IBMT member Robert Macdonald looks forward to an event this Saturday (26 April) in Salford to mark 80 years since the defeat of fascism in Italy… The liberation of Italy during the Second World War and the lives of ordinary Italian people who resisted fascism over many years, despite huge risks and suffering, will be […]
A list with the 872 names of International Brigaders who died during the 1938 Battle of the Ebro has been compiled and published by the Memorial Democràtic agency of the Catalan government (Generalitat de Catalunya). In English and Catalan, the new list identifies 95 volunteers from the UK and 15 from the Republic of Ireland […]
On Saturday 12 April Jayne Dunn, Lord Mayor of Sheffield, unveiled the 'Boy with Dove' statue in the city's Weston Park. Created by artist Anthony Padgett, the statue is a tribute to Picasso, to the International Brigade volunteers from South Yorkshire, to the Basque children who were given sanctuary by the people of Sheffield, and […]
IBMT Archivist Alan Lloyd has transcribed a letter from commissar John Gates reporting the death of Humfry Scott (1904-1937) after the Battle of Pozoblanco. The letter, dated 30 April 1937, was addressed to Humfry’s Sudeten Czech wife, Hedwig ‘Hedi’ Zappe. The original is held in the Scott family archive. Dear Comrade Hedi, It is with […]
Clifford Thurlow explores his family's links to anti-fascism and what inspired him to write the novel ‘We Shall Pass’, set during the Spanish Civil War … When the Blackshirts marched on Cable Street in the mainly Jewish quarter of East London on Sunday 4 October 1936, the people from the poor modest houses along the […]
Gideon and Dolores Long gave a talk on their forebears' Sam Wild and Bessie Berry's involvement in the Spanish Civil War and the Aid to Spain movement … At a well-attended event at the Instituto Cervantes Manchester on 19 March, Gideon Long and Dolores Long gave a talk on Sam Wild and Bessie Berry and […]
The 2024 Len Crome Memorial Conference, which took place on 9 November 2024, is now available to watch online. The 2024 event was a discussion between three leading historians of the Spanish Civil War: Paul Preston, Helen Graham and Richard Baxell, introduced by IBMT Chair Jim Jump. Paul Preston is one of the world’s foremost […]
February saw the annual commemorations organised by AABI, the Madrid-based Asociación de Amigos de las Brigadas Internacionales (Friends of the International Brigades), with events in Madrid, Tarrancón and Jarama. Below is a small selection of images from the events. To see more photos, go to the AABI website. On Friday 21 February, supporters travelled to Tarranón […]
IBMT member Lin Rose Clark on her new book about her Brigader grandfather… Robert (now often known as Bob) Hilliard’s life seemed full of mystifying swerves and paradoxes. His nephew Stephen Hilliard, writing about him in 1984, raised a string of questions about the interaction between his staunchly socialist politics and his time as a […]
Eighty-eight years on, young and old pay homage to the sacrifices of British Brigaders, writes Robert Hargreaves… Uniforms neatly pressed, boots polished, and standing perfectly to attention, Tom Wintringham, commanding officer of the British Battalion at the Battle of Jarama, a stickler for discipline, would have been proud of them. The Lost Sons of Albion, […]
IBMT Chair Jim Jump reports… The ‘Echoes of Spain’ mosaic in London’s Portobello Road now has two plaques explaining the significance and origins of the memorial. Located under the Westway flyover in the heart of the famous street market, the mural depicts the links between the Spanish Civil War and the Notting Hill area of […]
Words spoken by IBMT Chair Jim Jump at the unveiling of the memorial to the Doncaster International Brigade volunteers on 12 February… First a big thank-you to Councillor David Shaw, former councillor Tosh McDonald and everyone at Doncaster City Council who has made this excellent memorial possible. Eighty-eight years ago today, 12 February 1937, the […]
