Carl Geiser, political commissar of the Lincoln Battalion, prisoner of war held in Spain until 1939, and author of Prisoners of the Good Fight, left the letters he wrote to his family to the ALBA collection. The complete letters, edited by Peter N. Carroll and Fraser Ottanelli, have just published by Kent State University...
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The new Common Core Standards provide ALBA with an opportunity to help more high school teachers introduce the Spanish Civil War into their classes. Students will study history not by rote or memorization, but by confronting directly original primary documents.
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Hurricane Sandy swamped the schools of Bergen County, New Jersey last November, forcing postponement of ALBA’s teaching institute, but the spring term brought an exciting revival as 22 Spanish language and social studies high school educators attended a lively one-day session at the Bergen County Academies, organized by administrator Tim Casperson, in Hackensack.
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Jim Benét, lifelong journalist and veteran of the American Regiment de Tren (Transport) in the International Brigades, died in December near his home in northern California of a blood infection. He was 98. Born in New York to a literary family on both sides—his father was William Rose Benét, a poet; his uncle, Stephen...
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Harry W. Randall, Jr., once the chief photographer of the special photographic unit of the Fifteenth Brigade during the Spanish Civil War, died at a care facility in Snowflake, Arizona on November 11. His vast collection of photographs—which included not only his own camera work but a large array of negatives, albums of prints,...
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After organizing three successful professional development programs for high school teachers this spring—in Seattle, Tampa, and Oberlin, Ohio—ALBA launched three more in the autumn term in Alameda County, California, New York City, and Bergen County, New Jersey. As in the past, teachers are welcoming the presentation of fresh historical source material from the ALBA...
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We know, of course, that he gave his talent as a writer to support the Republican side.
But there are at least two additional things Hemingway did that have attracted little attention.
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One of the last surviving veterans of the Abraham Lincoln Brigade, Vernon Bown, died of pneumonia at a VA hospital in Martinez, California, on March 23, as reported by his son Ricardo. Born in rural Wisconsin, Bown went to Spain in 1937 and saw action with the MacKenzie-Papineau battalion until the volunteers were repatriated...
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Now in its fifth year, ALBA’s educational program aims to reach high school teachers of social studies and Spanish who will use archival sources related to the Spanish Civil War in their classrooms. Three separate programs filled the calendar during the spring term; three more are expected in the fall. Last March, ALBA board...
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As we begin the fifth year of ALBA’s teaching programs for high school instructors, we are detecting positive patterns in the anonymous evaluations each teacher is asked to complete at the end of the program. Last December in Chicago, for example, a male world history teacher indicated that he had begun the session with...
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The Abraham Lincoln Brigade Archives (ALBA) is an educational non-profit dedicated to promoting social activism and the defense of human rights. ALBA’s work is inspired by the American volunteers of the Abraham Lincoln Brigade who fought fascism in the Spanish Civil War (1936-39). Learn more at our website or
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The Volunteer for Liberty, p. 10.v.2, no. 2, January 13, 1938. Cyprus, a small island in the Eastern Mediterranean, has a population of 340,000. Cyprus, now a British colony, has been under British imperialist domination since 1878. The foreign ruler subjects the people to a life of degradation and misery. ...
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Lloyd Edward Johnson was 41-years old when he arrived in Spain in April 1937. He was the oldest of four sons born to Norwegian immigrants Seavert and Nesina Johnson. Johnson was born and raised in St. Paul, Minnesota. He applied for a position as an apprentice electrician with the Northern Pacific Railway Company when...
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Pursuit of Reason, Philadelphia: Adelante Press, 1971, p.19-20 “Wat’s dis, wat’s dis?” Colonel Jean LeBeau bounced along the line of fire like a bullet-proof ball. “Come ‘lone der, Yanks. Let’s go! Up de hill, up de hill!” The Colonel put his whole, squat body into his appeal to get the men moving. He waved...
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The Volunteer for Liberty, V.1, No. 24, November 17, 1937 After six months on the Cordoba front, the American Hospital Unit under Dr. A. I. Friedman (of Hackensack, N. J.) is now at Villa Paz for a short period of reorganization before, leaving for the Fifteenth Brigade. The American Hospital of the South and...
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The Volunteer for Liberty, V2, No. 31, August 5, 1938. The Army of the East is coming to the aid of the Levante! Like a bolt of lightning this sweeping thought penetrated every company, every unit, every soldier in the Army. How? Where? Again the smashing lightning idea. Along a front of more than...
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That morning when I heard that Manch was killed— Beneath the almond tree our company Was lined up for its bread and jam and coffee. I saw his sergeant, Aaron, passing by. I called to him; he told me...
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The Volunteer for Liberty, V. 2, No. 31, September 5, 1938. The cabo in the Spanish people’s army should realize that not only has he many responsibilities in connection with the whole life of the soldiers in his squad, but also that it is necessary to train himself in such a way as to...
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The Volunteer for Liberty, V2, No. 25, July 19, 1938 The cabo in the performance of his tasks plays a very important part in the functioning of a military machine. The squad, being the basic unit, must function properly in every way, if the peloton, section, company, etc. , are in turn to function...
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Edward Lewis, best known as the producer of Stanley Kubrik’s Spartacus (1960), passed away this week; he was 99. His life and work had several important connections to the Spanish Civil War. For Spartacus, Lewis hired screenwriter Dalton Trumbo who, along with Lincoln vet Alvah Bessie, was one of the “Hollywood Ten.” When Lewis demanded that Trumbo be credited publicly...
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The Volunteer for Liberty, V2, no. 25, July 19, 1938 The functions of a Cabo is to see that his men execute quickly and efficiently the order of his superior officers. To this end he must have, first, an extensive knowledge of military technique; secondly; the respect of his squad; third, a sense of...
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ALBA's project to provide a complete list of the more than 2,800 individuals who left from U.S. territory to fight with the Spanish Republic