Visit 5

During my last archive visit, which was last night, I decided to look at the Archie Brown papers. Earlier I had looked through the database online at what photograph collections were available. I saw that Brown had his own photo collection and decided that before I requested it, I should request his personal papers. When I got the box, I started to take out the first folder, but then I changed my mind and looked for a folder full of letters written near the end of the period of American involvement in the International Brigades. I made this decision because the letters I've read from three different men were all written before and during the first months of combat. I couldn't have read their letters towards the end of the involvement because these men did not make it until that time. Therefore, I was curious to look at Brown's later letters.

I wasn't able to finish the folder I choose--I think it was eighteen--but still there were many interesting things in what I did read. The letters I read were written after Archie Brown found out that the American battalions were to be sent home. Throughout the course of those I read, Brown was never able to confirm the official date of departure.

From these letters I wanted to know why the Americans thought they were allowed to go home and whether they were demoralized or hopeful for Spain.

The first bit I came across that addressed this question was a section where Brown was talking about what places he and Ester, his correspondent, would see traveling. He named the U.S., then Mexico, "and perhaps France and the new Spain." This was curious to me. The context made me think that "new Spain" referred to a triumphant Republican Spain. The next line was, "Of course all these things are not in the cards but who can tell." I was unsure whether this referred to a victorious Republican Spain or to the possibility of their traveling. But then he wrote, "Perhaps the democracies will unite against the fascists--perhaps things will get better enough so that we can save enough to travel" and this mostly answered my question.

In the same letter Brown writes: "We were all depressed by the sell-out of Czechoslovakia. But we are becoming madder everyday. We feel that our added influence could lift the Embargo." What was interesting to me about this sentiment was that it was still hopeful. I remember reading in the Helen Graham book that once Britain and France sacrificed Czechoslovakia, the Republicans knew that Non-Intervention would never be lifted; that the cause was just about hopeless then. Therefore it is interesting to me that American Brown still has this persistent optimism: "By now it is pretty evident that the war will go on for another year, unless we end it sooner from our side ... if in the interim (before spring comes) the democracies will raise the embargo, Loyalist victory is assured. I hope Czechoslovakia has been a lesson." Here, Archie Brown's optimism is such that he hopes Czechoslovakia may be a lesson instead of what it was, and what the Spanish knew it was--a sign of doom.

In another later letter Archie Brown says, "The fact is that the Spanish Government and army is militarily strong enough to let us go." When reading, I immediately took this sentence as another example of unrelenting American optimism--until I read the second sentence: "The problem is not lack of men but lack of arms" and realized that Brown was not just uncompromisingly optimistic, but had an accurate analysis of the state of Republican standing in the war. I think these passages are important because they do reveal the American opinion--unless Archie Brown can not be taken as a representative of general opinion, in which case I'll have to read more--but they also show that the Americans had a good idea of the state of the war and understood the factors working against the Republicans.

Visit 4

On my last archive visit, I read a folder of letters Harold Malofsky wrote to Miriam Sigel. I really like reading Malofsky's letters because he covers a lot of subjects in each one. The interesting excerpts I copied down range from reports on the state of the soldiers, to updates on the war in general, to the details of everyday life.

At the front of the folder was a letter written by Harry Fellmen to Mrs. Sigel. I don't know who Harry is in relation to the rest of the cast of this folder but I copied this quote down:

"On a large scale aviation is about the most ineffective of all the death dealing instruments of modern war. It depends more on breaking morale ... But it doesn't break our morale because we have something to look forward to and a strong support based on firm convictions. The broken morale appears on the Fascist side among their soldiers."

I picked this quote out for two reasons. First, I think it calls necessary attention to the unprecedented all-pervasive use of air attacks. Planes compromised a significant bulk of the machine weaponry that Italy and Germany wanted to test out. Second, the writer analyzes the true effect of the planes. To an extent, he's probably correct, for air attacks were used not only against soldiers on the battlefield but against citizens in the cities specifically to break morale. I think this quote is important in the context of WWII where large scale aviation became a major factor in the fighting and the terrorizing. This letter records that it was first seen in Spain.

I finally came across a reference to the anarchist rebellions going on in other parts of the country during the war. Trotsky associates the "God-damn Trotsky menace" with anarchists. He says, "This is the worst type of enemy the people of Spain or anywhere could have. Wherever they are--they are vile poison. Isolate them! They are playing Franco's game. Anybody who tries to break the wonderful unity of the Popular Front here is a member of Franco's fifth column."

One thing I picked up on was Malofsky's diverting to the language of propaganda. I feel like these statements could have been on a Republican poster--although I don't think the Republicans produced propaganda that was negatively aimed at anyone besides the fascists. Not sure, though. Still, Malofsky here is supposed to be writing a letter not a pamphlet.

