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 7+(<($5 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.