Episode #1: The Re-Enactors

(Pincha aqui para version en Castellano)

Among the first people I met when I started my research for  this project was a small group of Civil War re-enactors.   Because this war is a sensitive subject in Spain, the existence of such a group seemed truly remarkable at the time.  In fact, less than a half hour had transpired since a pair of executives at an local production company had told me with knowing chuckles that there wasn’t and would never be re-enactors in Spain.  It was simply too radical an idea.  Well, the world changes, whether or not we choose to recognize this, and this situation illustrates exactly what this series is about.  

In the years since, Civil War re-enacting has become one of the most visible aspects of the breakdown of Spain’s Pact of Oblivion.  At a time when affronts to this social contract to forget the war and the ensuing dictatorship are typically confrontational or at least highly political, these re-enactors struggle to practice their hobby in a spirit of reconciliation.  But is it even possible to play at war for the goal of peace?

Note:  There is a high-quality version of this film available through the button on the lower right.  It takes a little while to download, but it’s worth it.

Recreacion Historica en Junio; Re-enactment in June

I just received this item from our friends in Alcañiz.  Acabo de recibir esta noticia de nuestros amigos en Alcañiz

 

COMUNICADO E INFORMACION SOBRE LA IIIª RECREACION HISTORICA  DE TORRE DE ARCAS

6  Y 7 DE JUNIO DEL 2009

La Asociación Frente de Aragón de Alcañiz, Organiza por tercer año consecutivo los días 6 y 7 de Junio del 2009, unas jornadas dedicadas a la recreación histórica.

La época, nuestra guerra civil del 36/39, concretamente en el llamado frente de Aragón, con el pueblo de Torre de Arcas  (Teruel) y comarca del Matarraña ambientado en esa época,  veremos combates callejeros y lucha en las trincheras, podremos pasear y observar la vida en los campamentos, ver y preguntar sobre todo el material que usamos y también como no sobre la posibilidad de pertenecer a alguno de nuestros grupos, serán dos días en los que  todos los visitantes podrán ver el evento como si de un museo viviente se tratara.

 Además habrá una feria de militaría en la que se podrán comprar y vender piezas originales de la época y todo tipo de material militar, para colección o decoración.

Estarán presentes al igual que en  las otras dos ediciones, todos los grupos de recreación de España, Francia e Inglaterra

Eventos como este, además de exposiciones, charlas, investigación y restauración de todos vestigios relacionados con la guerra civil española en nuestra comunidad, es a lo que se dedica esta asociación, toda persona interesada en contactar con nosotros puede dirigirse al correo electrónico de la asociación

 

Este año, dispondremos como atrezzo y ambientación de época, del camión comedor Ford V8 del cuartel general del ejercito nacional “Terminus”, coches de época a cargo de la asociación de vehículos históricos de Alcañiz. Hospital volante de campaña, artillería y todo el equipo y armamento que se podrá visitar en los dos campamentos montados a tal efecto

 

Antonio Aznar Fran                                                       Oscar Ibáñez Dominguez                             

Asociaciónfrentedearagon@gmail.com

 A OFICIAL DE LA IIIº RECREACION HISTORICA  EL FRENTE DE ARAGON TORRE DE ARCAS 2009 

 SABADO día 5 de Junio del 2009

12,00 h. Inauguración de la feria de Militaría, compra venta de objetos y antigüedades  relacionados con el tema militar y la guerra civil Española

 16,00 h. Jornada de puertas abiertas para visitar los diferentes campamentos de los grupos de recreación, se enseñaran al publico, tanto armamento como equipos  

 19,30 h.   Simulacro de combate en población, golpe de mano y emboscada           

 

DOMINGO Día 1 de Junio del 2008-03-07

 10,00 h.    Feria de militaría en el pabellón municipal de deportes

12,00 h.    Recreación histórica de una batalla en el frente de Aragón

Paco Ibañez Concert Promises an Emotional Journey to the Past

I have to admit Mr. Ibañez was new to me before I received this notice, but his fans are unequivocal in their support of this singer-songwriter whose style and lyrics conjure the sorrows of the death of the Republic and the aftermath of exile that so many suffered.   For those of you in range, his next concert, dedicated to the memory of poet Antonio Machado and to the Spanish Republic, will take place on February 21, appropriately in  Argeles sur Mer, site of one of the concentration camps where thousands of Spanish refugees were interned after the war.

