tony Geist (holding print) with "niños de la guerra" and Victor Casaus (far right). The exhibit consists of 49 facsimi- les of drawings held in the archives of guerra” spoke movingly of the war The following day, in a local the Avery Library of Art and and exile. movie house, I introduced and showed Architecture at Columbia University. Historian Aurea Matilde La guerra dibujada (The War in Eight photographs, four by Robert Fernández (recipient of the Cuban Drawings), a documentary on the chil- Capa, accompany them. The exhibit, in National Prize for Social Science) dren’s drawings produced in 2006 by various configurations, has traveled related the experience of returning to Spanish filmmakers Amanda Gascó throughout the U.S. as well as Russia her native Asturias 40 years later. She and Xabier Cortés. It has subsequently and Spain. This is its first venue in visited the cemetery where her father been screened several times on Cuban Latin America. The exhibition in Cuba was executed and learned that her TV, with a pre-taped interview with was made possible by the generosity mother was thrown by the fascists me, as has my documentary on the of The Puffin Foundation. into the sea. “Nothing can bring back Lincoln Brigade, Almas sin fronteras. On a sweltering afternoon, the our loved ones, but these homages My experience with the children’s exhibit was enthusiastically received give a certain sense of peace. Peace, drawings in Havana confirms that the by some 50 Cubans. Among them yes, but we shall never forget.” memory of that distant war is still were a number of “niños de la guerra,” Rafael Morante (awarded the alive. Cubans feel the Spanish Civil adults who went into exile as children Cuban National Prize for Design) said War very personally. I couldn’t avoid at the end of the war, including Aitana that 1937 started badly for many peo- noting the eerie similarity between the Alberti, daughter of the great poet of ple. He recalled being shelled by Nazi U.S. embargo on aid to the Spanish Republican Spain, Rafael Alberti. warships at age five, as he clutched his Republic and the blockade of Cuba Víctor Casaus, director of el Centro mother’s hand, fleeing up the coast that has lasted nearly half a century. Pablo, and Vivian Núñez, responsible road in Almería. “I thought the world The exhibit received extensive for hanging the show, welcomed the had come to an end and would never coverage by Radio Habana, Cuban audience, contextualizing the exhibit be the same again.” television, and the print media, with in the mission of the Center and At the end of the ceremony, four articles appearing in La Jiribilla and explaining its relevance for today’s more “niños de la guerra” stepped for- Granma. struggles throughout the world. In my ward and gave me a print done by remarks, I explained the origin of the their older brother, José Luis Posada, Tony Geist, Chair of the Spanish drawings, the history of the exhibit, who came to Cuba as a child and Department at the University of and ALBA’s mission as a living became one of the island’s foremost Washington, is the longest serving ALBA archive. Finally, two “niños de la graphic artists in the 1960s. board member.

