Jewish Volunteers In The Spanish Civil War
The Spanish Civil War was from July 17, 1936 to April 1, 1939. The war was a struggle of the Spanish people to defend their democratic rights and national independence. It also came to represent a struggle for all people around the world. The Jews played an important role after they came to understand that Fascism represented a great threat., A minority of the Jewish population, particularly that of Europe's, were active in socialist and Communist organisations in the period between the two World Wars. For Jews, the Fascist menace represented both political oppression and racist antisemitism. Thousands of Jews from 53 countries went to fight against Franco and Fascism. AJEX "For the first time since Fascism began systematically throttling and rending all we hold dear," wrote Gene Wolman, a volunteer from New York, "we are getting the opportunity to fight back." There were some Jews that went openly as Jews while others took aliases. On top of that thousands of Jews were active in solidarity campaigns, fund raising, and refugee rescue. AJEX
They made up a considerable portion of the socialist volunteers, with estimates putting the figure at over ten per cent. Many of them joined the International Brigades and the Popular Front to fight in the Spanish Civil War on the side of the Republicans. It is estimated that up to 25% of all the (IB) Fighters were Jewish. The leadership of the International Brigades considered forming an entirely Jewish brigade but the high casualties made this impossible. However, a Jewish company, the Naftali Botwin Company was formed within the Palafox Battalion.
Read more about Jewish Volunteers In The Spanish Civil War: National Origin of Volunteers, Notable Figures
Famous quotes containing the words spanish civil war, civil war, jewish, volunteers, spanish, civil and/or war:
“Stiller ... took part in the Spanish Civil War ... It is not clear what impelled him to this military gesture. Probably many factors were combined—a rather romantic Communism, such as was common among bourgeois intellectuals at that time.”
—Max Frisch (1911–1991)
“At Hayes’ General Store, west of the cemetery, hangs an old army rifle, used by a discouraged Civil War veteran to end his earthly troubles. The grocer took the rifle as payment ‘on account.’”
—Administration for the State of Con, U.S. public relief program (1935-1943)
“Dr. Craigle: A good man, completely reliable. Not given to overcharging and stringing visits out, the way some do.
Phil Green: Do you mean the way some doctors do or do you mean the way some Jewish doctors do?
Dr. Craigle: I suppose you’re right. I suppose some of us do it, too. Not just the Chosen People.”
—Moss Hart (1904–1961)
“Friendship is but another name for an alliance with the follies and the misfortunes of others. Our own share of miseries is sufficient: why enter then as volunteers into those of another?”
—Thomas Jefferson (1743–1826)
“How can I, that girl standing there,
My attention fix
On Roman or on Russian
Or on Spanish politics?”
—William Butler Yeats (1865–1939)
“We have heard all of our lives how, after the Civil War was over, the South went back to straighten itself out and make a living again. It was for many years a voiceless part of the government. The balance of power moved away from it—to the north and the east. The problems of the north and the east became the big problem of the country and nobody paid much attention to the economic unbalance the South had left as its only choice.”
—Lyndon Baines Johnson (1908–1973)
“There is the guilt all soldiers feel for having broken the taboo against killing, a guilt as old as war itself. Add to this the soldier’s sense of shame for having fought in actions that resulted, indirectly or directly, in the deaths of civilians. Then pile on top of that an attitude of social opprobrium, an attitude that made the fighting man feel personally morally responsible for the war, and you get your proverbial walking time bomb.”
—Philip Caputo (b. 1941)