http://www.aflordetiempo.com/argeles.htm

Abraham Lincoln Brigade Archives Opens New Exhibit

Scenes of Bravery and Determination: Walter Rosenblum’s Homage to the Spanish Republicans

Exhibition Opening and Reception   Thursday, January 22, 2009 Time: 6:30 – 8:30 pm Place: King Juan Carlos I of Spain Center, 53 Washington Square South Free of Charge RSVP here  In the fall of 1946, the New York photographer Walter Rosenblum–a student and friend of Paul Strand and Lewis Hine–traveled to Toulouse, France, to record the relief work undertaken by the Unitarian Service Committee for the thousands of Spanish refugees living there since the end of the Civil War, seven years earlier. He came back with a series of haunting portraits, 25 of which will be part of an exhibit at the King Juan Carlos Center.  “I had expected to find dejected and tired people,” Rosenblum later wrote, “but instead discovered bravery and determination.” Sponsored by the Abraham Lincoln Brigade Archives, NYU Tamiment Library, and the King Juan Carlos I of Spain Center. With special thanks to the Rosenblum family.   Click Here for more information

Review of Paul Preston’s New Book on Journalism During the War

An entertaining and enlightening review in itself:

http://entertainment.timesonline.co.uk/tol/arts_and_entertainment/books/

non-fiction/article5146754.ece

New Biography of Franco Reveals Perspectives from His Only Daughter

A new biography of Franco by Stanley Payne and Jesus Palacios promises to reveal heretofore unseen aspects of Francisco Franco’s personality and life.

http://www.elmundo.es/elmundo/2008/11/28/espana/1227863904.html

Garzon Withdraws Case

I’m not sure what to make of this at the moment, but it appears that Garzon has bent to the pressure to not stir the pot.  While he has left the door open for cases to be pursued by regional courts, I would expect only limited action in that arena.  Further analysis forthcoming, in the meantime these articles are available for you perusal:

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/europe/article5182162.ece

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/11/19/world/europe/19spain.html?hp

Abraham Lincoln Brigade Veterans and Supporters Celebrate 70th anniversary of Despedida

Thank you to the individual who forwarded me this article.
Farida Jhabvala-Romero, Nov 13, 2008 

Bruce Barthol and Heather Bridger perform Barthol’s lyrics “Taste of Ashes.” Photo by Richard Bermack

 

Hilda Roberts, one of the few surviving veterans and a prominent Bay Area activist, and her daughter. Roberts was a nurse in the Spanish Civil War. Photo by Richard Bermack.

 

The 70th anniversary of the farewell or despedida to the Spanish Civil War’s International Brigades – thousands of volunteers who fought for the Spanish democratic government from 1936 to 1939 – was celebrated last Saturday November 1st in San Francisco.

The non-profit Abraham Lincoln Brigade Archives hosted the event as part of its efforts to disseminate the extraordinary history of the nearly 2,800 Americans who were part of the International Brigades. The North American veterans came to be known collectively as the Abraham Lincoln Brigade, since the first of them served as the Lincoln Battalion of the 15th International Brigade.

“They were people who wanted to fight for international social justice,” said Richard Bermack, 58, author of The Frontlines of Social Change: Veterans of the Abraham Lincoln Brigade and Art Director of ALBA’s journal The Volunteer. “They believed in freedom for everyone, that people are responsible for other people.” 

In July 1936, Spanish armed forces led by Gen. Francisco Franco rebelled against the elected Republican Government. When Hitler’s Germany and Mussolini’s Italy provided military and financial aid to Franco’s forces – while the US, Britain and France declared neutrality and an arms embargo – an estimated 40,000 volunteers from 52 nations joined the war to defend the Spanish democracy.

The Brigades “were fighting against Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy’s expansion through Europe,” said Peter Carroll, Chair of ALBA’s Board of Governors and author of The Odyssey of the Abraham Lincoln Brigade. “Obviously, they also fought against Fascist racism. The Lincoln Brigade was the first fully integrated army of Americans – long before the US Army ordered desegregation.”