6 THE VOLUNTEER December 2009

Truth in the Making: The Never-

ALLING SOLDIER Ending Saga of Capa’s FALLING SOLDIER By Sebastiaan Faber in El Periódico forgivingly called Capa’s before, moreover, two documenta- his past July, around the 73rd trespass un pecado de juventud, or sin ries— Los héroes nunca mueren (2004) anniversary of the outbreak of of youth (Capa was 22 at the time). by Jan Arnold and La sombra del Iceberg Tthe Civil War and 11 days after Others went further. The president (2007) by Hugo Doménech and Raúl the opening of a large Robert Capa of Journalists without Borders ques- Riebenbahuer—had revealed that the exhibit at the Catalan National tioned Capa’s professional integrity. soldier could not have been Borrell. To Museum of Art, the Barcelona news- Some accused him of cheating for the be sure, El Periódico claimed to have paper El Periódico de Catalunya sake of money and fame. But the pho- found additional evidence confirming published what was billed as a stun- tographer had defenders, too, some of Susperregui’s findings and to have ning revelation: Capa’s legendary whom, even while admitting the new located the exact place the photo was photograph of The Falling Soldier was a evidence of the photo’s location, still taken by analyzing the shape of the fake. New evidence, the paper refused to accept that the image was mountain range in the background of claimed, proved beyond the shadow of necessarily false. As others, including one of Capa’s photos taken the same a doubt that the image was not taken Capa’s biographer Richard Whalen, day. But the landscape case had been at Cerro Muriano near Córdoba, as had done before, they maintained that made a month before by a photog- had long been assumed, but some 50 the soldier may have posed for the raphy blogger, José Manuel Serrano kilometers south, near the town of camera, only to be unexpectedly hit by Esparza (see elrectanguloenlamano. Espejo, which Capa and Gerda Taro a live bullet, perhaps from a sniper. blogspot.com). The timing of the had visited previously. This meant As the controversy spread, it was scoop was a bit suspicious. Was El that the militiaman depicted was hard to avoid the impression that Periódico trying to milk the anniver- definitively not Federico Borrell there was something fishy about the sary of the war’s outbreak and take García, an anarchist known to have affair. While El Periódico’s coverage advantage of the opportunity in a been killed at Cerro Muriano. In fact, was picked up in the international slow summer month? because there is no record of any battle press—in the English-language media, action in Espejo when Capa was there, it was featured by the BBC, Time, and *** the paper concluded that the photo the New York Times—it was ignored by The question is not so much where must have been staged. El País, Spain’s largest national paper Capa’s photo was actually taken or if In the following weeks, pundits and leading online news portal for the it’s “real” (whatever that may mean), and columnists in Spain and else- Spanish-speaking world. Moreover, but why so many people continue where pondered this revelation. Was most of El Periódico’s revelations to feel so strongly about it. Different Capa a fraud? Should his whole work were not really new. The data on the explanations suggest themselves. be re-examined? Did he intend to new location were largely based on The debates about the “recovery of deceive the public or did the editors a book by José Manuel Susperregui historical memory” have made clear of Vu and Life, who first published the Etxebeste, a Professor of Audiovisual that the war still matters to present- image and wrote the initial captions— Communications at the University of day Spaniards. There is a widespread with Life claiming Capa had captured Basque Country. This book, Sombras sense that unpleasant truths remain “the moment of death”? An editorial de la fotografía. Los enigmas desvelados to be revealed or, similarly, that some de Nicolasa Ugartemendia, Muerte de un long-held certainties will be exposed Sebastiaan Faber is Chair of Hispanic miliciano, La aldea española y El Lute, for the lies they really are. Andalucía Studies at Oberlin College. His latest had come out months earlier and is currently in uproar over the grave books are Anglo-American Hispanists and had been covered by Giles Tremlett of the poet Federico Garcia Lorca: It is the Spanish Civil War (Palgrave, 2008) and Contra el olvido. El exilio español en Estados in The Guardian (June 14), as well as clear that there are several bodies at Unidos (Universidad de Alcalá, 2009). by El País (July 6 and 7). Some years Continued on page 8

