Lincoln Brigaders: Firsthand Accounts of French Camps, 1939

Abstract

About 2,800 volunteers of the American contingent of the International Brigades, generally known as the Abraham Lincoln Brigade, served in Spain from 1937 to 1939. After the fall of Barcelona at the end of January 1939 many ended up in French refugee camps. This article draws on first-hand eye-witness accounts to paint a picture not only of the withdrawal from Spain after the fall of Barcelona in January 1939 but also of conditions within the camps in France.

Key words:

• Abraham Lincoln Brigade
• refugee camps
• eye-witness accounts

Notes

1 Arthur H. Landis, The Abraham Lincoln Brigade (New York: The Citadel Press, 1967).

2 Robert A. Rosenstone, The Crusade of the Left: The Lincoln Battalion in the Spanish Civil War (New York: Pegasus, 1969).

3 Peter N. Carroll, The Odyssey of the Abraham Lincoln Brigade: Americans in the Spanish Civil War (Stanford: Stanford U. P., 1994), 225.

4 Arthur Shields, On the Battle Lines, 1919–1939 (New York: International Publishers, 1986).

5 Shields, On the Battle Lines, 241–42.

6 Shields, On the Battle Lines, 242.

7 John Murra, ‘Témoignage: l'accueil fait aux volontaires internationaux par les habitants des Pyrénées orientales en 1937’, Howard Goddard Papers, Abraham Lincoln Brigade Archives 126, Box 1, Folder 39, 161 (Tamiment Library, New York University).

8 Stanley Postek, ‘Journal’, Stanley Postek Papers, Abraham Lincoln Brigade Archives 089, Box 1, Folder 12.

9 Ave Bruzzichesi, ‘Correspondence to Dr Eloesser’, Fredericka Martin Papers, Abraham Lincoln Brigade Archives 001, Box 5, Folder 25.

10 David Gordon, ‘Spanish Civil War Diary’, typescript, Alvah Bessie Papers, Abraham Lincoln Brigade Archives 024. Box 3, Folder 19.

11 Sidney Kaufman, ‘Journal’, Sidney Kaufman Papers, Abraham Lincoln Brigade Archives 058, Box 1, Folder 9, p. 2.

12 Kaufman, ‘Journal’, p. 3.

13 André Marty, 1886–1956, French communist who served several terms as a Member of Parliament; was Secretary of the Communist International; appointed Inspector General of the International Brigades. Luigi Longo, 1900–1980, Italian communist and member of the Communist International; served as inspector of the International Brigades; known in Spain as ‘Gallo’.

14 Gordon, ‘Spanish Civil War Diary’, p. 4.

15 Gordon, ‘Spanish Civil War Diary’, p. 6.

16 Bruzzichesi to Eloesser, 8 February 1940, Fredericka Martin Papers.

17 Kaufman, ‘Journal’, p. 4.

18 Gordon, ‘Spanish Civil War Diary’, pp. 10, 12.

19 Kaufman, ‘Journal’, p. 5.

20 Kaufman, ‘Journal’, p. 6.

21 Kaufman, ‘Journal’, p. 6.

22 Gordon, ‘Spanish Civil War Diary’, p. 12.

23 Kaufman, ‘Journal’, p. 4.

24 Gordon, ‘Spanish Civil War Diary’, p. 12.

25 Kaufman, ‘Journal’, p. 6.

26 Kaufman, ‘Journal’, p. 5.

27 Gordon, ‘Spanish Civil War Diary’, p. 14.

28 Geneviève Dreyfus-Armand, L'Exil des Républicains espagnols en France. De la Guerre civile à la mort de Franco (Paris: Albin Michel, 1999), 53.

29 Kaufman, ‘Journal’, p. 6.

30 Kaufman, ‘Journal’, p. 6.

31 Gordon, ‘Spanish Civil War Diary’, p. 24.

32 Postek, ‘Journal’, p. 1.

33 Postek, ‘Journal’, p. 1.

34 Invaluable New York University resources include the Elmer Holmes Bobst Library, within which is the Tamiment Library, which holds the Abraham Lincoln Brigade Archives and the Robert F. Wagner Labor Archives.