This excerpt provides a negative view of the revolutionary activities in places such as Aragon, Catalonia, and Barcelona. It would be interesting to read letters from participants in events in those areas to better understand the truth of the situation, but of course there's no information like that at ALBA because the majority of the soldiers were communists and the communist party was at that time aligned with Stalin's politburo and the Social Democratic Republicans. Still, I've focused on this issue because the division between factions on the left was a negative factor on the Republican side that, as far as I've read, was largely absent from the Nationalist side. And here is an example of that same-side aversion.

One thing I noticed was that Harold said the Americans were the best-trained troops in the People's Army. Again, was this true? Were there sources which asserted this? Or is this sentiment just an expression of pride and enthusiasm?

Malofsky's letters are always well-balanced between larger subjects and personal subjects. One letter in particular I found extremely. It was so funny that I didn't even feel guilty or wrong reading such about such personal matters were discussed. Harold talked about the lack of women around and made statements similar to: "In order to touch a girl you have to be married to her." Writing to Miriam, he avoided direct language and therefore was so much more humorous in describing the men's misfortune in Spain. He talked regretfully about the "supplies" that were handed out at the beginning by the doctors and how no one was using them. He said, "Most of the boys, however, are economical , and are using them for tobacco pouches." A new paragraph began with: "The major problem though is how to keep from going 'fruit' altogether. Already the boys are beginning to ogle eyes at each other, and sometimes Ernie frightens me." He ended the subject by saying that, if ever he had to re-sew the buttons onto his underwear, he'd sooner throw them out than have to sit through the ordeal again.

Visit 3

I went to the archive yesterday morning and was able to get through entire box of photographs from the Small Photographic Collections. There were many photos taken after the Spanish Civil War and many of unidentified figures. But still, I was able to see pictures of soldiers on break, soldiers in combat, and portraits of well-known people like Largo Caballergo, Dolores Ibarruri, and Miguel de Unamuno.

A series of photos that I found very interesting and that I would like to find more about each had been named "To Die in Madrid" Publicity Photo. This series showed different well-known people as well as soldiers in action. I took snapshots of them with my webcam on my macbook. These photos were the most interesting in the folder, in my opinion. I wish I knew their purpose.

One thing I noticed in a lot of the pictures is the presence of women. At a time when Italy and Germany were trying to turn back the clock on women and force them back into traditional gender roles separate fro

m men, women in Republican Spain were always present among the men, helping actively in whatever way they could.

Another thing I noticed in the photos was how many shots were taken of veterans going back to Spain. The images convey a mix of wonder and solemnity. They show the great extent to which the Spanish Civil War must have impacted the veterans' lives.

I looked at two photos from a "Veteran's Return" in NYC. I wonder how much Americans knew about the Spanish Civil War and to what extent the veterans were honored upon their return.

Although some of the photos were very interesting I still felt lost most of the time because I didn't know the significance of a lot of what I was looking at. But maybe the significance of everything was mixed.

Visit 2

Last class we talked about our approach to each of our blogs. I think my approach is going to be very honest. I really like the subject that we're studying and I often feel emotionally moved by what I read. I don't think that emotions are inappropriate reactions to record. Therefore, I will record them.

I really have to get into the library for a more substantial amount of time. I realize it takes me about an hour to get through one folder of one collection, as was the case today. I went back to the Miriam Sigel Friedman papers because I hadn't read anything written by Harold Malofsky. I really enjoyed his letters because they were long and he wrote about his personal experiences on and off the front.

There were a couple strands of things I noticed that I wanted to write about. Malofsky personified the fascists as "the muddy, traitorous hands of a dictator, a banker, and a fat priest." I picked this out specifically because the description matches up remarkably with some of the Republican propaganda of the war. Particularly, the "Los Nacionales" and "El Generalísimo" posters come to mind. It made me wonder whether this identification of the enemy was a common one or whether the Spanish propaganda had significant influence in drawing this portrait and impressing it upon its viewers.

One thing I found that I was really happy about was a quote I had read before in one of the course books. Malofsky wrote: "And it's ironic. A communist for years, I now find myself fighting to make the world safe for democracy." It was just really exciting to have read that line before but then held in my hand the letter from which it came. I think it's also a brilliant line. One thing that's interesting about the letters I've read so far are that they are all pretty well written and come from intelligent, thoughtful people.

Something else concerning propaganda--Malofsky said that at one point on the battlefield, "Junker plans" began to drop leaflets from the sky. Comparing the leaflet to those he had handed out on street corners for years, he called it "a very stupid manifesto" quoting it: "'Bilbao finally belongs to Spain. Viva the dead Mola! Viva Franco! Viva Spain! Join our ranks and surrender.' This was supposed to convert us, the jerks." I just thought it was funny the way he seems so disgusted by the fascists' attempt to persuade and propagandize. Probably because, for one, to him it would be unthinkable to cross over, but perhaps he was also laughing at their ignorance of quality political propaganda, something in which the communists were very experienced.