December 2009 THE VOLUNTEER 7 FALLING Continued from page 7 Víznar, near Granada, which Lorca’s (In 1969, the Nobel Prize-winning nov- activists, journalists and documentary biographer Ian Gibson long ago sig- elist Camilo José Cela expressly did makers, or amateur scholars. Those naled as the poet’s burying place. But not dedicate his Civil-War novel San same tensions are at play in the debate conspiracy theories abound. Is one of Camilo, 1936 to “the adventurers from around Capa’s Falling Soldier, in which those bodies really Lorca’s? Was he abroad, Fascists and Marxists, who key contributions have been made secretly disinterred? The Lorca fam- had their fill of killing Spaniards like not just by curators and scholars with ily initially objected to exhumation. rabbits and whom no one had invited access to the full archive, but also by Gibson insists that the issue tran- to take part in our funeral.”) journalists, amateur historians, and scends family considerations: All of Proving Capa’s photo a fake, bloggers armed with little more than Spain deserves to know whether the undermining its legendary status a ticket to an exhibit, a digital camera, remains are Lorca’s or not. The Lorca as an iconic image of the war and and time to scout out locations. But case also raises questions at the heart suggesting that the Hungarian was now there is mutual distrust and sus- of the Capa controversy. Who owns willing to compromise journalis- picion; rather than a collective effort to the story of the Civil War, for example, tic integrity for the sake of political get to the truth, the debate has become and who can make claims to the his- propaganda or to help launch his what the Spaniards call a diálogo de sor- torical truth? career—all this is not just about get- dos, or deaf man’s dialogue. During the Franco years—when ting to the truth. It marks one more historical research in Spain was step in the Spaniards’ gradual re- *** severely hampered by the regime, conquest of the right to shape and tell The book that located The Falling while exiled Republican historians their history. (Interestingly, this sum- Soldier in Espejo is not just about Capa. had no access to archives and often mer’s Capa coverage was an almost It aims to reveal the truth behind lacked institutional support—foreign exclusively Catalan affair, led by the four photographic images, or sets academics, particularly from France, same newspaper that has given ample of images, that have achieved iconic Britain and the United States, took attention to the recent discovery of the status. Besides Capa’s print, it has the lead in shaping the narrative of archives of Agustí Centelles, one of sections on a much-circulated shot of 20th century Spanish history. The the Republic’s official photographers. a forlorn family of Basque refugees first standard studies were penned by Some of Centelles’ most iconic images, (who happen to be the author’s aunt, Pierre Vilar, Raymond Carr, Gabriel including a photo of two guardias de cousin, and great-grandmother), Jackson, Hugh Thomas, Herbert asalto shooting rifles from behind a Eugene W. Smith’s reportage of a Southworth, Stanley Payne and, later pile of dead horses, are, ironically, also Spanish village (published by Life on, by Paul Preston, Helen Graham, known to have been posed.) in 1951), and photos registering the and Carolyn Boyd. While Spanish But this is not the only issue. The capture of the infamous criminal “El intellectuals respected these hispani- recuperación de la memoria histórica, Lute.” The author, J.M. Susperregui, stas, they also felt that this hegemony spearheaded in 2000 by Emilio Silva is driven by a philosophically naïve of foreign scholars was anomalous when he founded the association of but useful principle: press photog- and, in the end, embarrassing. The for- the same name, continues to be con- raphy, he maintains, is either true eigners liked to claim that they were troversial. It has exposed or fueled or false. It either registers actual more objective because they were tensions not just between Left and events as they occurred in reality less involved in Spain’s political rifts. Right and between the Spanish cen- or it seeks to manipulate that real- Others argued that non-Spaniards tral government and the autonomous ity, thus deceiving the audience. The were more prone to romanticize or regions, but also between established only way to find out which is which misread Spanish reality—as had academic historians and non-aca- is by carefully looking at the image many of the foreigners who, like Capa, demics who claim to tell stories about while, at the same time, reconstruct- flocked to Spain after the outbreak of the past that are true and relevant— ing the exact circumstances of its war, and not all of whom were driven including aging victims of repression creation. This is precisely what he did by a pure, disinterested desire to help. and their family members, citizen for the Capa photo, beginning with

