Jews in the Spanish Civil War

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 marginilization 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.

By Martin Sugarman (1936 - 1939)