Following up on an issue I addressed last post--the issue of the accuracy of strategic information and Republican standing in the war--Malofsky wrote that the "Daily Worker" published some statistics and that he read it regularly to inform himself of the war's progress. I thought perhaps this was one of the primary ways soldiers received information, which made me wonder whether the published statistics were accurate. I wondered in general how truthful was the information the battalions received and how far off was their conception of their side's standing in the war.

One last thing I noticed in Malofsky's letters that was the same for Sigel and Arion was the undeniable optimism and dedication to the cause of Spain and fighting fascism. As I read more, I think I will find this optimism is pervasive throughout soldiers' letters--which is really actually very sad. Malofsky wrote, "Nothing can stop the Spanish people from their important historic task. I only hope I live to come back and tell the story." He would be disappointed on both counts. As I was reading a letter written on August 29th, 1937, I reached for the finding guide because I knew that Harold did not come back from the war. Turns out, he would be dead a week after he penned the letter I held.

Visit 1

Today I took my first independent visit to the Abraham Lincoln Brigade Archives. Our professor had already provided us with some suggestions of collections to look at. I chose to look at the Miriam Sigel Friedlander Papers. I had about an hour and a half to sift through the material, but I'm embarrassed to say that I only read through one a half folders out of the fifteen in the collection. Part of the drain on the time resulted from filing out paperwork and being new to the Archives. The other part was puzzling out some of the handwriting, which got easier with more practice.

The Miriam Sigel Friedlander collection contained mostly letters written from three Lincoln Brigadiers to one Miriam Sigel (later Miriam Friedlander) but sometimes other correspondents were included, as was the case with Mrs. Sigel, Paul and Miriam Sigel's mother. The three soldiers who wrote to Miriam were her brother Paul and their mutual friends Ernest Arion and Harold Malofsky. All three died serving in Spain.

I read through Folder 1 which consisted entirely of Ernest Arion's postcards and letters to Miriam, whom he addressed as Mim, if I read the handwriting correctly. What I found most interesting in his letters was his confident optimism about the American battalions and the Republic's standing in the war.

Date April 28, 1937, Ernest Arion wrote:

"As you have probably read by now, the fascists are on the run. Our forces are improving in organization and as our army grows the fascist army becomes more and more demoralized."

And April 30:

"Militarily, we are the best-trained battalion in Spain today. And as we progress in our daily training we see the development of a free people's army here in Spain."

I picked out these lines because I assumed they exemplify some of the feelings and beliefs of many Americans serving in Spain at this time. Optimism is evident here, as well as a hint of revolutionary hopefulness. At the same time, I questioned the truth of his statements. Were the fascists really "on the run" at that time? And I thought I had read that the Americans were the least-prepared participants of the the International Brigades. Then if I remembered correctly, the Americans could not be considered the "best-trained battalion in Spain." These discrepancies made me wonder whether these statements could have been true or whether Ernest Arion was just trying to comfort Miriam, and perhaps himself. Or perhaps this is what the soldiers were told by their leaders. It will take further investigation of different sources for me to understand more clearly.

One thing that I found intriguing were some of the closing remarks of Ernest's letters. He would say things similar to: "I miss you Miriam. I'm surprised to find myself thinking of you and missing you more than I expected." I just sort of liked that.

After reading Ernest Arion's folder, I specifically wanted to find Paul Sigel's folder, because I thought that the familial relationship might result in a different type of letter. The letters were very different from Arion's, but it may just have been due to Paul's character and not so much because of their brother-sister relationship. Either way, Paul expressed the same sort of optimism and faith in his political convictions as Ernest. One letter featured a beautiful-written but politically charged account of what seemed to be an equally beautiful night in Paris. One night there was an "Exposition" in the "plaza" where buildings were being lit and people were saying, "Ahhhh." Paul Sigel wrote that when the German building was lit, the crowd reacted with, "Boooooooo etc. However, when the Soviet exhibit was illuminated, the feeling was so strange that there was spontaneous clapping and cheering." As one can tell from this excerpt, both Paul and the Parisians in the plaza felt a sort of reverence for the Soviet Union. I think the strength of that awe is best understood by considering Sigel's language. The moment was important enough for him that the language he uses to describe the scene is actually rather poetic. I noticed he used "lit up" to describe the lighting of the German building while he used "illuminated" to describe that of the Soviets. The consonance of s's and then c's seems to mimic the situation described. I really feel as though Paul Sigel purposely took time to match the quality of his writing to the importance of the experience. Or maybe he just had a flair for writing.

Launch

Just to have a first entry--this blog has been created to record my reflections on visits to the ABLA archive at NYU's Tamiment Library.