8 THE VOLUNTEER December 2009 a detailed review of all the evidence the picture, or perhaps even a tripod, circumstantial data as definitive and arguments presented so far, and belying his later claim to have shot proof. The fact that a certain Federico then moving to his own analysis and it by lifting his arm above a trench Borrell was killed at Cerro Muriano, conclusions. Although Susperregui’s and without looking through the for instance, and that, when asked, style is more essayistic than aca- view finder. The fact that both photos some of his aging family members demic—he tends to be colloquial, published in Vu are of two different claimed to recognize him in Capa’s chatty and a bit prolix, and the book soldiers dying in exactly the same photograph, was considered enough to is not edited very thoroughly—he spot, and that both images are almost declare the case closed. (It later turned presents his case with a good dose of identically framed—as is a third photo out that the real Borrell did not much common sense. His final position is from the series depicting a running resemble the man in the photo and was clear: the militiaman depicted is not militiaman—further supports the shot while sheltered behind a tree.) Federico Borrell; the picture was not tripod hypothesis. How likely is it taken at Cerro Muriano, but at Espejo, that two different men were killed on *** and before September 5; it was not the same precise square meter in the For those who have doubted the taken with Capa’s Leica, but with rearguard, within moments of each authenticity of The Falling Soldier, Taro’s Rolleiflex, and likely from a tri- other, with a photographer there to the status of Capa’s photograph is directly linked to the photographer’s A whole photographic career, however, does not stand or fall integrity: If the picture was a fraud, by a single image. then so was he. The biggest tactical mistake of Capa’s biographer, Robert Whelan, was to accept this premise, pod; it was posed; and the soldier is capture both deaths with an amaz- in effect allowing Capa’s reputation only pretending to have been hit. ingly steady hand? to rest on this one question. In 2002, Regardless of whether Susperregui Susperregui is convinced that when all evidence seemed to point is right, he brings up a number of those defending the image’s authen- in the direction of Borrell, Whelan issues that have been glossed over by ticity—particularly the International concluded in an article in Aperture: previous scholars—some surprisingly Center of Photography in New York “May the slanderous controversy that so, because they are photo-technical and Magnum—are operating in bad has plagued Robert Capa’s reputation in nature. Susperregui notes, for faith, purposely ignoring evidence to for more than twenty-five years now, instance, that the image in Life in July protect their institutional interests. at last come to an end with a verdict 1937 contains a much larger portion This charge is misplaced and unhelp- decisively in favor of Capa’s integrity. of sky than the first published ver- ful. In fact, the catalog and the exhibit It is time to let both Capa and Borrell sion in Vu of late September 1936. The allot ample space to the issue and rest in peace, and to acclaim The Falling changed aspect ratio suggests that present all the available documenta- Soldier once again as an unquestioned the photo may have been taken with tion in an exemplary way, allowing masterpiece of photojournalism and as Gerda Taro’s Rolleiflex (which pro- everyone to draw their own conclu- perhaps the greatest war photograph duces square negatives) rather than sions. There are other reasons why it ever made.” Implicit here is the admis- with Capa’s Leica (whose negatives took so long to find out what we know sion that reopening of the case will have a 3:2 ratio). This is not a crazy now. We have to remember that Capa automatically draw Capa’s integrity supposition: We know Capa and Taro himself supplied very little informa- into question once again. were both there, and of the 40 prints tion on the film. He sent it to Paris to A whole photographic career, how- that have been preserved, at least be developed and later gave several ever, does not stand or fall by a single eight were taken with the Rolleiflex. mutually contradictory accounts of its image. More important, Susperregui’s Given that this was a heavier cam- creation. Still, reading Susperregui’s driving principle, that a documentary era, however, it is likelier that Capa analysis, one is surprised how quick photograph is either true or false, does would have used both hands to take previous investigators were to accept Continued on page 10

