September 2007

�� Vol. XXIV, No. 3 September 2007 Moe Fishman at his desk in the VALB office, planning the annual veterans' reunion, April 2001. Moe dedicated his life to VALB, acting as the national spokesman for the vets for over 50 years. See Memory's Roster, page 20. Photo by Richard Bermack. Letter From the Editor We’re in a season of milestones. The Volunteer ALBA’s exhibition, “Facing Fascism: New York & the Journal of the Spanish Civil War,” came down from the walls at the Veterans of the Museum of the City of New York in August after attracting Abraham Lincoln Brigade many thousands of spectators (see page 1). A facsimile ver- an ALBA publication sion of the show is bound for Spain, our first exhibition to 799 Broadway, Suite 341 be seen in that country. New York, NY 10003 Soon afterward, a facsimile version of “They Still Draw (212) 674-5398 Pictures: Children’s Art of the Spanish Civil War” will also Editorial Board be on display in several Spanish cities. Peter N. Carroll • Gina Herrmann Meanwhile, on the west coast, plans for the inaugura- Fraser Ottanelli • Abe Smorodin tion of the new memorial to the volunteers of the Abraham Book Review Editor Lincoln Brigade are aiming for the late autumn. Everyone Shirley Mangini is asking for the exact date, but we can’t be precise just now. Art Director-Graphic Designer The basic contract with the city of San Francisco has Richard Bermack been negotiated and signed; the funds are almost at hand. Editorial Assistance Note the word “almost.” Nancy Van Zwalenburg ALBA is required to provide the city with at least $100,000 in maintenance funds for the next 20 years. That Submission of Manuscripts Please send manuscripts by E-mail or on disk. represents our major shortfall. E-mail: [email protected] But the primary delay comes from the technical side of the project: because the memorial requires an innovative process to inscribe visual images and text on the onyx pan- Dear Friends, els, no one can accurately predict how long the work will I don’t know how to express my sorrow; with Moe’s actually take. There are 40 feet of panels, eight feet high, death, we’ve lost a part of ourselves. I write to you, in my that have to be prepared and inscribed. own name and on behalf of the Association of Friends of We expect to unveil this glorious monument by the International Brigades, to express our sorrow and to December—it could be sooner—and we’ll give our sub- ask that you convey our condolences to all of our scribers as much advance notice as possible when we set colleagues in VALB and ALBA. the exact date. I think Moe led a beautiful life, because he fought for We are also launching a new collaboration with the Bay just ideals, the ideals that he maintained throughout his Area Paul Robeson Centennial Committee: the first install- life. We Spaniards will always be grateful to him for ment of a graphic story about Paul Robeson, African bringing those ideals here during his youth, to defend the Americans, and the Spanish Civil War. It starts in this is- cause of liberty, democracy and social justice. And for sue. It will end with a 28-page booklet suitable for remaining ever loyal to this land in which he endured a distribution to students, along with teaching tools on the cruel war, trying to defend it from fascism. Those of us subject. Stay tuned for the next exciting installment! born later, who came to Moe afterwards, have always seen Lastly, we note the passing of the VALB icon, Moe in him an example of solidarity, a friend who always gave Fishman. It’s been almost 20 years since he led me through sage advice, and who at times asked difficult but necessary the streets of New York to meet veterans of the Spanish questions. He was a cordial and profoundly human being. Civil War who had stories to tell. Afterward, he’d make me It has been a privilege for us to know him, and we will meals and give me a place to sleep. His own stories were always remember him as an example of international honest and accurate. He was a fact-checker’s dream. Moe, solidarity. He was truly magnanimous and his humanity there’s still more I want to ask. knew no borders; these attributes are the only ones on which —Peter N. Carroll we can build a future. We will do everything we can to keep his memory alive and to transmit it to future generations. Our dear friend Moe, thank you, and ¡Salud! Ana Perez SCENES FROM AN EXHIBITION By James D. Fernández ome came from as nearby as Astoria, Williamsburg, and East SHarlem. Others traveled all the way from Canton, Milwaukee, Greensboro, Chicago, San Diego, and San Francisco. Joining their ranks