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.

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

Judge Garzon Moves to Prosecute Franco War Crimes

Hi Everyone,

In my introduction to this site I ask “what justice can there be for crimes committed seventy years ago?”  There are nearly as many opinions on this question as there are individuals in Spain, but as a general rule they remain as opinions.  Official responses have traditionally been dampened by the Amensty Law of 1977 and the general ethos established by the Pact of Silence.  Until now. Those of you that have looked past the front page of the U.S. newspapers lately or have checked the foreign press will know what I’m referring to.  No?  Then have a look here  or here and come back when you are done.

Yes, Judge Baltasar Garzon has once again broken with convention and is gnawing at one of the hands that feeds him.  I’ve heard the occasional comment on the apparent hypocrisy of Judge Garzon being willing to prosecute foreigners on questions of crimes against humanity, but not his own countrymen.  At least as regards the Franco administration.  It was clearly not a question of concern for his safety as he gave that up long ago in his war against both ETA and the GAL dirty war, alienating both sides of that violent conflict.  He managed to stay alive and keep his job though that.  So, it looks like those comments may have been misguided and that, as has been suggested to me, he was merely biding his time and establishing appropriate precedent.

Regrettably, I’m painfully ignorant when it comes to Spanish law.  Still, I have to give some credit to Javier Zaragoza, the fiscal jefe who has questioned Garzon’s writ on at least three compelling principles.  The first is that the alleged crimes are protected under the 1977 Amnesty Law.  Second, that the legal code  of the Republic had no provision for crimes against humanity; and third, that the Audiencia Nacional is not competent to judge the crime of rebellion as this fell under the jurisdiction of the military at the time. 

Amnesty International and several other human rights organizations and Historical Memory associations agree with this stance and contend that Crimes Against Humanity laws can and should be applied retroactively.  So think many Spaniards.  While it is unclear what the outcome of this case will be, or even if it will proceed beyond the legal question of whether Garzon’s court is competent to pursue this matter, one thing is certain and that is that outstanding questions about the Civil War and the Franco era are not going away any time soon.

http://www.france24.com/20081016-judge-garzon-probe-franco-era-deaths-spain

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/7679457.stm

Judge Orders Urgent Exhumations

Judge Baltasar Garzon, “el Superjuez” as some call him, recently ordered the urgent exhumation of 19 mass graves.  One of these is expected to contain the remains of famed poet Federico Garcia Lorca.  Much has been made during the buildup to this ruling over the question of what to do with the grave site of Federico Garcia Lorca.  Long an icon of the tragedies of the SCW and in particular of Francoist oppression, his resting site is really no different than that of many others.  Indeed, an estimated 114,000 by Garzon’s recent estimation remain “disappeared.”  Determining the whereabouts of these missing people implies the exhumation and identification of all known remains, and the hope of locating more gravesites along the way.  The decision to undertake such a process carries many assumptions. 

The first is that of a willingness, or at least acquiescence, on the part of relatives to have these remains exhumed.  For some, however, this is tantamount to profanity.  Such is the case for relatives such as Laura Garcia Lorca, niece of Federico.  In a reversal from her earlier decision to allow the exhumation, she was recently quoted as saying “we believe that there is no reason that justifies the perturbation of a cemetery or a place which holds the body not only of Federico Garcia Lorca but of lots of other dead people.”

And while this quest for the truth assumes that stepping on a few toes is okay, there is also a question of value.  At a time when the global economy is in straits and public funds will be strapped even for programs that assist those still living, does it make sense to spend what will no doubt be a vast sum on those long dead?  To be sure, this process will bring closure to some.  There is value in that.  But it is certain that the majority of those 114,000 missing souls will never be found, which raises the question of what proportion of discovery is the right proportion to justify this process.  ½?  ¼?  1/16?  Will identifying 7000 corpses and returning them to their relatives, few of whom will have ever know the deceased, justify the conflict, pain, and expense that this process entails?  I guess we’ll find out.

Some links to ponder:

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/10/17/world/europe/17spain.html?ref=world

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/europe/article5014625.ece