December 2009 THE VOLUNTEER 9 Continued from page 9 borrow Geoff Pingree’s words. mean that this dramatic image does not hold up in practice. Documentary We should remember that Capa’s not accurately represent the deaths evidence is more complicated. The work was as much about illusion as of thousands like him. Fiction and working conditions for journalists about reality. His job as a photographer non-fiction are not synonyms for in Spain were extremely difficult, as was to allow the readers of Life, Vu, falsity and truth. An undoctored pho- Paul Preston has made clear in We and Picture Post to feel as if they were tograph can be a lie, in the same way Saw Spain Die. The majority of what on the battlefront without leaving the that a doctored one may well reveal we consider documentary material of safety and comfort of their homes. the world as it really is. The fact that the Spanish Civil War was doctored or This illusion—made possible by new Capa’s Falling Soldier—by all accounts manipulated in some way, if not by the technologies as much as by the pho- a realist, representative image of the writers and photographers, then by the tographers’ courage—was half of the Spanish Civil War—almost imme- Spanish censors or the editors at home. excitement. It is no coincidence that in diately acquired the status of symbol And even if objectivity or neutrality December 1938, Picture Post printed a representing the whole struggle of a had been possible in the coverage of the full-page portrait of Capa, author of people (or, alternatively, the horrors of war, few people thought it desirable. “the finest pictures of front-line action war) made the question of whether the The political stakes were high—and so ever taken,” while Life claimed that photo was or wasn’t “authentic” even were the publishers’ and the public’s its camera (that is, Capa’s) “gets closer more irrelevant. In this sense, reveal- demand for sensational images of suf- to the Spanish war than any camera ing that Capa’s image was staged fering and death. has ever got before.” In the end, the would be like revealing that there magazines’ infatuation with their is no actual body in the Tomb of the *** sensational reporting is not unlike El Unknown Soldier. It’s time to ask the central ques- Periódico’s fascination with its coverage Susperregui’s book makes a signifi- tion: What if The Falling Soldier were of the Capa affair this past summer. cant contribution to a long-standing staged? Would the knowledge that the Capa’s photos mobilized the debate. When it comes to establishing man depicted in this image did not illusion of proximity, and his own rep- whether The Falling Soldier was staged or not, Susperregui certainly bolsters Fiction and non-fiction are not synonyms for falsity and truth. the doubters’ case. But if he is right, An undoctored photograph can be a lie, in the same way that a the only thing lost is our certainty that doctored one may well reveal the world as it really is. the photographer happened to be there when one particular death occurred, while we know that hundreds of die at the moment the photo was taken utation, to tell truths about the world, thousands died, with or without a change the way we think about Spain, in much the same way that good real- photographer present. This may the Civil War, or 20th century history? ist fiction does. That this man may not lessen our belief in serendipity, but it The answer is that it wouldn’t. Capa have been dying or dead when Capa should not affect much else. did not record a news event at Espejo. pressed the shutter release does not What made his image so powerful was not that it pictured a history- An Unexpected Gift changing, unique incident—the moon landing or the murder of a president When the popular San Francisco vet Bill Bailey died eleven years ago, the or the conquest of Teruel. We see an Bay Area VALB Post and his many friends initiated a project to preserve unknown man dying at an unknown his small cottage on public park land in his home city. Unfortunately, a location in Spain, and we know, as did lack of funds and public support has led to abandonment of the proj- Capa’s first viewers, that hundreds of ect. This year, the unused funds (around 6,500) have been transferred to Spanish men and women were dying ALBA, acting as a non-profit educational corporation. After talking with in this way every day. some of Bill’s friends and his son, we’ve marked the money for the main- Limiting the discussion to the true- tenance fund of San Francisco’s monument to all the Abraham Lincoln or-false question does “not initiate the Brigade volunteers. Bill’s memory lives on with the cause he supported. most useful lines of examination,” to