The Spanish Civil War, a brutal conflict with an estimated 500,000 to 1 million civilian casualties, increased tensions that lead up to World War II and is considered by some a first “modern war,” in part because of the weaponry and equipment used.

When it became clear that Western democracies would not help the Spanish Republic, the surviving International Brigades were pulled out of the conflict. On October 28, 1938, months before the defeat of the Republic and the beginning of Franco’s decades-long dictatorship, the city of Barcelona bid farewell to the Brigades during the Despedida parade.

“The Despedida was a very important event in Spain because it symbolized the struggle… it became clear what (the International Brigades) had done: take a stand for all humanity,” said Bermack. “It was also a bittersweet moment because they realized they had lost the war.”

During the anniversary celebration at Delancey Street Theater this month, original newsreel footage of the Despedida – screened for the first time in the US – showed thousands of people crowding Barcelona’s streets and cheering parading soldiers, who waved back and sometimes smiled. The film narrated the effusive and emotional signs of Spaniards’ gratitude and affection towards the departing brigadiers, who were declared heroes and showered with flowers.

“This is about honoring the incredible things they did,” said Joni Keller, whose parents Fred Keller and nurse Ruth Davidou were in the Lincoln Brigade. “It’s a poetic remembrance for the fact that they were there for their beliefs.” 

A similar sentiment was echoed by Elizabeth “Betita” Martinez, social justice activist and author of 500 Years of Chicano History In Pictures and Letters from Mississippi, on civil rights activists.

“I always loved the story about the veterans of the Abraham Lincoln Brigade,” said Martinez, whose daughter Tessa Koning-Martinez participated in the event’s program. “I think about how people were ready to die… and there are still people like that in this country. I really hope that young people would respond today the way they did then.”

The reunion, attended by veterans, relatives and supporters, featured Tessa Koning-Martinez, Heather Bridger, Arthur Holden and Bruce Barthol, who read a script based on letters by members of the Brigades including Archie Brown, Milton Roberson, Ave Bruzzichesi and James Newgass. Images of these veterans were projected as background to the script, which was also based on additional documentary sources such as the celebrated farewell address of Dolores “La Pasionaria” Ibárruri from the Spanish Communist Party, and the writings of luminaries Ernest Hemingway and Dorothy Parker, who reported from the Spanish Civil War.

Barthol, who developed the script and is the resident composer for the San Francisco Mime Troupe, also performed his song “Taste of Ashes,” and “Viva la Quince Brigada,” a rallying song of the Brigades. 

“When I was a child in Madrid, there were walls in the city with bullet holes and I always wondered about that,” said Barthol. “Later I found what had happened and that’s how I got interested in the Brigades.”

To attend ALBA’s upcoming book launch party for War is Beatiful: The Journal of an American Ambulance Driver in the Spanish Civil War (New Press, 2008), based on a manuscript lost for 70 years, go to:
*City Lights Bookstore, San Francisco, on Tuesday November 18 at 7 p.m. 
*Mrs. Dalloway’s Bookstore in Berkeley on Saturday November 22 at 3 p.m.
 
For more information, visit www.alba-valb.org

The Economist Comments on Garzon’s Moves

There is not much that hasn’t already been said by someone else in this recent Economist article, but it’s worth a quick read.  One of the highlights is this brief and simple response to some of the questions I raise in an earlier post: “The judge has produced a fresh interpretation of [The 1977 Amnesty] laws. Where a victim’s body has never been found, he asserts, a crime of kidnapping continues to this day. So it is not covered by the amnesty. To those who argue that international laws on crimes against humanity did not exist when the civil war ended in 1939, he points to the precedent of the Nuremberg trials of top Nazis. ”

http://www.economist.com/world/europe/displaystory.cfm?story_id=12470581

And for those of you who want to delve into source materials, I found a copy of the opinion here:

http://estaticos.elmundo.es/documentos/2008/10/16/auto_memoria_historica.pdf

Principal Editing Commences

While not as momentous as the news of Garzon posthumously prosecuting Franco, it bears mentioning that as of October 27th I have begun principal editing on the Remember Spain Video Series.  I have over 40 hours of footage in the can, and will be working on several storylines simultaneously.  I will begin posting them as they are completed.  Check back frequently for updates.

Cheers,

James