were men and women who journeyed from as far away as Australia, Brazil, Canada, Croatia, England, France, Germany, Ireland, Mexico, Slovenia, Scotland, Switzerland and Uruguay. They expressed themselves in English, Spanish, French, Catalan, German, Italian, Japanese, and Portuguese. All the members of this remarkably di- verse group of men and women had one thing in common: they all volunteered to write comments in the first volume of the guest book of the exhibition “Facing Fascism: New York and the Spanish Civil War,” which was on view at the Museum of the City of New York from late March until mid-August. The show was seen by tens of thousands of individuals from all over the world. Thousands more have attended the parallel public pro- grams—lectures, film screenings, concerts, and seminars—mounted by the museum. Hundreds of teach- ers and students have also benefited cinctly the heterogeneous inscriptions covering the first eight weeks of the from special guided tours and teacher they have left behind, which range show’s run at the museum. development initiatives coordinated from simple, graffiti-like “I-was- For the curators of the show, the by the museum. Many of these guests here” annotations to paragraph-long proximity of the exhibited past (just 70 have taken a moment to leave a record reflections and, occasionally, coun- years ago) represented both a great of their visit to “Facing Fascism” by ter-reflections. There is, moreover, challenge and a great opportunity. jotting something down in the guest a good deal of contradiction among And one thing shared by many of the book. the responses. “Inspiring” and “very more substantial entries in the guest It’s difficult to characterize suc- depressing”; “uplifting and “tragic”; book is precisely a strong sense of im- “impartial” and “horribly one-sided,” mediacy or urgency. These are the James D. Fernández is co-editor with “informative” and “disingenuous.” inscriptions that make one realize that Peter N. Carroll of the exhibition These are just some of the contradic- for many of the museum’s visitors, the catalogue, Facing Fascism: New York & the tory characterizations that appear on history being chronicled is by no Spanish Civil War (New York University the 75-odd pages of the book, roughly Press). Continued on page 2 THE VOLUNTEER September 2007 1 EXHIBITION Continued from page 1 means some kind of remote, detached and Grandfather. For Bill Lazarre, my fa- Lincoln Brigade naturally enjoy a priv- past, but rather a kind of unfulfilled ther. Thank you for this exhibit and all ileged place in the exhibition, the true promise or, perhaps, an open wound. your work. protagonists of the exhibition are the —On behalf of the families of the brig- tens of thousands of ordinary New Identification, memorialization adistas who volunteered and never Yorkers who took to the streets in de- “Great for our time, but no pic- returned from Spain. Thank you for the fense of the Spanish Republic. These tures of my mom and dad.” moving and wonderful exhibit. visitors and their descendents were Apparently, some visitors came to —I thank the MCNY for a job well also able to identify immediately with the Museum of the City of New York done. My great uncle, Herminio Avilés the scenes and events chronicled in fully expecting to find familiar faces Valencia, was a volunteer in Spain. He the exhibition. portrayed in the exhibition. Not all was wounded there and died as a result in —My mother raised funds for the were disappointed. “Facing Fascism” the Presbyterian Hospital of San Juan, Abraham Lincoln Brigade! was obviously visited by many of the Puerto Rico. —My father was in NY, coming from surviving veterans of the Abraham —My husband Jack Penrod fought in Chicago, to help load ships for Spain. Lincoln Brigade and by scores of their Spain, [and I] loved the exhibit. —Saturday night was “raising money friends and relatives. For most of these —I write this entry on behalf of veter- in the New York subway” night. You came visitors, the exhibition represented a an Hy Tabb, 93 years old, who was with your collection can, you paid your “long overdue” tribute to the men and brought by his wife Tommy (Tamaara). fare and made speeches on the train. Yes women who had risked life and limb —My grandmother, Alice Wagnon, we believed in the fight for Democracy in to go to Spain to stem the tide of fas- was a member of the Lincoln Brigade as a Spain. We believed in Democracy for the cism. These visitors tend to write “in nurse. I have always admired her for this world, and we still fight.

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