10 THE VOLUNTEER December 2009 Added to Memory’s Roster

She was in the military until 1946. She ing with Alzheimer’s Disease. received two bronze battle stars. Hilda is survived by her son, After the war, Hilda married Kris Theodore Kirk, his half brothers, Neil Kirk in California. The couple became and Keith Kirk, and their families, active in politics in the Bay Area, but stepdaughter Elizabeth Karan, and they left the Communist Party over dis- various nieces and nephews, espe- illusionment with Stalin. Nevertheless, cially Joan Paul, who took care of her they lost their family’s passports during with Jane during the last years. the red scare of the 1950s. For more information, see http:// Hilda attended San Francisco State www.alba-valb.org/volunteers/ Photos by Richard Bermack by Photos University, where she took advanced hilda-roberts. nursing classes, and the Langley —Ethel Kirk Porter school as well. She received her Hilda Bell Roberts degree from the University of (1915-2009) California San Francisco. After her husband died, Hilda Hilda Bell Roberts, the last surviv- married family friend Bob Roberts in ing U.S. woman volunteer in the 1965. She was hired by Napa Spanish Civil War, died September 23 Community College to teach in the in northern California, where she had nursing program, and they moved to lived for many years. St. Helena. When she retired, she Hilda was born in Philadelphia in worked at Napa State Hospital and 1915 of Jewish Russian immigrant par- convalescent hospitals in the area. ents. Unlike most of the women in her After Bob’s death, Hilda became family, who were employed in the gar- even more active in local politics. She ment industries, she wanted to went to Nicaragua to pick coffee. She become a nurse. Soon after she gradu- traveled with Pastors for Peace on yel- Clarence Kailin ated from the Jewish Hospital for low school buses trying to bring (1914-2009) Nursing in 1937, she volunteered to go computer and medical supplies to to Spain, arriving there in May 1937. Cuba. She was on that famous trip Clarence Kailin, Lincoln vet and a In Spain Hilda worked as a staff when the convoy was stopped at the fixture in the activist community of his nurse in the operating room at the border and the passengers protested hometown, Madison, Wisconsin, died of Universidad Hospital and at the Cruz by fasting in Laredo in the hot sun a stroke on October 25 at the age of 95. Roja Hospital in Murcia before trans- and refusing to leave the bus. She Just two months earlier, hundreds ferring to the Aragon front. She also became active in various groups of family members and friends had traveled with the autochir, a mobile opposed to U.S. policies in Central joined Clarence in a birthday celebra- hospital that set up surgical units in a America and the Middle East. tion that included a personal song by variety of temporary locations. She Hilda continued her political folksinger Si Kahn, a rap performance was evacuated from Spain in enterprises when she moved to by Clarence’s grandson, a political December 1938 along with other Berkeley, where she met Jane Wilford, encomium by Nation columnist John International Brigade volunteers. who became a close friend and later Nicolls, and the old fighter’s parting During World War II, Hilda served her caretaker. “Hilda was always will- words. (See http://www.youtube. as a U.S. Army nurse and was stationed ing to protest with me,” Jane says, and com/watch?v=b6752gP2TvY.) in the Pacific theater in the New they were with Women in Black every “We’ve got a lot of work to do,” Guinea campaign from 1942 to 1944. week until Hilda lost her understand- Clarence said. “Nobody’s going to do

December 2009 THE VOLUNTEER 11 Added to Memory’s Roster it for us. So get going. We’ll eventually residents are saying, “Who is going to The Times added, “He says he is only get it done.” bring outside speakers to us now?” guardedly optimistic about Mr. Clarence went to Spain at the age —Peter N. Carroll Obama.” of 22 and saw action at Jarama and —Peter N. Carroll Brunete. “There were a lot of socialists Marcus J. Billings and communists among us, a lot of Jews who saw it as an opportunity to (1914-2009) fight against Hitler and anti-Semitism,” Native Californian Mark Billings, he told an interviewer recently. “We who interrupted his schooling at the believed that if Spain, which was the University of California at Berkeley in first country to stand up to fascism, 1937 to join the Lincoln Brigade, died was beaten, then World War II would in November at the age of 95. be inevitable, and we were right.” Mark was the last survivor of the After Spain, Clarence brought the seven UC undergraduates who partici- fight for labor rights and social justice pated in the Spanish Civil War. back to Madison. He organized unions Mark served as a truck driver and and fought to end racial discrimination mechanic in Spain. He was wounded Saul Shapiro in housing and jobs. During World War II, he trained radio operators at the (1915-2009) Navy School in Madison. After the Saul Meyer Shapiro, a veteran of war, Clarence became active in the the International Brigades, passed United Steel Workers of America away on September 21. He was 94 union. Later, he found steady work in years old. the department of photography at the Born in New York City, Saul University of Wisconsin. moved to Canada as a child and went Clarence remained at the forefront to Spain from Montreal. He served of radical politics on the home front. He with the Lincoln-Washington battalion organized protests against the Vietnam at Jarama, Brunete, the Aragon, and in War, opposed U.S. intervention in the Ebro offensive. Nicaragua in the 1980s, and spoke by shrapnel while in the Mediterranean After his return from Spain, Saul against war in Iraq. Fittingly, the town of Almeria when the German bat- was fortunate enough to start his own Madison chapter of Veterans for Peace tleship Deutschland opened fire on the business. During those early years, he is named after Clarence Kailin. He was defenseless city. His injuries brought was able to hire other veterans who also the inspiration for the erection of a him home in 1938. could not find work elsewhere, having monument to the Wisconsin volunteers Mark remained a lifelong socialist been blackballed as communists. Saul of the Abraham Lincoln Brigade, and and participated in demonstrations suffered numerous investigations he published the letters of his close into his 90s. from the “authorities” (read FBI) due friend, John Cookson, who was killed Last year, when the New York to his support of his fellow comrades. in Spain. Times learned that both presidential Saul is survived by his three chil- Feisty and uncompromising, but candidates mentioned the influence of dren and six grandchildren. His first with a keen sense of humor, Clarence Ernest Hemingway’s novel For Whom marriage was to a wonderful Cuban fought the good fight to the very end. the Bell Tolls on their lives, a reporter woman, Mirta. He spent his twilight Staff workers at his nursing home told interviewed Mark about his opinions. years with his second wife, Lupita, the family, “We’ll never see anyone Of John McCain, he said, “He’s the from Mexico. He will be missed. like your Dad again.” And his fellow very antithesis of what we stood for.” — Mark Shapiro

12 THE VOLUNTEER December 2009 CONTRIBUTIONS ALBA INSTITUTE • John Jacobs in memory of Edward Deyo • Jose Emilio Benjamin • Fred and Rosalind Benefactor ($5,000 - $14,999) Jacobs • Seymour Siegel • Ciel Gordet • Scheiner • Marjorie Liss and Elizabeth Liss Puffin Foundation Ann Sprayregen in memory of Louis Cohen for their mother, Sylvia Liss • Peter Cass in • Selina Morris • Donald Sarason • Bertha memory of Saul Meyer Shapiro • Michael Sponsor ($1000-$2,499) Lowitt • Georgene Orr • Dave Hancock • Ferris • Georgia Wever in memory of Moe Stanley Sprague in memory of Hilda Roberts • Joan Barnet • Joy Portugal • Joseph G. Konick Fishman’s birthday Tamara Tabb in memory of Herbert L. Tabb in memory of Joe and Leo Gordon, and Friend ($1 - $99) • Ralph and Dan Citzrom in honor of Louis Abe Smorodin • Stephen Becker • Henry Eugene and Evelyn Baron • Jorgia Bordofsky Czitrom (teachers scholarship) • Fredda Horowitz in memory of Milt Wolff • Edward • Ralph Fine • Sheila Goldmacker • Earl Harju Weiss and Gynis Pulia • Max H. Applebaum in • Mark Shapiro and Anne Greenberg-Shapiro memory of deceased vets • Mary McLaughlin Supporter ($250 - $999) in memory of Saul Wellman • Laetitia C. in memory of Daniel McLaughlin • John Neal Rosenberg in honor of Leo Rosenberg Ortega and Jose Ortega • Jennifer Diskin in Racanelli • Estelle D. Katz in memory of memory of Stella and Martin Shapiro • Alan J. Contributor ($100 - $249) Moe Fishman • Gus Ricca in memory of Goldman • Erwin Loretz • Henry Horowitz • John Brademas • Artemis Chakerian in Clarence Kailin • Frances Steadman • Peter Marilyn Sequerra • Dorothy M. 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FROM THE ARCHIVES Paul Robeson & the Vets, 1945

For more information on Paul Robeson in the Spanish Civil War, visit our website: www.alba-valb.org/resources/robeson. To order ALBA’s graphic novel, Paul Robeson in Spain, contact Jeanne Houck: [email protected]; 212-674-5398.